Bukuryoin
Quick Facts
- What it is: A six-herb Kampo formula, supplied as a single drug (Kampo), used for a slow watery stomach with heartburn, belching and vomiting of clear fluid.
- Main uses: Gastric stasis with water retention, Heartburn and reflux, Frequent belching, Vomiting of watery fluid
- Best for: A heavy, gurgling stomach that empties slowly, Indigestion with belching and clear watery vomit
- Active ingredients: Poria (bukuryo), Atractylodes rhizome (sojutsu), Ginseng root (ninjin), Dried citrus peel (chinpi), Immature bitter orange peel (kijitsu), Ginger (shokyo)
- Forms: Extract granules, Tablets, Capsules, Traditional decoction of raw herbs
- Time to effect: Some ease in days; judge it after two to four weeks.
- Side effects: Usually mild stomach upset or rash; rare liver injury and rare lung inflammation.
Track this remedy in the app
Track Bukuryoin with reminders and record whether it helped, in the app.
What is Bukuryoin?
Bukuryoin is a Japanese Kampo herbal formula built around poria, a dried fungus. It is traditionally given for a heavy, sloshy stomach that empties slowly — what Kampo calls gastric stasis with water retention. The usual complaints are heartburn, eructation (belching, bringing up wind) and vomiting of thin watery fluid.
It is supplied as a single drug (Kampo): one fixed prescription of six dried herbs, not a mixture you assemble yourself. It is also known as Poria decoction, and as Fukuryoin in Japanese.
The evidence picture is lopsided. There is long, steady use in Kampo practice, but we could not find published human trials of the formula itself. Traditional use tells you what practitioners have long done; it is not proof that the formula works, and nothing here promises a result.
How does Bukuryoin work?
The honest answer is that nobody has shown how Bukuryoin works in people.
In Kampo reasoning, poria and atractylodes are thought to move "excess water" out of a waterlogged stomach. Ginseng is said to strengthen weak digestion. Citrus peel, ginger and immature bitter orange peel are used to settle churning and push food downward.
In modern terms, the working guess is that the formula is mildly prokinetic (helps the stomach empty faster) and carminative (eases gas and bloating). That idea rests on laboratory and animal work with the single herbs, not on trials of the finished formula. Treat it as a plausible story, not a proven mechanism.
What forms does Bukuryoin come in?
In Japan it is most often a dried extract granule sachet, taken stirred into warm water. Tablets and capsules of the same extract are also sold.
Practitioners may also prescribe the raw herbs as a decoction, simmered in water and strained. Strength per gram varies a lot between products, so the label on the pack you hold is the only dose that applies to you.
Where it comes from:
Bukuryoin comes from the Jingui Yaolue (Essential Prescriptions of the Golden Cabinet), a Chinese text attributed to Zhang Zhongjing around the third century. Japanese physicians took it up as Kampo developed, and it is now one of the approved Kampo prescription formulas in Japan. Its traditional job has stayed the same for centuries: a watery, slow, gurgling stomach with belching and reflux.
Who should avoid Bukuryoin?
- Do not use if you are pregnant or trying to become pregnant, unless a doctor who knows Kampo has told you to.
- Do not use if you are breastfeeding, as safety for the baby has not been studied.
- Do not use if you are allergic to any of its herbs: poria, atractylodes, ginseng, citrus peel, ginger or bitter orange.
- Do not use if you are taking warfarin or another blood thinner without first asking the doctor who manages it.
- Do not use if you have liver disease, hepatitis (inflammation of the liver) or unexplained abnormal liver blood tests, unless your doctor agrees and checks your bloods.
- Do not use if you have uncontrolled high blood pressure or an irregular heartbeat, because the bitter orange peel can make both worse.
- Never use it to treat vomiting of blood, vomit that looks like coffee grounds, or black tarry stools — these need emergency care.
- Never give it to a child unless a doctor has prescribed it.
- Do not carry on taking it if you develop a fever, a new dry cough or shortness of breath — stop and get checked the same day.
- Avoid taking it alongside another Kampo or Chinese herbal product unless a prescriber has checked the combination for you.
When should you see a doctor?
Stop the formula and get medical help straight away if you vomit blood or something like coffee grounds, pass black tarry stools, or have severe stomach pain.
Stop it and see a doctor the same day if your skin or eyes turn yellow, your urine goes dark, you feel unusually tired, or you develop a fever, a new dry cough or breathlessness.
Book an ordinary appointment if heartburn or indigestion lasts more than a few weeks, if you are losing weight without trying, if swallowing feels difficult, or if nothing has improved after four weeks.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
4.8
