Ba Wei Di Huang Wan
Hachimijiogan / Jin Gui Shen Qi Wan (Eight-Ingredient Kidney-Yang Pill)
Evidence grade 2 of 5, Thin. Read how the Atlas grades evidence.
The written rationale for this grade is still being prepared.
- FDA
- Not FDA approved; sold as a dietary supplement / OTC Kampo (approved drug in Japan)
Reference only. Not medical advice.
What can go wrong
The defining safety issue is the processed aconite (Fu Zi). Aconitine is cardiotoxic and neurotoxic: oral doses as low as ~0.2 mg can cause poisoning and 2-4 mg can be fatal. Proper pao zhi processing (heating/hydrolysis) converts diester alkaloids to far less toxic monoester and non-ester alkaloids, and the Chinese Pharmacopoeia caps Fu Zi at 3-15 g/day, but under-processed, mislabeled or overdosed products have caused arrhythmias and deaths. Rehmannia-heavy formulas can also cause GI upset. Manufacturing quality and aconite processing vary widely across brands, and heavy-metal contamination has been documented in some imported patent medicines.
This is something to take to a clinician. The Atlas can tell you what is known about ba wei di huang wan in general. It cannot tell you what is happening in your body, and the difference matters most for exactly the symptoms that bring people to this page.
Ba Wei Di Huang Wan is the archetypal Kidney-Yang tonic of Chinese medicine, first recorded as Shen Qi Wan in Zhang Zhongjing's Jin Gui Yao Lue (Essential Prescriptions from the Golden Cabinet, circa 200 CE). It is the six-herb yin base (Liu Wei Di Huang Wan) plus two warming yang herbs: processed aconite (Fu Zi) and cinnamon (Gui Zhi / Rou Gui). In Japan it is the licensed Kampo drug Hachimijiogan. It is traditionally used for the TCM pattern of 'Kidney-Yang deficiency' that maps loosely onto low libido, impotence, nocturia, cold limbs and fatigue. Human evidence for sexual endpoints is thin; the better-studied endpoints are diabetic complications and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), and even there the trials are small and mostly Asian.
The 1,800-year-old kidney-yang formula that anchors the whole East Asian virility tradition.
What people take it for
These are the reasons people give for taking it. They are not effects it has been shown to have.
How it is supposed to work
In TCM terms, the six yin-nourishing herbs (prepared rehmannia, cornus fruit, dioscorea, alisma, poria, moutan) build the substrate, while aconite and cinnamon 'warm and activate' Kidney-Yang to restore the lower-burner qi transformation that governs bladder holding and reproductive function. Pharmacologically, component studies attribute effects to loganin (from cornus), gallic acid, paeonol and aconite alkaloids, with proposed actions on NF-kB/ICAM-1 signaling, oxidative stress and advanced glycation end-products. None of this establishes a validated mechanism for improving erections or libido in humans.
What people get wrong
Often saidIt is a proven natural Viagra
ActuallyThere is no adequate randomized controlled evidence that Ba Wei Di Huang Wan improves erectile function in humans. The stronger data are for diabetic complications and bladder symptoms, and even those trials are small and methodologically limited.
Often saidTraditional means safe
ActuallyIt contains aconite, one of the more dangerous herbs in the pharmacopeia. Safety depends entirely on correct processing and dosing.
Who profits, and who pushes back
Nobody is named here yet, because we have not done that work on this entry. Read that as unfinished. Somebody almost certainly sells this, and somebody almost certainly disputes it. Assume both until we have checked.
How we got here
The formula traces to Zhang Zhongjing (Eastern Han dynasty, circa 200 CE), where it appears in Jin Gui Yao Lue as Shen Qi Wan / Ba Wei Shen Qi Wan for consumptive weakness, thirst and urinary problems. The pure yin subset (Liu Wei Di Huang Wan) was later derived by the Song pediatrician Qian Yi. The formula was transmitted to Japan and became one of the most widely prescribed Kampo medicines under the name Hachimijiogan, where it is a nationally licensed, reimbursable drug.
- ~200 CERecorded as Shen Qi Wan in Jin Gui Yao Lue
- Song dynastyYin-only Liu Wei Di Huang Wan derived by Qian Yi
- Edo/modern JapanAdopted as Kampo drug Hachimijiogan
- 2000sOLETF-rat and small clinical studies on diabetic nephropathy and OAB
What we do not know
- Do the LUTS/diabetic-complication signals translate to any male sexual-health benefit?
- How consistent is aconite processing across export-grade products?
Legal status
Sold as OTC Kampo in Japan and as an imported patent medicine (teapills) through TCM dispensaries and online herb retailers in the West, where it is a dietary supplement rather than an approved drug.
Status current as of July 2026. Regulatory positions change, sometimes quickly.
At a glance
- Origin text
- Jin Gui Yao Lue, ~200 CE
- Ingredients
- 8 herbs
- Toxic component
- Fu Zi (aconite)
- Japan status
- Licensed Kampo formula
What this entry does not yet cover
What follows is unfinished work on our side, not a finding about Ba Wei Di Huang Wan. A short entry is not a safe entry.
- Cost and market. We have not documented what it sells for or who sells it.
- Supply chain. We have not mapped where it is made.
- Who uses it. We have not documented the user groups.
- What could change. No forward-looking summary yet.
- How it compares. We have not set it against the alternatives.
- Children and teenagers. We have not checked what is known about younger people.
Sources
The studies below are named and described, but not linked. You cannot open them from here and check our reading against them, which means this page is our summary of the literature rather than a document you can verify. Weigh it accordingly until the links exist.
The studies that matter
Hachimijiogan in OLETF type-2 diabetes rats2000s
Dose-dependent reduction in hyperglycemia, urinary protein and AGE markers; preclinical only
Kampo/Hachimijiogan for overactive bladder (small clinical work)various
Reported improvements in frequency and urgency scores in small, often unblinded studies