Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
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Sanmotsuogonto is a Kampo herbal formula used in Japan. Its name means Three-Ingredient Scutellaria Decoction. It is a Ministry-approved Kampo formula, sold as Tsumura 121.
It is given for a hot, burning feeling in the hands and feet. Kampo doctors also use it for dry, itchy skin. It is best known for use in the weeks after childbirth.
Long use in a tradition is not proof that a remedy works. Good human trials of this formula are lacking. Treat the evidence as unsettled, and treat the safety notes below as firm.
Kampo explains it in its own terms. The blend is said to clear heat and dryness from the blood, and to settle burning limbs. That is a traditional idea, not a lab finding.
In test tubes and in animals, baicalin from Ogon damps some inflammation signals. In animal work, matrine from Kujin appears to calm itch and pain nerves. Whether either of these happens in people at normal doses is not known.
Jio is used in Kampo to moisten dryness. No human trial has linked that use to a measured effect.
Most people take it as extract granules. These are fine grains that you stir into warm water. Tsumura 121 is the best known brand in Japan.
Some makers sell tablets or capsules of the same extract. A few Kampo doctors still boil the raw herbs as a tea. The strength of a home-made tea is hard to judge, so the granules are safer.
The recipe comes from old Chinese medical writing. It appears in the appendix of the Jingui Yaolue, quoted from a Tang dynasty source. It was given for burning heat in the limbs after childbirth.
Japanese doctors took it into Kampo practice from the Edo period on. It is now one of the formulas approved for use in Japan's health system.
Some reactions to Sanmotsuogonto need urgent care. Call your local emergency number or go to an emergency department straight away — do not wait to see whether it passes.
Stop it and see a doctor the same day if your skin or eyes turn yellow, your urine goes dark, or you feel deeply tired and off your food. These can be signs of liver injury.
Get urgent care for a new dry cough, breathlessness or fever. Ogon-based Kampo formulas have been linked to lung inflammation.
Call emergency services for fainting, a very slow pulse, slow or shallow breathing, or a fit (seizure). These point to too much Kujin.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
Reviewed by the HealisticMD editorial team How we grade evidence →
The published evidence for Sanmotsuogonto is weak or absent. That usually means no controlled trial has tested it, not that a trial found it ineffective — the two are different, and we grade only what has been published.
What it is typically used for, usual dose, cautions, and the study behind it where real trial data exists.
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