The lower limit of moxibustion therapy will not be later than the Western Zhou Dynasty. It was quite popular in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. In the Book of Songs in the Spring and Autumn Period, "He adopted Ai Xi", and Mao Heng and Ranunculus in the Western Han Dynasty explained that "Ai therefore treated".
"If you regard the bones of Azeroth sheep as a sign, it is called death." This proves that the Oracle Bone Inscriptions divination method before the Shang Dynasty in China can also use moxa as fuel.
"Mencius Li Lou" contains: "I want to get Wang Yin sick for seven years and love for three years." It can be seen that moxibustion therapy has been quite popular in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Therefore, the origin of moxibustion treatment should also be before the Western Zhou Dynasty.
In addition, wormwood is used as medicine, which is warm, bitter, pungent and slightly sweet.
As a medicine, the whole herb has the functions of warming channels, eliminating dampness, dispelling cold, stopping bleeding, diminishing inflammation, relieving asthma, relieving cough, preventing miscarriage and resisting allergy.
It is recorded in medical books of past dynasties as "the most important medicine for stopping bleeding", and it is one of the commonly used drugs in gynecology, especially for treating gynecological diseases of deficiency-cold type, and also for treating chronic bronchitis and asthma in the elderly. It can be used for preventing mother-to-child transmission during boiling water and bathing in puerperium, or making into pillow and medicated vest, and preventing and treating chronic bronchitis or asthma, deficiency cold and stomachache in the elderly.
Artemisia argyi leaves are dried and mashed to make "moxa wool", which can be made into moxa sticks for moxibustion and can also be used as raw materials for "inkpad". In addition, whole grass is used as an insecticidal pesticide or smoked tobacco as a room disinfection and insecticide. Buds and seedlings are used as vegetables.
Wormwood is bitter, pungent and warm, and enters the spleen, liver and kidney.
According to Compendium of Materia Medica, Folium Artemisiae Argyi is used as medicine, which is warm in nature, bitter in taste, non-toxic, pure in yang, and can activate the twelve meridians, restore yang, regulate qi and blood, dispel dampness and dispel cold, stop bleeding and prevent miscarriage. It is also commonly used in acupuncture and moxibustion.
Therefore, it is also called "herbal medicine", and the popular "herbal bath" in Taiwan Province Province mostly uses wormwood. Regarding the nature of wormwood leaves, the materia medica says: "wormwood leaves can moxibustion all diseases."
"Materia Medica from the New" says: "Folium Artemisiae Argyi is bitter in taste, warm in nature, cooked and hot, and good at yang, which can restore yang loss, dredge the twelve meridians, take three yin, regulate qi and blood, expel cold and dehumidify, warm uterus ... so as to moxibustion fire, penetrate meridians and eliminate all diseases." It shows that Folium Artemisiae Argyi, as a moxibustion material, has the functions of dredging channels and collaterals, dispelling yin and cold, reducing swelling and resolving hard mass, and restoring yang to save adverse events.
Modern pharmacological research shows that there are many kinds of volatile oils in Folium Artemisiae Argyi, among which 1.8- cineole (accounting for more than 50%), and others are α-cochineal, sesquiterpene enol and their esters. Air-dried leaves contain minerals 10. 13%, fat 2.59%, protein 25.85%, vitamins A, B 1, B2, C, etc. Moxibustion with mugwort leaves is generally better as you get older, so there is a saying that "seven years of illness and three years of moxa" (Mencius).
