The Healing Journal Magazine - Holistic / Spiritual Publication

Although Shiatsu is a form of therapy uniquely Japanese, its roots date back to ancient Chinese philosophical ideas. The oldest text available - The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine (Han Dynasty 206 BC - AD 25) gives us an inkling of how medicine and philosophy were tied together at that time. The text is a series of dialogues between Emperor Huang Ti, and his physician/minister, Ch’i Po. The emphasis is on how the environment and geography effect one’s health.

Four Classical approaches to medicine were developed in specific geographical regions:

In the South, where it was warmer, lots of vegetation grew, making herbal remedies readily available.

The coldness of the North fostered moxibustion, which is the burning of mugwort on acupuncture points.

In the East where the diet was based on fish and salt, stomach ulcers were a problem. This condition responded well to the stone flint needling of precise points on the body (acupuncture).

In the Centre of China, many physical techniques, such as massage, breathing and exercises evolved.

The aim was to be in touch with the Tao - the flow of life - “the Way” - the Source of undifferentiated energy.

Around the 6th Century AD, monks brought a combination of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism from China to Japan. Trading opened up communication between China and Japan, and in the 7th Century a delegation of Japanese students was sent to China by the Prince, to study Chinese medicine and culture.

It wasn’t until the early part of the twentieth century that Shiatsu

itself was developed. The originator was Tamai Tempaku, who published a book called Shiatsu Ho (finger pressure method) in 1919. His book combined Anma, Ampuku (an ancient form of abdominal massage used in pregnancy and childbirth), and Do-In (therapeutic exercises), with Western anatomy and physiology.

In the Taisho Period (1911-1925) Shiatsu was defined for the first time under the Shiatsu Law. In 1955, Shiatsu was legally approved as part of Anma massage. In 1957, the Japan Shiatsu School was officially licensed by the Japanese government and in 1964, Shiatsu was recognized as a therapy in its own right. and today Shiatsu is fully incorporated into the Health Care System.

Who was Namikoshi and how did Shiatsu came to North America?
Tokujiro Namikoshi discovered his system of Shiatsu through trial and error, as a growing boy on Hokkaido, a northern Japanese island his family moved to when he was very young (1905). Due to the climate’s extremes his mother developed arthritis in her knee which developed into rheumatoid arthritis of many of her joints. The children took turns helping her and Tokujiro’s hands “felt best” to his mother and he slowly discovered his treatments were more

effective if he increased his ratio of pressing to rubbing techniques. Eventually her body healed itself. Later Tokujiro was to realize that by pressing on the muscles on either side of the middle region of her spine, he was stimulating the adrenal glands to produce cortisol, the cure for rheumatism!

Tokujiro opened the Shiatsu Institute of Therapy on Hokkaido, in 1925 and in 1933 and went to Tokyo to form a Shiatsu school there. Two years after Shiatsu was legally approved as part of Anma, in 1957, the school was legally licensed under the new name, the Japan Shiatsu School.

This School proved to be very successful. Tokujiro’s son Toru spent seven years teaching Shiatsu in Europe and the US, contributing greatly to its worldwide expansion. His style requires a thorough knowledge - of the musculo-skeletal structure of the body and the nervous system, emphasizing neuro-muscular points.

The RST Designation in BC today
Registered Shiatsu Therapist / RST is a professional designation granted to an STA member (Shiatsu Therapy Association of BC) who has successfully completed all the application requirements and a minimum of 1000 hours of training in Shiatsu Therapy, based on the S.T.A.- 1000 Hour Standard. “Title Protection” or “Right to Title” legislation permits designated occupational associations to certify their members and give them a right to use a specific reserved title. Persons who are not members of the designated association (and therefore not certified) cannot be prevented from practicing the occupation, regardless of the level of their qualifications or ethics, provided they do not use the reserved title.

... and some of the contraindications are:

Acute disorders
Malignant tumors
Acute poisoning
Acute inflammation
Bleeding
Trauma
Serious internal organ disease
Aneurysm, serious arteriosclerosis
Ulcers
Tuberculosis
Venereal disease

Lynn Kirk has been active as the Director of the Education Committee for the Shiatsu Therapy Association of BC, is working on a second degree at UVic, has been on the faculty of CAC since 1996 and is a Registered Shiatsu practitioner with CSSBC.

She can be reached at lynnkirkcst@home.com and 250-384-2001

Bhavna Solecki RST has been practicing Zen Shiatsu (Masunaga style) since 2003 and is the secretary of the Shiatsu Therapy Association of BC and a graduate of Source Point Shiatsu Centre/Langara College in Vancouver B.C. She been reached at: sonuchug@hotmail.com and 604-221-0730

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