{
    "slug": "jin-gui-shen-qi-wan",
    "names": {
        "pinyin": "Jin Gui Shen Qi Wan",
        "chinese": "金匮肾气丸",
        "english": "Kidney Qi Pill from the Golden Cabinet",
        "alternate": [
            "Ba Wei Di Huang Wan",
            "Eight-Ingredient Pill with Rehmannia",
            "Golden Book Teapills",
            "Shen Qi Wan"
        ]
    },
    "category": "tonify-yang",
    "family": "di-huang-wan",
    "source": {
        "text": "Jin Gui Yao Lue (Essentials from the Golden Cabinet)",
        "author": "Zhang Zhong-jing",
        "dynasty": "Han",
        "year": "c. 220"
    },
    "summary": "The warming cousin of Liu Wei Di Huang Wan and the base formula for Kidney yang deficiency. For the person who runs cold: a cold aching low back, cold knees and feet, frequent clear urine and trips to the bathroom at night, low drive, and an exhaustion that is worse in winter.",
    "picture": "Six herbs fill the tank, and a small pinch of cinnamon and aconite relights the pilot light under it. The warming herbs are a small part of the formula on purpose: you light a fire with a match, not a bonfire.",
    "patterns": [
        {
            "slug": "kidney-yang-deficiency",
            "role": "primary",
            "_links": {
                "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/pattern/kidney-yang-deficiency",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/pattern/kidney-yang-deficiency"
            }
        },
        {
            "slug": "kidney-essence-deficiency",
            "role": "yang side",
            "_links": {
                "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/pattern/kidney-essence-deficiency",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/pattern/kidney-essence-deficiency"
            }
        }
    ],
    "indications": [
        "Cold, aching low back and weak legs",
        "Cold lower body and feet",
        "Frequent clear urine, waking at night to urinate",
        "Difficult or dribbling urination in an older man",
        "Impotence or low drive with a cold picture",
        "Swelling of the ankles",
        "Chronic wheeze or breathlessness on effort from a weak Kidney",
        "Early-morning tiredness that improves as the day warms"
    ],
    "signs": {
        "tongue": "Pale, swollen, wet, with a thin white coat.",
        "pulse": "Deep, weak, and slow, especially at the rear positions."
    },
    "ingredients": [
        {
            "pinyin": "Shu Di Huang",
            "grams": "24",
            "role": "chief",
            "job": "Prepared rehmannia fills the Kidney yin that yang is made from.",
            "herb_slug": "prepared-rehmannia-root",
            "english": "Prepared Rehmannia Root",
            "chinese": "熟地黄",
            "latin": "Radix Rehmanniae Praeparata",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/prepared-rehmannia-root",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/prepared-rehmannia-root"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Shan Zhu Yu",
            "grams": "12",
            "role": "deputy",
            "job": "Cornelian cherry holds the essence in.",
            "herb_slug": "asiatic-cornelian-cherry-fruit",
            "english": "Asiatic Cornelian Cherry Fruit",
            "chinese": "山茱萸",
            "latin": "Fructus Corni",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/asiatic-cornelian-cherry-fruit",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/asiatic-cornelian-cherry-fruit"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Shan Yao",
            "grams": "12",
            "role": "deputy",
            "job": "Chinese yam steadies the Spleen and Kidney.",
            "herb_slug": "common-yam-rhizome",
            "english": "Chinese Yam Rhizome",
            "chinese": "山药",
            "latin": "Rhizoma Dioscoreae",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/common-yam-rhizome",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/common-yam-rhizome"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Ze Xie",
            "grams": "9",
            "role": "assistant",
            "job": "Water plantain drains damp so the tonic moves.",
            "herb_slug": "rhizome-of-oriental-waterplantain",
            "english": "Rhizome of Oriental Waterplantain",
            "chinese": "",
            "latin": "Rhizoma Alismatis",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/rhizome-of-oriental-waterplantain",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/rhizome-of-oriental-waterplantain"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Mu Dan Pi",
            "grams": "9",
            "role": "assistant",
            "job": "Tree peony bark keeps the warming herbs from overheating the blood.",
            "herb_slug": "tree-peony-bark",
            "english": "Tree Peony Bark",
            "chinese": "牡丹皮",
            "latin": "Cortex Moutan",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/tree-peony-bark",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/tree-peony-bark"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Fu Ling",
            "grams": "9",
            "role": "assistant",
            "job": "Poria drains damp and supports digestion.",
            "herb_slug": "indian-bread",
            "english": "Poria",
            "chinese": "茯苓",
            "latin": "Poria",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/indian-bread",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/indian-bread"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Rou Gui",
            "grams": "3",
            "role": "chief",
            "job": "Cinnamon bark warms the Kidney and guides the fire back to its source. Cassia twig in the original.",
            "herb_slug": "cassia-bark",
            "english": "Cassia Bark",
            "chinese": "肉桂",
            "latin": "Cortex Cinnamomi",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/cassia-bark",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/cassia-bark"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Fu Zi",
            "grams": "3",
            "role": "chief",
            "job": "Processed aconite relights the Kidney's pilot light. Small dose, always processed.",
            "herb_slug": "common-monkshood-daughter-root-2",
            "english": "Prepared Aconite Lateral Root",
            "chinese": "附子",
            "latin": "Aconiti Lateralis Radix Praeparata",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/common-monkshood-daughter-root-2",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/common-monkshood-daughter-root-2"
            }
        }
    ],
    "actions": [
        "Warms and tonifies Kidney yang",
        "Fills the yin so the yang has something to burn"
    ],
    "how_it_works": "Zhang Zhong-jing built this formula on a quiet idea: to make yang you first need yin. So six herbs fill the Kidney and only two warm it, in tiny amounts. The result is a slow steady warmth from the inside rather than a hot flash, which is why it can be taken for months.",
    "modifications": [
        {
            "for": "Swelling and watery urine",
            "add": [
                "Niu Xi",
                "Che Qian Zi"
            ],
            "note": "This becomes Ji Sheng Shen Qi Wan, the version for edema."
