Formulas · Release the Exterior 解表 · Immun (入門)

Cinnamon Twig Decoction

Gyeji-tang

한글 계지탕 · Pinyin Gui Zhi Tang

桂枝湯

Composition 構成

Gyeji Gui Zhi
桂枝 계지 · Cinnamon Twig

12 g
Chief 君
Baekjagyak Bai Shao
白芍藥 백작약 · White Peony

8 g
Deputy 臣
Saenggang Sheng Jiang
生薑 생강 · Fresh Ginger

—
Assistant 佐

three slices
Daejo Da Zao
大棗 대조 · Jujube

—
Assistant 佐

two dates
Gamcho Gan Cao
甘草 감초 · Licorice

4 g
Envoy 使

Total 24 g per packet (첩) · representative dosage — verify against source texts. Excludes 2 ingredients measured by count or used as a vehicle, shown as —.

Received this formula from your practitioner? Amounts shown here are classical reference values — granule and prepared products differ. Always follow your prescribed dosage and directions.

Actions 效能

Releases the exterior
Harmonizes the nutritive and defensive qi

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

Taiyang wind damage with spontaneous sweating and aversion to wind and cold
Exterior depletion with a floating moderate pulse

Biomedical correlates

Common cold with spontaneous sweating
Recurrent colds in a weak constitution

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治太陽傷風, 自汗ㆍ惡風寒. 桂枝三錢, 白芍藥二錢, 甘草一錢. 右剉, 作一貼, 入生薑三片, 大棗二枚, 水煎溫服. 須臾啜稀粥一盞, 以助藥力, 令遍身漐漐微汗爲佳. 得汗勿再服. 《入門》 ○陶氏桂枝湯, 本方加防風ㆍ川芎ㆍ羌活ㆍ藁本, 薑棗煎, 臨熟入飴糖二匙, 熱服, 微汗之, 卽解肌也. 《入門》

Translation

Treats taiyang wind damage with spontaneous sweating and aversion to wind and cold. Cinnamon twig, 3 don; white peony, 2 don; licorice, 1 don. Cut up, make one packet, add three slices of fresh ginger and two jujubes, decoct in water and take warm. Shortly after, sip a cup of thin gruel to assist the strength of the medicine, and it is best to bring a faint moisture of sweat over the whole body. Once sweat is obtained, do not take again. — Immun 入門 ○ Tao's Cinnamon Twig Decoction adds saposhnikovia, chuanxiong, notopterygium and ligusticum sinense to the base formula, decocted with ginger and jujube; as it comes to the boil add two spoonfuls of malt sugar, take hot and induce a slight sweat, which resolves the flesh. — Immun 入門 (Donguibogam · Han, upper)

Clinical commentary 臨床

The first formula of the Shanghanlun and the archetype of harmonization — cinnamon twig opens outward while white peony gathers inward, a paired dynamic echoed in countless later formulas. The instructions matter as much as the drugs: a cup of thin gruel to give the formula something to work with, a faint moisture over the whole body rather than a running sweat, and stop as soon as it comes. Over-sweating this pattern is how the ruined patterns of the later sections begin. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.