{
    "slug": "liu-jun-zi-tang",
    "names": {
        "pinyin": "Liu Jun Zi Tang",
        "chinese": "六君子汤",
        "english": "Six-Gentlemen Decoction",
        "alternate": [
            "Liu Jun Zi Wan",
            "Six Gentlemen Teapills",
            "Major Six Herb Combination"
        ]
    },
    "category": "tonify-qi",
    "source": {
        "text": "Yi Xue Zheng Zhuan (True Lineage of Medicine)",
        "author": "Yu Tuan",
        "dynasty": "Ming",
        "year": "1515"
    },
    "summary": "Si Jun Zi Tang plus two herbs for phlegm and nausea. For the tired person with weak digestion who also feels queasy, has a full chest, brings up thin white phlegm, and shows a greasy white coat on the tongue. The everyday formula for a weak, damp stomach.",
    "picture": "The four gentlemen rebuild the stove. The two extra herbs, tangerine peel and pinellia, mop the floor. A weak Spleen always leaves puddles of damp, and this is the formula that cleans up after it.",
    "patterns": [
        {
            "slug": "spleen-qi-deficiency",
            "role": "with phlegm",
            "_links": {
                "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/pattern/spleen-qi-deficiency",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/pattern/spleen-qi-deficiency"
            }
        },
        {
            "slug": "phlegm-damp",
            "role": "with weak Spleen",
            "_links": {
                "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/pattern/phlegm-damp",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/pattern/phlegm-damp"
            }
        },
        {
            "slug": "spleen-dampness",
            "role": "primary",
            "_links": {
                "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/pattern/spleen-dampness",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/pattern/spleen-dampness"
            }
        }
    ],
    "indications": [
        "Tiredness with poor appetite",
        "Nausea, queasiness, or vomiting",
        "Fullness in the chest or stomach",
        "Cough with thin white phlegm",
        "Loose stools",
        "Bloating after meals",
        "Morning sickness in a weak, damp picture, when prescribed"
    ],
    "signs": {
        "tongue": "Pale with a white greasy coat.",
        "pulse": "Weak and slippery."
    },
    "ingredients": [
        {
            "pinyin": "Dang Shen",
            "grams": "9",
            "role": "chief",
            "job": "Codonopsis, or ginseng in the classic, restores the qi.",
            "herb_slug": "root-pilose-asiabell",
            "english": "Dang Shen Root",
            "chinese": "党参",
            "latin": "Radix Codonopsis Pilosulae",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/root-pilose-asiabell",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/root-pilose-asiabell"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Bai Zhu",
            "grams": "9",
            "role": "deputy",
            "job": "Atractylodes strengthens the Spleen and dries damp.",
            "herb_slug": "rhizome-of-largehead-atractylodes",
            "english": "Rhizome of Largehead Atractylodes",
            "chinese": "",
            "latin": "Rhizoma Atractylodis Macrocephalae",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/rhizome-of-largehead-atractylodes",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/rhizome-of-largehead-atractylodes"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Fu Ling",
            "grams": "9",
            "role": "deputy",
            "job": "Poria drains damp.",
            "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": "Zhi Gan Cao",
            "grams": "6",
            "role": "envoy",
            "job": "Honey-fried licorice harmonizes.",
            "herb_slug": "prepared-liauorice-root",
            "english": "Honey-Fried Licorice Root",
            "chinese": "炙甘草",
            "latin": "Radix Glycyrrhizae Praeparata",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/prepared-liauorice-root",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/prepared-liauorice-root"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Chen Pi",
            "grams": "9",
            "role": "assistant",
            "job": "Tangerine peel moves qi, dries damp, and settles the stomach.",
            "herb_slug": "dried-tangerine-peel",
            "english": "Dried Tangerine Peel",
            "chinese": "陈皮",
            "latin": "Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/dried-tangerine-peel",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/dried-tangerine-peel"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Ban Xia",
            "grams": "9",
            "role": "assistant",
            "job": "Pinellia, processed, transforms phlegm and stops nausea.",
            "herb_slug": "tuber-of-pinellia",
            "english": "Raw Pinellia Tuber",
            "chinese": "半夏",
            "latin": "Rhizoma Pinelliae",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/tuber-of-pinellia",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/tuber-of-pinellia"
            }
        }
    ],
    "actions": [
        "Tonifies the qi and strengthens the Spleen",
        "Transforms phlegm and settles the stomach"
    ],
    "how_it_works": "Tonifying a damp stomach without draining it just makes more damp. So this formula tonifies with four herbs and dries with two. Tangerine peel moves the qi so the tonic does not sit; pinellia turns the phlegm and stops the queasiness. The result is a tonic that a nauseous person can keep down.",
    "modifications": [
        {
            "for": "Bloating, belching, stomach pain",
            "add": [
                "Mu Xiang",
                "Sha Ren"
            ],
            "note": "This becomes Xiang Sha Liu Jun Zi Tang."
        },
        {
            "for": "Cold stomach, cold hands",
            "add": [
                "Gan Jiang"
            ],
            "note": "Dried ginger warms the middle."
        },
        {
            "for": "Acid and a sour taste",
            "add": [
                "Wu Zhu Yu",
                "Huang Lian"
            ],
            "note": "The classic pair for acid from a cold-hot mix."
        }
    ],
    "cautions": [
        "Drying. Not for a dry picture: a dry mouth, dry stools, a red peeled tongue.",
        "Pause during a cold, flu, or fever.",
        "Pinellia must be the processed form; raw pinellia is toxic. Every tested brand uses processed.",
        "Pregnancy: use only under a qualified practitioner."
    ],
    "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": "One to two months."
    },
    "cousins": [
        {
            "slug": "si-jun-zi-tang",
            "difference": "The four-herb base without the phlegm herbs, for tiredness and loose stools with no nausea."
        },
        {
            "slug": "xiang-sha-liu-jun-zi-tang",
            "difference": "Adds costus and amomum for bloating, belching, and pain."
        },
        {
            "slug": "er-chen-tang",
            "difference": "Phlegm herbs without the tonic, for a phlegmy cough or nausea in someone who is not weak."
        }
    ],
    "commerce": {
        "store": "supplementsapothecary.com",
        "store_name": "Supplements Apothecary",
        "store_slug": "liu-jun-zi-tang",
        "store_url": "https://www.supplementsapothecary.com/supplement/liu-jun-zi-tang",
        "status": "planned",
        "label_check": "The box reads Liu Jun Zi Tang or Wan with the characters 六君子. Six ingredients: the four gentlemen plus Tangerine peel and processed Pinellia."
    },
    "conditions": [
        "nausea",
        "indigestion",
        "dyspepsia",
        "poor-appetite",
        "productive-cough",
        "phlegm-accumulation",
        "fatigue"
    ],
    "sources": [
        {
            "title": "Bensky, Scheid, Ellis and Barolet, Chinese Herbal Medicine: Formulas and Strategies, 2nd edition",
            "note": "Composition, actions, indications, and modifications."
        }
    ],
    "meta": {
        "status": "published",
        "last_updated": "2026-10-12",
        "reviewed_by": null
    },
    "_links": {
        "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/formula/liu-jun-zi-tang",
        "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formula/liu-jun-zi-tang",
        "index": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formulas"
    }
}