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Okuda family Gero plaster<<Japanese traditional medicine

Updated: Nov 20

first released: 1934 (Showa 9)





History:Okuda family Gero

Gero Onsen in the Hida region of Gifu Prefecture is one of the three most famous hot springs in Japan along with Arima and Kusatsu. Mataemon Okuda, an osteopathic doctor, has inherited the treatment from generation to generation for patients who are in pain in the deep nature. The family medicine that was formulated there was the beginning of Okuda-ke Gero-ko, an anti-inflammatory analgesic patch containing herbal medicines that has been handed down continuously to this day.


Mataemon Okuda, who has been handed down from generation to generation in the Higashi-Ueda district on the outskirts of Gero Onsen, is one of the most famous osteopaths of the time. Patients are said to have visited incessantly. Born in December 1984, his childhood name was Gorokichi.


In April 1897, he lost his father when he was only 12 years old, and inherited his late father's name (Mataemon). Since then, I have practiced as requested and practiced, but the patients who gather here have already received treatment elsewhere, and although their broken bones have healed, there are often those who complain of discomfort during exercise and request treatment. It was It was common for such patients to see their legs and body fully restored to normal after one or several treatments.


In the early Showa period, more than 200 patients from all over the country gathered every day, and nearby private houses were opened to the public as minshuku in order to wait for their turn to see a doctor. There were seven of them, and there was a landscape that was different from the hot spring town.


The 5th generation of the company strictly protected the secret medicine passed down from the family, but many patients wanted to release it to the world. However, it was approved as ``Higashi-Ueda-ko'', the predecessor of ``Okuda-ke Gero-ko'', and put on the market for the first time. In 1945, the company was integrated (later split) into Gifu Prefecture Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (former Taiyo Yakuhin Kogyo Co., Ltd., now Teva Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.) under the wartime control order, and the fifth generation passed away that year.


Then, after many twists and turns, in 1972, the 7th generation established "Okuda Mataemon Kou Honpo" as a joint-stock company in order to preserve the name Mataemon Okuda, which was his mother's wish, for future generations, and named it the Okuda family. Received manufacturing approval as "Okuda Gero Plaster".


In 1975, the white Gero plaster was released as a sister product that made the sticking marks peculiar to Gero plaster less noticeable, and the green Gero plaster, which contains kumazasa and mint to give a refreshing feeling to the skin.


Prototype of Japanese Ointments: Characteristics


The back of a woman concerned about stiff shoulders

The main ingredients of this product are yellow buckwheat (bark of yellowfin tuna) and yangmei (bark of bayberry), rosin as an adhesive component, and herbal ingredients such as sesame oil as a base. . Yellow oak is often used as an internal medicine, but it is added to antidiarrheals and bitter stomachics in anticipation of the antibacterial and anti-inflammatory astringent effects of the alkaloid berberine.


It has also been used externally for bruises and sprains since ancient times. This is also compounded in anti-inflammatory analgesics in anticipation of the anti-inflammatory action of berberine.


Kampo prescriptions include Orengedokuto and Onseiin for internal use, and Yohakusan and Chuokyo for external use.

Home remedies peculiar to Japan include Daranisuke, Hyakusa, and Seirogan for internal use, and Geroko and Mankinko for external use.


Gero Onsen is located on the Gifu Prefecture side of Mt. Also, Hyakusa is located on the Nagano Prefecture side of Mt. Ontake and is said to be ``Hyakusa for baldness and Gero-ko for plaster''. Yangbai skin is mainly used externally for sprains and bruises. This is due to the astringent action of tannin, and Yohakusan (Asada family), which has 294 prescriptions of Kampo, is also an external preparation composed of yellow oak, yangbai skin, and dog sansho.


Among plaster plaster, the content of yellow oak is relatively high, and it is characterized by being yellowish rather than jet black compared to mankinko. Gifu Prefecture is also a production area for Mino Washi and Yamanaka Washi, and Geroko spreads herbal medicines on this Mino Washi. It has good air permeability and is well-fitted to the skin, so it has a shape that also has a taping effect.

At the beginning, this Japanese paper also had a sparse pattern of clouds and dragons, so the amount of plaster applied was slightly different during the spreading process.


For this reason, from about 20 years ago, we have had close discussions with paper manufacturers to eliminate the cloud dragon pattern (so-called colander) to the utmost limit, and we have examined the size of the crude drug powder. We are considering it.


Okudaya Geroko is effective for bruise pain, sprain pain, stiff shoulder pain, joint pain, muscle pain, neuralgia, rheumatic pain, and lumbago. Among these symptoms, Geroko exerts a remarkable effect on particularly painful pain. It is used not only at pharmacies, drug stores, etc., but also at orthopedic clinics.


On the other hand, since Mataemon Okuda was an osteopathic doctor, he did not obtain indications for chapped skin and frostbite. Plasters such as Mankinko have this indication, so can they be used for chapped skin? There are many inquiries such as In addition, there are still many inquiries from all over the country in winter, probably because there were products with ointments in shells and bamboo skins in the past.


Okuda-ya Gero plaster (black) will inevitably leave marks on the skin, so if you are using it for the first time, we recommend starting with the white Gero plaster (Hakko), which has the same main ingredients and indications but has an improved manufacturing method.


In recent years, not only in Gifu, Aichi, and Hokuriku, but also in drugstores in the Tokyo metropolitan area and Kansai, it has become possible to easily pick it up, and there is a lot of inbound demand from overseas. It seems that nomination buying is common even though it is not.


The original type, which leaves black marks, is more popular than the white Gero plaster, which does not leave visible marks. When I asked about it, I heard that there are many similar types of ointments in China, but when I asked a visitor to Japan, he said that he knew about Geroko. It is unknown how he got it, but it seems that his parents and grandparents liked Gero plaster and used it often.


Also, since the beginning, there are still many people who consult with their family doctor or pharmacist and finally decide on Geroko, and this is the main type of inquiry to the customer service center. In that sense as well, every day I feel the importance of promoting self-medication, including home remedies.


Product Features

Okudaya Gero-ko, which is popularly known as Black Gero-ko, is an ointment containing herbal medicines.


We directly treat the affected areas with chronic symptoms such as neuralgia, joint pain, lower back and shoulders.


Since Japanese paper is used, the affected area is properly fixed and pain is relieved.

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