• The Journal of Korean Medical History
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.99-112
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• 2023

This paper analyzes the historical context, the author, and the organization of contents of Dongseo uihak youi (Essentials of Eastern and Western Medicines), which was written by Do Jinwoo. In the colonial situation of the early twentieth century, the tradition of Korean medicine faced crises and challenges in many ways. Members of the Korean medicine community were simultaneously faced with continuing the tradition of Korean medicine and becoming healthcare providers with a specific role within the healthcare system of the time. Dongseo uihak youi is the result of the collective and official efforts of the Association of Korean Medicine of the time to maintain its tradition where only Western medicine was officially allowed to be taught and tested after the promulgation of the Rules of the Medical Student (ŭisaeng). Dongseo uihak youi was the first Korean medicine book to precisely describe and compare the names of diseases in Eastern and Western medicines. Dongseo uihak youi contained not only medical theories and prescriptions but also laws and forms, in that the purpose of the book was not simply to cultivate clinical skills but also to demarcate the boundary of medical knowledge and activities required of a practitioner of Korean medicine in the modern colonial health care system of the time.

• The Journal of Korean Medical History
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.49-59
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• 2023

This paper describes the transformation of the knowledge system of Korean medicine in the early 20th-century colonial context of the 1920s in terms of 'identity formation'. At the time, newly introduced Western medicine was the dominant form of medical knowledge due to strong support from the colonial government but had did not enjoy popular support from the general public especially when compared to Korean medicine. Furthermore, the Japanese colonial government needed to utilize Korean medicine practitioners' labor due to a serious shortage of Western medicine doctors. In this context, Dongseo uihak youi (Essentials of Eastern and Western Medicines) provides an overview of the role of Korean medicine practitioners in the colonial healthcare system of the time. The book contains a figure of a 'modern' Korean medicine practitioner working within a healthcare system influenced by colonial modernity. The association of Korean medicine doctors at that time not only published Dongseo uihak youi but also attempted to establish a school specializing in both Eastern and Western medicines or integrated Korean medicine, which would produce "the Chosŏn doctors" (Chosŏn ŭisa) on a par with doctors trained in Western medicine. Although their attempts did not materialized, they provide a clue as to how and in what direction Korean medicine pursued its identity in the 1920s.