{
    "slug": "dao-chi-san",
    "names": {
        "pinyin": "Dao Chi San",
        "chinese": "导赤散",
        "english": "Guide Out the Red Powder",
        "alternate": [
            "Dao Chi Wan",
            "Rehmannia and Akebia Formula"
        ]
    },
    "category": "clear-heat",
    "source": {
        "text": "Xiao Er Yao Zheng Zhi Jue (Craft of Medicinal Treatment for Childhood Disease Patterns)",
        "author": "Qian Yi",
        "dynasty": "Song",
        "year": "1119"
    },
    "summary": "Four gentle herbs that drain Heart fire out through the urine. For mouth and tongue ulcers that burn, irritability and thirst, and dark, scanty, burning urination, all at once. Written for children by the father of Chinese pediatrics, and still the mildest fire formula on the shelf.",
    "picture": "The Heart drains into the Small Intestine and out through the bladder. When the Heart burns, the tongue blisters at one end and the urine scalds at the other. This formula opens the drain and lets the red out.",
    "patterns": [
        {
            "slug": "heart-fire",
            "role": "primary",
            "_links": {
                "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/pattern/heart-fire",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/pattern/heart-fire"
            }
        }
    ],
    "indications": [
        "Mouth and tongue ulcers",
        "Irritability, restlessness, thirst",
        "Dark, scanty, painful, or burning urination",
        "A red face in a child with fever and fussiness",
        "Night crying in a hot, restless child",
        "Insomnia from Heart heat with a red tongue tip"
    ],
    "signs": {
        "tongue": "Red, especially the tip, with a thin yellow coat.",
        "pulse": "Rapid."
    },
    "ingredients": [
        {
            "pinyin": "Sheng Di Huang",
            "grams": "6",
            "role": "chief",
            "job": "Raw rehmannia cools the Heart and the blood and nourishes yin.",
            "herb_slug": "fresh-rehmannia-root",
            "english": "Fresh Rehmannia Root",
            "chinese": "生地黄",
            "latin": "Radix Rehmanniae",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/fresh-rehmannia-root",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/fresh-rehmannia-root"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Mu Tong",
            "grams": "6",
            "role": "deputy",
            "job": "Clematis stem drains Heart heat through the urine. See the caution on which mu tong.",
            "herb_slug": "akebia-clematis-stem",
            "english": "Akebia, Clematis Stem",
            "chinese": "木通",
            "latin": "Caulis Akebiae",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/akebia-clematis-stem",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/akebia-clematis-stem"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Dan Zhu Ye",
            "grams": "6",
            "role": "assistant",
            "job": "Lophatherum clears Heart heat and irritability.",
            "herb_slug": "lophatherum-herb",
            "english": "Lophatherum Herb",
            "chinese": "淡竹叶",
            "latin": "Herba Lophatheri",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/lophatherum-herb",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/lophatherum-herb"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Gan Cao",
            "grams": "6",
            "role": "envoy",
            "job": "Licorice tip, classically, soothes the burning urine and harmonizes.",
            "herb_slug": "root-of-ural-licorice",
            "english": "Raw Licorice Root",
            "chinese": "甘草",
            "latin": "Radix Glycyrrhizae",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/root-of-ural-licorice",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/root-of-ural-licorice"
            }
        }
    ],
    "actions": [
        "Clears Heart fire and nourishes yin",
        "Promotes urination to drain the heat"
    ],
    "how_it_works": "Rehmannia cools and protects the yin so the formula does not dry a child out. Clematis stem and lophatherum open the drain. Licorice soothes. Four herbs in equal parts, mild enough for a toddler, which is the whole point of the formula.",
    "modifications": [
        {
            "for": "Strong heat and sleeplessness",
            "add": [
                "Huang Lian"
            ],
            "note": "A pinch of coptis."
        },
        {
            "for": "Blood in the urine",
            "add": [
                "Bai Mao Gen",
                "Xiao Ji"
            ],
            "note": "Cooling herbs that stop bleeding."
        }
    ],
    "cautions": [
        "Mu tong: insist on a brand that uses Chuan Mu Tong (clematis) or Tong Cao, never Guan Mu Tong (aristolochia), which damages the kidneys and is banned.",
        "Cool. Not for a weak Spleen with loose stools, or a cold picture.",
        "Short courses; stop when the ulcers and urine settle."
    ],
    "forms": [
        "teapills",
        "granules",
        "decoction"
    ],
    "typical_dose": {
        "decoction": "One bag a day in two doses, with the amounts above; half for a child",
        "course": "Three to seven days."
    },
    "cousins": [
        {
            "slug": "huang-lian-jie-du-tang",
            "difference": "Far stronger, for fire in every organ. Dao Chi San is the gentle Heart version."
        },
        {
            "slug": "ba-zheng-san",
            "difference": "Aims at the bladder alone with stronger drainers, for a real urinary infection."
        }
    ],
    "commerce": {
        "store": "supplementsapothecary.com",
        "store_name": "Supplements Apothecary",
        "store_slug": "dao-chi-san",
        "store_url": "https://www.supplementsapothecary.com/supplement/dao-chi-san",
        "status": "planned",
        "label_check": "The box reads Dao Chi San or Wan with the characters 导赤. Four ingredients: raw Rehmannia, Clematis stem, Lophatherum, and Licorice. The label must state Chuan Mu Tong or Tong Cao."
    },
    "conditions": [
        "mouth-sores",
        "oral-ulcers",
        "urinary-tract-infection",
        "insomnia",
        "fever"
    ],
    "sources": [
        {
            "title": "Bensky, Scheid, Ellis and Barolet, Chinese Herbal Medicine: Formulas and Strategies, 2nd edition",
            "note": "Composition, actions, indications, and cautions."
        },
        {
            "title": "Qian Yi, Xiao Er Yao Zheng Zhi Jue, 1119",
            "note": "Source text."
        }
    ],
    "meta": {
        "status": "published",
        "last_updated": "2026-10-12",
        "reviewed_by": null
    },
    "_links": {
        "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/formula/dao-chi-san",
        "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formula/dao-chi-san",
        "index": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formulas"
    }
}