List of kampo herbs

Kampō (or Kanpō, 漢方) medicine is the Japanese study and adaptation of Traditional Chinese medicine. In 1967, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare approved 4 kampo medicines for reimbursement under the National Health Insurance (NHI) program. In 1976, 82 kampo medicines were approved by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. Currently, 148 kampo medicines are approved for reimbursement. 

The 14th edition of the Japanese Pharmacopoeia (JP) (日本薬局方 Nihon yakkyokuhō) lists 165 herbal ingredients that are approved to be used in kampo remedies. The following are the most common herbs used in kampo medicines.

Tsumura (ツムラ) is the leading maker of kampo medicine. They make 128 of the 148 kampo medicines. The "count" column shows in how many of these 128 formulae the herb is found in. The most common herb in kampo medicine is Glycyrrhizae Radix (Chinese liquorice root). It is in 94 of the 128 Tsumura formulae. Other common herbs are Zingiberis Rhizoma (ginger) (51 of 128 formulae) and Paeoniae Radix (Chinese peony root) (44 of 128 formulae).


 * Note 1: this character cannot be displayed correctly on a computer. "庶" is usually substituted in Chinese and Japanese. The "灬" in "庶" should be replaced with "虫".


 * Note 2: this character cannot be displayed correctly on a computer. "梨" is usually substituted in Chinese. "梨" or "藜" is usually substituted in Japanese. The "勿" in "藜" should be replaced with "刂".