Igaku Keigo: Shuku, In, Hon, and Byo

何をか八条目と謂ふ。曰く宿、曰く因、曰く本、曰く病、曰く診、曰く証、曰く名、曰く治、これを八条目と云ふ。

宿とは、其の人の稟賦を云ふ。強き者あり、弱き者あり、肥えたるあり、痩せたるあり、陽に属する者あり、陰に属する者あり、酒を嗜むあり、餅を好むあり、貧賤あり、富貴あり、性の寛なるあり、性の急なるあり、賢きあり、愚痴あり、心を労するあり、力を労するあり、安逸の者あり、勤苦する者あり、男女老少の差別あり。

又宿疾に種々の症あり、其の居処に肥土・瘠地・山・海・野・市の別あり、其の居室に広狭・寒暖・湿乾の異なるあり。持脈に大小・強弱・反関の別あり、乃至飲食の好悪・多寡・厚薄等、平生無病の時、一人として同じき者なし。

これ病の来らざる以前に、尽く其の人に備はり有り。其の佗枚挙するに遑あらず、類を以て推すべし。この類を都て宿と云ふ。

因とは、病の因りて興る所以の始めなり。この因を審らかにせざるときは、病情を知ること難し。

其の類は、食を過ぎしたるが因となりて、食滞と云ふ病を得る如く、食物を過ごさざるときは、其の病なし。これ食を過ぎしたるが因なり。

或いは飢ゑを忍んで病を醸し、房事を侵し、又は風寒に触れ、暑湿に犯され、身を労し心を苦しめ、又連夜寐ずして事をなし、喜怒哀楽を節することなく、或いは顛仆して打撲となり、高きより落ち、水に溺れ、火に焚かるる等、一として病を作すの因ならざるはなし。

本とは、宿と因と相合して、病の作るとき、必ず一身の内に主として、病毒の附着する所あり。此れ乃ち病の根本なり。

凡そ中風傷寒を始めとして、一切の雑病に至るまで、表の部位に附着するあり、裏に附着するあり。表を以て主として、裏の客となるの症あり、裏を以て主として、表の客となるの病あり、表裏俱に主となり、内外俱に主となるの病症あり。

其の主となるの部位、即ち本なり。向に論ずる所の六経の部位、乃ち万病の根本なり。此の本を明らかにせざるは、一病をも治すべからず。

病とは、一身の苦悩するを謂ふなり。無病に反する者是なり。

What are the eight items? Shuku, in, hon, byo, shin, sho, mei, and chi: these are called the eight items.

Shuku means a person's innate constitution. Some are strong and others weak, some fat and others thin; some belong to yang, others to yin. Some like wine, others rice cakes; some are poor, others wealthy; some easygoing, others impatient; some wise, others foolish; some work with the mind, others with the body; some live comfortably, others labor hard. There are also differences of sex and age.

There are many longstanding ailments; land differs as fertile or barren, mountain, sea, field, or marketplace; dwellings differ in size, warmth, cold, dampness, and dryness. Ordinary pulses differ in size, strength, and position, including fankan. Even food preferences, quantities, and richness of taste differ: no two people are alike even in ordinary health.

All these conditions are already present before illness arrives. The rest cannot be enumerated individually and should be inferred from similar examples. Together they are called shuku.

In is the original beginning from which illness arises. Without clarifying this cause, the actual state of illness is difficult to understand.

For example, overeating can cause food stagnation: without overeating, that illness would not arise. In that case, overeating is the cause.

Likewise, enduring hunger, injury through sexual activity, exposure to wind and cold, invasion by heat and dampness, bodily overwork and mental distress, working through sleepless nights, unrestrained emotions, falls and bruises, falling from heights, drowning, and burns can all cause illness.

Hon means that when shuku and in combine to produce illness, there is necessarily a principal place in the body where pathogenic toxin attaches; that is the root of the illness.

From wind-strike and cold damage to every miscellaneous disease, toxin may attach to the exterior or the interior. The exterior may be principal and interior secondary, or vice versa; both exterior and interior, inside and outside, may be principal together.

That principal location is hon. The six-conformation locations discussed earlier are the roots of all illnesses. Without clarifying hon, not even a single illness can be treated.

Byo means bodily suffering: the opposite of health, or freedom from illness.