당 고조 연간(618-626)의 골증병

Abstract

The bone steamed disease had broken out during the reign of Tang Gaozu(618-626) within the Guanzhong(關中) area. However it was ignored in the history of Tang's epidemic. In this paper, I analyze what the bone steamed disease in the early 7th century of Tang and find out the reasons why it was forgotten. In my thought it is a devastating epidemic which is considered to be one of the main causes of the drastic reduction of number of households to one fifth of this period. Xin tang shu(新唐書, New Tang's History) described it as a disease that everyone infected would die out. According to Zhu bing yuan hou lun(諸病源候論, The Etiology of the Disease), which was published in 610 during the Sui Dynasty, the major symptom of the bone steamed disease was the unusual fever caused by tuberculosis. Independently, in Bei ji qian jin yao fang(備急千金要, Essential Recipes for Emergent Use Worth a Thousand Gold) Sun Simiao(孫思邈) described about fever and emphasized that when fever is too high, patients should take ten times of the usual dosage in the same period. He criticized the fever remedy of an alchemist Shi Shinu(師市奴) who came from the west during the reign of Gaozu. Because it contained gold as drug that Son thought useless as fever reducer. It means high fever disease was popular in Gaozu and his experience might be come from the bone steamed disease in the reign of Gaozu. When the Gaozu established Tang, it was one of the many warlords and the battels continued to defeat the other warlords against Tang. Cannibalism was popular because of food shortage and it made people distrophia. In those days, Epidemic meant the heavenly punishment to the power. Therefore it seemed like that new emperor Gaozu didn't want record it as epidemic. The seamed bone disease was known not epidemic but the disease from the individual's unbalance. According to the records, it seemed like influenza because the disease emphasized the extremely high fever. It should had been called 'wenli(溫疫)' or 'shanghan(伤寒)', however, the court physician called it 'steamed bone disease'. They worried the epidemic brought bad reputation to the new emperor. It was the main reasons, in my thought, why the influenza was called bone steamed disease instead of epidemic. There are not many proofs, however, to verify it. We have to pay attention to bone steamed disease in the early 7th century and try to figure out the aspect of the epidemics in the late Sui and early Tang. In my thought, the epidemics influenced much more than we expected in the early 7th century of China.