Moxibustion - Terminology

Terminology

The word moxa comes from Japanese mogusa (艾?, mugwort) (the u is not very strongly enunciated) blended with combustion "burning," hence literally "burning of mugwort." Yomogi (蓬?) is the name of the herb in Japan. Chinese uses the same character as mogusa, but pronounced differently: ài, also called àiróng (艾絨, literally "velvet of ai").

The Chinese characters for moxibustion are jiǔshù (灸術).

Korean folklore attributes the development of moxibustion to the legendary emperor Dangun, though it was more likely brought into the country from a Chinese colonial prefecture.