Da Sy Shrine

Da Si Shrine worships the renowned physician Hoang Don Hoa, a native of Huyen Khe village (now Da Si village). He passed the Giam sinh examination and had a special talent for medicine, becoming famous not only domestically but also abroad. Legend has it that Princess Phuong Anh (daughter of King Le The Ton) fell gravely ill, and no renowned physician in the country could cure her. The king invited Hoang Don Hoa to treat the princess, and later, admiring his talent and virtue, gave the princess to him in marriage and conferred on him the title of pho ma (royal son-in-law).

In 1574, when the court sent troops to fight the Mac army in Thai Nguyen, he was appointed Dieu ho luc quan (military medical officer accompanying the army to treat soldiers). After returning successfully, he was promoted to the position of Thi noi thai y vien thu phien and granted the title Luong duoc hau. He was not interested in fame, profit, or official titles, so after serving as an official for some time, he asked to retire and returned with his wife to their hometown, where they practiced medicine and taught. He always took medical ethics and saving patients as his career. He and his wife used local plants and grew medicinal plants themselves to treat illness. For poor patients who had no money to pay, they not only treated them but also gave them money. People everywhere were treated by them with skill and compassion.

In his career, Hoang Don Hoa also compiled Hoat Nhan Toat Yeu, a medical work of his time that later became known to the Qing emperor, who admired it and bestowed on him the title Lich the y. Hoat Nhan Toat Yeu contains 208 remedies for treating various diseases and includes a chapter devoted to health preservation, called the regimen of health preservation in pharmacy. Through Hoat Nhan Toat Yeu, many remedies were summarized, including 265 using Vietnamese medicinal plants.

Hoang Don Hoa was a skilled and virtuous physician, dedicated, compassionate toward the people, and made great contributions to the country's medicine. He is regarded as Vietnam's first military physician with the remedy cao dan hoan tan, that is, oral medication combined with topical application. After his death, the people of Da Si, grateful for his merits, built a shrine at the site of his and his wife's house to worship them for generations. The shrine still has a couplet that reads:

The riverbank retains a sacred mark; accumulated merit reveals his sanctity;

National grace bestowed repeatedly; banners proclaim him a blessed deity.

Meaning:

The riverbank left a sacred trace where he and his wife were honored by the people as saints.

His grace and virtue were repeatedly honored with banners proclaiming him a blessed spirit.