        },
        {
            "for": "Low back pain as the main complaint",
            "add": [
                "Du Zhong",
                "Xu Duan"
            ],
            "note": "Eucommia and teasel strengthen the back."
        },
        {
            "for": "Night urination that will not shift",
            "add": [
                "Yi Zhi Ren",
                "Sang Piao Xiao"
            ],
            "note": "Herbs that hold the bladder."
        }
    ],
    "cautions": [
        "Warming. Not for a dry, hot picture: night sweats, hot palms, a dry mouth, a red peeled tongue. That person needs Liu Wei or Zhi Bai Di Huang Wan, and the warming version will make them worse.",
        "Contains processed aconite in a small dose. Buy only a tested brand, never raw aconite, and never increase the dose on your own.",
        "Pause during a cold, flu, or fever.",
        "Pregnancy: use only under a qualified practitioner.",
        "Some boxes label this Ba Wei Di Huang Wan. Zhi Bai Di Huang Wan is also sometimes called Eight Flavor. Read the ingredient list: cinnamon and aconite mean warming, anemarrhena and phellodendron mean cooling."
    ],
    "forms": [
        "teapills",
        "concentrated tablets",
        "granules",
        "decoction"
    ],
    "typical_dose": {
        "teapills": "8 pills, three times a day with warm water, the usual label dose",
        "decoction": "One bag a day in two doses, with the amounts above",
        "course": "Two to three months, often through the winter."
    },
    "cousins": [
        {
            "slug": "liu-wei-di-huang-wan",
            "difference": "The same six base herbs without the two warming ones. For the dry warm picture, not the cold one."
        },
        {
            "slug": "you-gui-wan",
            "difference": "A richer, purely tonic yang formula with deer antler glue and eucommia and no draining herbs, for deeper deficiency."
        },
        {
            "slug": "zhen-wu-tang",
            "difference": "Warms Kidney yang to move water when swelling and watery stools are the main complaint. Less tonic, more drainage."
        }
    ],
    "commerce": {
        "store": "supplementsapothecary.com",
        "store_name": "Supplements Apothecary",
        "store_slug": "jin-gui-shen-qi-wan",
        "store_url": "https://www.supplementsapothecary.com/supplement/jin-gui-shen-qi-wan",
        "status": "planned",
        "label_check": "The box reads Jin Gui Shen Qi Wan or Ba Wei Di Huang Wan with the characters 金匮肾气丸. Eight herbs: the six of Liu Wei plus Cinnamon bark and processed Aconite. Buy a tested brand only; Plum Flower is the common one.",
        "note": "Contains processed aconite. Sold as a patent pill in the United States, but only a tested brand belongs in your cupboard."
    },
    "conditions": [
        "kidney-yang-deficiency",
        "kidney-deficiency",
        "low-back-pain",
        "frequent-urination",
        "impotence",
        "edema",
        "benign-prostatic-hyperplasia",
        "wheezing"
    ],
    "sources": [
        {
            "title": "Bensky, Scheid, Ellis and Barolet, Chinese Herbal Medicine: Formulas and Strategies, 2nd edition",
            "note": "Composition, actions, indications, cautions, and the Ji Sheng modification."
        },
        {
            "title": "Zhang Zhong-jing, Jin Gui Yao Lue, c. 220",
            "note": "Source text."
        }
    ],
    "meta": {
        "status": "published",
        "last_updated": "2026-10-12",
        "reviewed_by": null
    },
    "_links": {
        "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/formula/jin-gui-shen-qi-wan",
        "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formula/jin-gui-shen-qi-wan",
        "index": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formulas"
    }
}