Abstract
Uirimchalyo (醫林撮要), one of the most important books in the history of Korean Medicine (KM), has not been researched within the framework provided by Yi'an (醫案), an East Asian tradition of describing clinical encounters with the therapies employed. In modern times, this practice of Yi'an might be similar to the outline of a singular "case study". The authors designed the study to analyze the basic information of Yi'an within the Uirimchalyo and to contribute to the foundations of employing Yi'an in Korean Medicine. A standard was established, and the 123 Yi'ans were extracted, most of which were taken from the chapter, Historic Doctors (歷代醫學姓氏). Using this information and in comparison with other medical books such as Euibangyoochui (醫方類聚), the authors learned that the Yi'ans from the Jinyuansidajia (金元四大家), including those of four eminent clinicians in Jin (金) and Yuan (元) Dynasty, are excluded from Uirimchalyo. The authors identified that Yi'ans from other medical books, are cited in the Uirimchalyo but with different format, not with the traditionally understood form of Yi'an. This study of the Uirimchalyo Yi'an resulted in three important understandings of Yi'an. First, the mere number of Uirimchalyo Yi'an is meaningful in that it raised the genre of Yi'an to the a level not previously recognized. Second, in the history of Korean Medicine, Yi'an is first systematized in the Uirimchalyo at the chapter of Historic Doctors. Third, Uirimchalyo raised the concept of usefulness of Yi'an, to the practice of Korean Medicine.
