Kampo medicine is a medical system that has been more broadly known thanks to the recent development and commercial availability of Kampo extract products. The efficacy of Daikenchuto and other traditional herbal (Kampo) medicines has been repeatedly proven by randomized controlled trials, and approximately 90% of Japanese doctors have prescribed Kampo medicines according to the prescription survey undertaken by the Japan Kampo Medicines Manufacturers Association in 2011. However, most doctors unfamiliar with the principles of Kampo medicine prescribe Kampo extract products as if they are not different from other drugs of Western medicine. For example, Rikkunshito is prescribed as a remedy for functional dyspepsia without an assessment of the Kampo medicine principles; this is a trend described as "Kampo by the name of a disease" that has been widely criticized by Kampo medicine experts. But conversely, the broad variety of the available Kampo medicines and the "Kampo by the name of a disease" prescribing trend could be a wide entrance of the practice of Kampo medicine and an understanding of its principles. Fortunately, in Japan, patients' symptoms could be treated using various Kampo medicines in one health insurance system. Here, a simplified outline of Kampo medicine's principles is provided along with the presentation of two cases of diagnosed depressive episodes. In the latter, Kampo medicines were presumed to be effective in treating the asthma, headache, and diarrhea that appeared during the patients' depression. To treat psychiatric diseases, the employment of psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy is necessary, as is-in some cases-the adjustment of circumstances. Along with these therapeutic interventions, the use of Kampo medicines could form the basis of a complementary therapeutic approach to the treatment of residual psycho―somatic symptoms.
 Author's abstract