Kampo – A Clinical Guide to Theory and Practice

Kampo: A Clinical Guide to Theory and Practice

Translated by Gretchen de Soriano & Nigel Dawes, with a foreword by Dan Bensky.
Kampo: A Clinical Guide to Theory and Practice provides an excellent overview of Kampo in modern society and goes on to present an historical perspective from practitioners in Japan and the west. The translation opens with Dr Otsuka’s personal reflections on how to study Kampo, the legal and practical status of Kampo practitioners when he began practice and includes clinical anecdotes.
The book summarizes diagnostic theory and methodology then leads onto a section including 80 principal formulas followed by a therapeutic section organized according to allopathic definitions of disease.
It follows a systems approach in internal medicine beginning with respiratory and cardiovascular disorders, moving through a comprehensive analysis of all the body systems.
This section forms the heart of the text: it outlines essential clinical information on how differential diagnosis and formula selection is achieved with the Kampo tradition.
A comprehensive index of 120 major herbal formulas and 180 individual herbal ingredients is compiled from the author’s linage and experience.
The translators have included an original piece of work in the form of a comprehensive Glossary of terms designed to clarify concepts of health and disease unique to Kampo and Japanese culture.

About the translators:
Gretchen De Soriano first met Keisetsu Otsuka in 1978 at the Kitasato Institute in Tokyo whilst a student of his son, Yasuo Otsuka.
Kampo I Gaku has since been the cornerstone of her clinical practice. In 2010 Gretchen began researching the origins of the fukushin technique at Oxford University, University College London, and with the support of a Wellcome Studentship.

Nigel Dawes M.A., L.Ac. has been practicing East Asian Medicine, including Acupuncture, Shiatsu and Kampo for over 30 years.
He graduated from schools in Tokyo and Beijing before setting up practice initially in London and for the past 20 years in New York. He is an internationally renowned teacher, particularly in the Kampo tradition, and has been published widely in the field.