What is the difference between yakuzen and kampo? Food and medicine, separated by purpose and by how they work

Put in one line, the difference between yakuzen and kampo is that yakuzen is food that settles the body through everyday meals, while kampo is medicine used for symptoms and constitutions. Both rest on Chinese medicine, but they differ in where they are used, who handles them and how they work. The two are easily confused because the names are similar, so we set them out here, drawing in part on our interview with a Kokusai Yakuzenshi (international yakuzen practitioner).

What is yakuzen? A prescription through food, born of Chinese traditional medicine

Yakuzen is a way of eating that chooses and cooks ingredients to suit your constitution, how you feel and the season, on the basis of Chinese medicine. Underneath it lies the idea that food and medicine share a source, and that everyday meals are the foundation of health.

Choosing ingredients by what they do to the body

Yakuzen looks at ingredients not by how much of a nutrient they hold but by what they do to the body. Ginger and spring onion warm the body; tomato and cucumber settle heat. Ingredients are sorted this way and used to match how you feel that day. There is no need to stock up on special kampo ingredients; everyday vegetables from the supermarket are yakuzen ingredients as they are.

Yakuzen and nutrition science are looking at different things

Yakuzen and nutrition science are easily confused, but their axes differ. Nutrition science looks at ingredients by how much of a nutrient they hold, such as vitamins or protein, while yakuzen looks at the direction of what they do, that is, what changes in the body when you eat them. Neither is better; thinking with both gives depth to how you choose what to eat.

The basic thinking behind yakuzen is also set out in What are qi, blood and fluids in yakuzen?. Reading both together helps.

What is kampo? Medicine used for symptoms and constitutions

Kampo is medicine made by combining several crude drugs derived from plants and minerals. Kampo medicines from makers such as Tsumura and Kracie are well known. Where yakuzen handles managing how you feel day to day, kampo is used as medicine, according to symptoms and constitution. That is what marks it out.

Kampo is medicine, yakuzen is food

This is the great dividing line. Because kampo medicines are medicines, they split into prescription medicines from a doctor and over-the-counter ones you can buy from a pharmacist or registered seller at a pharmacy or drugstore. Either way a professional is involved. When Yasai Yakuzen interviewed a Kokusai Yakuzenshi (international yakuzen practitioner), she put it this way: kampo works on the body as medicine, which is exactly why a professional has to be involved in handling it. Yakuzen, by contrast, is a way of eating that uses everyday ingredients, so it is easy to bring into the home.

Crude drugs and ingredients overlap: take Japanese yam

Yakuzen and kampo are different things, but their materials do not divide cleanly. Japanese yam is a vegetable that appears on the family table and, at the same time, a crude drug that goes into kampo medicines under the name sanyaku. As the practitioner put it, only the name differs; vegetables and plants overlap between yakuzen and kampo. The same material used as food is yakuzen, and compounded and used as medicine is kampo. Seeing it as a difference in use makes it much clearer.

Yakuzen and kampo side by side

Here is a table of what we have covered so far, by where each sits, what it uses and who handles it. Putting nutrition science alongside them makes the three roles clear.

	yakuzen	Kampo	Nutrition science
Where it sits	Everyday meals	Medicine	Managing what is in food
Where it is used	Managing how you feel, daily care	Responding to symptoms and constitution	Nutritional balance
What it uses	Everyday ingredients	crude drugs	What is in food
What it looks at	What it does to the body (warming, cooling, moistening)	Symptoms and constitution	How much of a nutrient (numbers)
Who handles it	Anyone, at home	Doctors, pharmacists, registered sellers	Registered dietitians and the like

Kampo is medicine; yakuzen is food that gets ahead of the season

In one line, the difference in role is that kampo is used as medicine for complaints and constitutions, while yakuzen settles your condition through everyday meals. Yakuzen works ahead of the turn of the season, before anything goes off. Here are the qualities and ingredients to keep in mind through the year.

Season	What to look for	Example ingredients
Spring	Helping qi circulate	Spring cabbage, nanohana, mitsuba
Summer	Settling heat in the body	Tomato, cucumber, eggplant
Autumn	Moistening against dryness	Lotus root, pear, white wood ear
Winter	Warming the body	Ginger, spring onion, kabocha squash

How to bring it in through the seasons is covered in detail in Bringing yakuzen in through the seasons.

