Goguryeo Medical and Alchemy

 Much of the medicine in ancient society depended on shamans. It was a shaman who cured King Yu-ri's illness. However, Goguryeo's medicine did not stay here alone. The Tang Dynasty's book "Yuyangjapjo" conveys outstanding Goguryeo medicine, recording that Goguryeo customers used acupuncture well to cut an inch of hair into 10 strands and stab the gaps they saw there. Goguryeo medicine was also spread to other countries, and Deokrae was originally a Goguryeo man who naturalized in Baekje and was dispatched to Japan during the reign of King Gaero of Baekje to deliver Baekje medicine. Through this, Goguryeo medicine influenced Baekje and Japan. In the Goguryeo period, acupuncture and medicinal herbs were developed. Seeing the publication of a medical book called Baekje Sinjipbang, which summarizes medical knowledge and experiences such as medicinal ingredients, quantity, and how to take medicine, Goguryeo must have had such a medical book. Goguryeo doctor Mochi went to Japan to become the king's doctor, and Ahn Jak-deuk-ji learned acupuncture from a tiger and had great medicine to tell <Japanese secretary> that there was no disease that could not be cured by governing. Eleven kinds of Goguryeo medicinal materials are introduced in Sinnongbonchogyeong, written by Do Hong-gyeong, a famous Taoist of the Yang Dynasty, with pharmacological knowledge fused with Chinese alchemy. Among them, Goguryeo's gold along with ginseng is introduced. In particular, gold is related to alchemy, which is believed to be made and taken. In this book, it is mentioned that Goguryeo's gold is well smelted and can be taken well. The appearance of a fairy depicted in Gangseo Daemyo with a bowl of medicine and medicine, and the appearance of a god riding a phoenix with a medicine pot drawn in Tonggu No. 4 are related to alchemy that shows taking such refined gold or ginseng. Goguryeo's alchemy was especially developed and had a great influence on Taoism in China.