Enlarge / Priest in Meditation, 15th century. Possibly the blind Chinese priest Jianzhen (Ganjin in Japanese; 688-763).Heritage Images/Getty Images
The practice of herbal medicine in Japan is known as Kampo, and such treatments are often prescribed alongside Western medicines (and covered by the national health care system). The first person to teach traditional Chinese medicine in Japan was an 8th century Buddhist monk named Jianzhen (Ganjin in Japanese), who collected some 1,200 prescriptions in a book: Jianshangren (Holy Priest Jianzhen)’s Secret Prescription. The text was believed lost for centuries, but the authors of a recent paper published in the journal
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