Wormwood has the effects of regulating menstruation, stopping bleeding, preventing miscarriage, dispelling cold and removing dampness. Treat menoxenia, dysmenorrhea, abdominal pain, abortion, and metrorrhagia, and radically treat rheumatic arthritis, head wind, and intra-monthly wind. Because it can cut ice to make it round and cure all diseases, it is the most commonly used medicine for doctors. Modern experimental studies have proved that Artemisia argyi leaves have antibacterial and antiviral effects; Antiasthmatic, antitussive and expectorant effects; Hemostatic and anticoagulant effects; Sedative and antiallergic effects; Protect liver and gallbladder, etc. Wormwood can be used as recipes such as wormwood tea, wormwood soup and wormwood porridge to enhance the body's resistance to diseases. Wormwood has a special fragrance, which can repel mosquitoes and insects. Therefore, the ancients often hung wormwood in front of the door to ward off evil spirits and repel mosquitoes.
eat
Wormwood is also good food. In the traditional food in the south of China, there is a kind of Ciba made of wormwood as the main raw material (see Ai Ai). That is, the fresh and tender wormwood and glutinous rice flour before and after the Qingming Festival are mixed together in a ratio of one to two, wrapped with peanuts, sesame seeds, sugar and other fillings (mung bean paste will be added in some areas), and then steamed. In the Dongjiang Valley of Guangdong Province, local people pick fresh leaves and buds of wormwood as vegetables in winter and spring.
Ai Cao mi Guo
Every year in early spring, Hakka people in Ganzhou have the custom of collecting wormwood to make mugwort. Aimeiguo's shape is similar to that of jiaozi, but it is bigger with stuffing, so it is delicious and can be used as a staple food.
dyestuff
Can be used as natural plant dyes. Wormwood dyeing also has a functional effect.
inkpad
The main raw materials of inkpad are cinnabar, cinnabar, moxa, castor oil, musk and borneol. Ai Rong must be prepared in advance. Folium Artemisiae Argyi is dried repeatedly, screened clean, and impurities are removed to make it soft and delicate as cotton, and it can only be used after it becomes moxa. There are two kinds of moxa sticks. The above method is coarse moxa sticks, which can get six or seven taels per catty, which is suitable for general moxibustion. If it is finely processed, after dozens of insolations and dozens of screenings, only two or three taels per catty will become khaki, which is a fine moxa. It can be used for direct moxibustion and is also the raw material of inkpad. It is not expensive and can be bought. Xi 'ai looks like a bunch of small caterpillars with a magnifying glass, clean and without any impurities. There are famous brand-name moxa businesses in Japan that have been passed down for hundreds of years, such as "Kamaiya Club" in Tokyo, and the brand of Kamaiya moxa has a history of more than 300 years. There is also the "Sanhui Fair" and so on. Most of their supplies come from China and Ai Yi, Hunan Province, and the annual output of Pu Gu's moxa is more than ten tons.
plant culture
Artemisia argyi has a special fragrance, which can be used as a pillow to help sleep and relieve fatigue. Boil the wormwood leaves, then dilute them with water, take a bath and remove the long red pimples. In addition, it can repel mosquitoes, flies, sterilize and prevent diseases. Artemisia argyi is also used in the "moxibustion" of acupuncture. "Moxibustion" is to light the wormwood leaves and then smoke and burn the acupoints. Soaking feet with mugwort leaves is good for health. Because it has the function of treating diseases, especially after being collected by dew in May, the drug effect is the best. Artemisia argyi is also an edible plant. Mugwort can be used as a recipe for mugwort tea, mugwort soup, mugwort porridge, mugwort steamed bread, mugwort cake and mugwort balls. , thus enhancing the body's resistance to diseases. [5]
Hanging wormwood: A folk proverb says, "Insert willow in Qingming Festival and wormwood in Dragon Boat Festival." On the occasion of Dragon Boat Festival, people regard wormwood and calamus as one of the important contents. Every family sweeps the courtyard, puts calamus and moxa sticks in the eyebrows of the door, and hangs them in the hall to prevent mosquitoes. "Evil spirits are nothing but ghosts." Acorus calamus, Folium Artemisiae Argyi, Liu Hua, Garlic and Dragon Boat Flower are made into human or tiger shapes, which are called Ai Ren and Ai Hu. It is made into garlands and decorations, beautiful and fragrant, and women compete to wear it to ward off evil spirits. The plants with withered stems are soaked in water for fumigation to achieve the effect of disinfection and itching relief, and parturients often bathe or fumigate with wormwood water.