Yakuzen qualifications: the kinds, and how to learn

When you decide you want to learn yakuzen properly, what is worth knowing is the kinds of qualifications and certificates. Yakuzen qualifications are mostly private ones, and you can choose how deep to go according to your purpose. Here are the typical levels.

Level	What you learn	Who it suits
Introductory	The basics of what ingredients do	People who want to bring it into daily life as a hobby
Basic qualification	Systematic learning built on ingredients	People who want to organise what they know and pass it on
Specialist qualification	Going into Chinese medicine itself	People who want to use it professionally

A basic qualification is within reach after roughly a year of study, but specialist qualifications usually require a set number of taught hours at a school before you can sit the exam, and some cannot be obtained by self-study alone. An introductory course for a hobby, a specialist qualification for work: working backwards from your purpose is the way not to go wrong.

According to the practitioner we interviewed, the typical qualifications include Kokusai Yakuzenshi (international yakuzen practitioner), learned through ingredients, Kokusai Chuishi (international Chinese medicine practitioner), which goes further into Chinese medicine, and Chui Yakuzenshi (Chinese medicine yakuzen practitioner) on a separate track, with the scope of study differing by certifying body and school. There was once a certified qualification recognised by the Chinese government; that has now shifted to certification by specialist organisations in Japan. Qualification names and certification frameworks change over time, so please check the official information from each school and certifying body for the current position.

Where yakuzen sits differs abroad and in Japan

Where yakuzen sits varies a great deal by country. Let us compare the main ones.

Country	What stands out
United States	Universities teach Chinese medicine and acupuncturists are popular. Strong interest in looking after yourself through food
Korea	Kampo is rooted in everyday meals, with ginseng and lotus seed in samgyetang
Japan	Under universal health insurance, going to hospital once something is wrong is well established, and settling things through food is still to come

The more a country values care before illness, the more deeply rooted food-based care like yakuzen is. In Japan too, knowing about yakuzen and settling things through everyday meals is going to be worth more from here on.

Bringing yakuzen in by constitution

What makes yakuzen interesting is that the same ingredient suits some people and not others. Starting from your own constitution makes your eating fit you better. Here are the typical constitutions and ingredients to try.

What your constitution leans towards	What to look for	Example ingredients
You feel the cold	Warming the body	Ginger, spring onion, garlic
Flushing and hot flushes	Settle heat	Tomato, cucumber, eggplant
I tire easily	Replenish qi	Japanese yam, kabocha squash, soybeans
I swell up easily	Drain excess fluid	Sweetcorn, Job's tears

Three steps to starting yakuzen

Ingredients used in yakuzen: knowing what they do changes how you choose

Yakuzen ingredients are nothing special. The vegetables and fruit you already eat warm the body or moisten it. Knowing what the common ones do lets you choose to match how you feel that day.

• Ginger, spring onion, garlic: said to warm the body, for the times of year when you feel the cold
• Tomato, cucumber: said to settle heat in the body, for hot weather
• Japanese yam, kabocha squash: said to replenish qi, and often used in yakuzen
• Myoga: its aroma is held to bear on the circulation of qi, and it works as a summer garnish

For what each ingredient does in detail, see the vegetable encyclopedia and look them up one by one. Start with whichever vegetable interests you. For practice with everyday vegetables, see Starting a yakuzen life with everyday vegetables as well.

Yakuzen, closer to hand: the Yasai Yakuzen option

If the word yakuzen makes you tense up, you can start simply by adding a warming ingredient to something you already cook. Yasai Yakuzen supports choosing supermarket vegetables through a yakuzen lens, with the vegetable encyclopedia, the constitution check and recipes. Unlike kampo, there is no waiting for a professional's prescription: you can bring it in from tonight's dinner. That is what makes yakuzen appealing.

FAQ

In summary: yakuzen is a way of eating that looks after your body

The difference between yakuzen and kampo comes down to their roles: yakuzen settles things through food, kampo is used as medicine. Kampo medicines are handled by doctors, pharmacists and registered sellers; yakuzen anyone can start at today's table. Some materials, such as Japanese yam, appear in both, and seeing that as a difference in use makes it easier to grasp. Start by knowing your constitution and choosing ingredients to suit how you feel that day, and bring yakuzen into your life.