Shiatsudo Blog

Zen Shiatsu as currently practiced in the UK is a fairly recent therapy. The theory and structure of Zen Shiatsu was consolidated by a man named Shizuto Masunaga in Japan in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but, as most writing on the subject likes to point out, shiatsu traces its roots back to earlier forms of massage.

Obviously, any body of knowledge developed over time draws on its ancestors, and for shiatsu, these could be considered Teate and Tuina/Anma. Teate is reputedly the blanket term for hands-on massage indigenous to Japan, and means “placing the hands”. Around the 6th Century AD, commercial trade began between China and Japan, and with it, cultural exchange took place. China already had a comprehensively developed medical system in the form of acupuncture and Anma/Tuina (massage) which were amalgamated into Japanese culture. The Anma/Tuina would have been absorbed and changed and some sources claim that around the 10th Century AD, a form of massage that we would recognise as Shiatsu was being practiced (though it would have to wait until the 20th Century to be given the name Shiatsu).

For a while, massage flourished as a therapy and a profession, to the point that around 300 years ago, Anma was required study for doctors in Japan, helping them get to grips with the structure, energy flow and acupuncture points of the body. But, over time, it lost its medical pedigree, and with the introduction and influence of European medicine, became relegated mostly to treating only muscular tension.