Abstract
The Pulse diagnosis is in the boundary of the Four Examinations, and it is called 切診, or palpation. It has a great impact on people in reminding of the Traditional Medicine that it is probably the first thing that people think of when they hear about Traditional Medicine. Hu-Jun quoted in the Treasured Mirror of Eastern Medicine "東醫寶鑑" that the doctor finds out the deficiency and the excess of the meridian of the patiant through the pulse, and that it is of the utmost necessity to know the "deficiency and the excess" of the meridian to decide the formula (君臣佐使) of the herbal medicine and the acupuncture/moxibustion treatment. The research on the studies of pulse diagnosis have been concentrated on the origin, history, and the theory of the pulse diagnosis throughout the years; however, the number of research on the image from the classics on pulse diagnosis have been less. With this in mind, this paper was written to study more on the origin and the history of the pulse diagnosis as well as to study on the image of pulse diagnosis shown on the classics on Traditional Medicine in China and Korea. The history of the pulse diagnosis has its root on the attempt to find out what is happening inside the body through the indication of the small changes of the pulse that is shown on the outer boundaries of the body. There were various kinds of pulse diagnosis including "Three positions and nine indicators method" and "Carotid pulsation and wrist pulse method" in the ancient period, and wrist pulse-taking method became the most popular since the completion of studying on palpation by 初보. The image of the palpation helps the rudimentary practitioners of Traditional Medicine. They are divided into two large categories, which are the area of diagnosis and the shape of the pulse itself. The historical classics including the image of the pulse diagnosis can be found since the Song Dynasty of China. There are various kinds of image of pulse diagnosis in the classic such as "The picture of the hand meridian" from "脈訣指掌病式圖說", "The picture of the image of meridian" from "察病指南", "The picture of the Seven exterior and Eight interior" from "校正圖注脈訣", and "The picture of the six parts of meridian" from Treasured Mirror of Eastern Medicine "東醫寶鑑". The Treasured Mirror of Eastern Medicine "東醫寶鑑" have analyzed the basic theories and made up the standards of pulse diagnosis by establishing "The picture of the six parts of meridian" based on "The method of placing the viscera and bowels corresponding to cun-guan-qi, or the meridian".