A 1658 herb market in Daegu where the street smells of angelica root

Walk west from Banwoldang Station in Daegu and you notice the change in the air before you notice the signs. It turns earthy and faintly sweet, and burlap sacks of root and bark start to line the pavement. This is Yangnyeongsi (약령시), the city's herbal medicine market, which dates its founding to 1658.

A market that once met twice a year

In the Joseon period, Yangnyeongsi was held in spring and autumn, when merchants brought roots and bark in from across the peninsula. Today it is a permanent street of wholesalers, small hanuiwon (한의원, traditional medicine clinics), and shops that will weigh out a single geun (근, about 600 grams) for anyone who walks in.

What to look at, and what to ask

The sacks are labelled in Hangeul and often in hanja, the Chinese characters that traditional medicine still relies on. Look for daechu (대추, jujube), danggwi (당귀, angelica root), and pale ginseng roots sorted by age. Shopkeepers are used to visitors who only want to look. A small bag of jujube or dried mugwort for tea is a sensible first purchase, and no one expects you to order a brewed prescription.

The museum inside the market

The Yangnyeongsi Museum of Oriental Medicine stands in the middle of the street and explains what you have just walked past. Once you have been inside, the walls of small labelled drawers in the older shops look less like decoration and more like stock.

약령시에서는 냄새가 먼저 길을 알려 준다.

Go on a weekday in the late morning, when deliveries are being unloaded and most shutters are up. The trade here still happens on the street, by weight, with no ticket, and the market is only a few minutes from central Daegu.