Massage is the manipulation of the body's soft tissues. Massage techniques are commonly applied with hands, fingers, elbows, knees, forearms, feet, or a device. The purpose of massage is generally for the treatment of body stress or pain. A person professionally trained to give massages is traditionally known as a masseur (male) or a masseuse (female) in European countries. In the United States, these individuals are often referred to as massage therapists because they must be certified and licensed as "Licensed Massage Therapists".
Shiatsu is a form of Japanese bodywork based on pseudoscientific concepts in traditional Chinese medicine such as the use of qi meridians. Having been popularized in the twentieth century by Tokujiro Namikoshi (1905–2000), shiatsu derives from the older Japanese massage modality called anma.
In alternative medicine, bodywork is any therapeutic or personal development technique that involves working with the human body in a form involving manipulative therapy, breath work, or energy medicine. Bodywork techniques also aim to assess or improve posture, promote awareness of the "bodymind connection" which is an approach that sees the human body and mind as a single integrated unit, or to manipulate the electromagnetic field alleged to surround the human body and affect health.
Tui na is form of alternative medicine similar to shiatsu. As a branch of traditional Chinese medicine it is often used in conjunction with acupuncture, moxibustion, fire cupping, Chinese herbalism, t'ai chi or other Chinese internal martial arts, and qigong.
Kanpō medicine, often known simply as Kanpō, is the study of traditional Chinese medicine in Japan following its introduction, beginning in the 7th century. then adapted and modified to suit Japanese culture and traditions. Traditional Japanese medicine (TJM) uses most of the Chinese therapies including acupuncture, moxibustion, traditional Chinese herbology and traditional food therapy.
Anma refers to both a practice of traditional Japanese massage and to practitioners of that art. Modern shiatsu is largely derived from anma.
Shizuto Masunaga was a Japanese Shiatsu practitioner and author of books on Shiatsu.
Kiyoshi Ikenaga is a Shiatsu Master, Shiatsupractor (SPR), Chairperson and CEO of the Canadian College of Shiatsu Therapy, Founder/Director of the Canadian Shiatsu Society of BC, Director of the Canada Branch of the Japan Shiatsu Association, Registered Instructor of the International Shiatsu Association.
Colonel Baron Takeichi Nishi was an Imperial Japanese Army officer, equestrian show jumper, and Olympic Gold Medalist at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. He was a tank unit commander at the Battle of Iwo Jima and was killed in action during the defense of the island.
Nik Bärtsch is a Swiss pianist, composer, bandleader, record producer and author from Zürich.
Kameya Tokujirō was a Japanese photographer. Kameya's original surname was Abe ; he was adopted by a family named Kameya. He learned photography at Deshima, the Dutch enclave in the harbour of Nagasaki where physicians Jan Karel van den Broek and J. L. C. Pompe van Meerdervoort taught photography in addition to medicine and chemistry. In turn, Kameya taught photography to Tomishige Rihei, who became his apprentice in 1862. The same year, Kameya moved to Kyoto to open a photographic studio – the first commercial studio in the city. In 1868, he returned to Nagasaki, where he operated a studio until his death. He died in 1884 in Vladivostok, having opened a branch studio there.
Hara. In the Japanese medical tradition and in Japanese martial arts traditions, the word Hara is used as a technical term for a specific area (physical/anatomical) or energy field (physiological/energetic) of the body. An alternative Japanese reading of the character is Hufu, the Chinese reading is Fu.
The Onondaga School of Therapeutic Massage (OSTM) is a private, for-profit massage therapy school with campuses in Syracuse, New York and Rochester, New York. Founded by Douglas Van D’Elia and Elizabeth Goldenberg, the Onondaga School of Therapeutic Massage was approved by the New York State Department of Education in 1997. The school is named after the region where the first campus is located, the Onondaga County region of New York. A branch campus opened in Rochester, NY, Monroe County, New York in 2000.
Sugiyama Waichi (1614–1694) was a Japanese acupuncturist, widely regarded as the "Father of Japanese Acupuncture".
Tokujiro Kanamori was a Japanese politician. He was a major figure in the implementation of the postwar Japanese Constitution.
Kei Suma was a Japanese film and television actor, whose career spanned 25 years.
Harold Dull (1935-2019) was an American aquatic bodyworker and poet best known as the creator of Watsu, originally developed in the early 1980s at Harbin Hot Springs, California. He is also known for his poetry, as founder of the Worldwide Aquatic Bodywork Association (WABA), and as creator of Tantsu and Tantsuyoga. Watsu is a form of aquatic bodywork in which a practitioner or therapist gently cradles, moves, stretches, and massages a receiver in chest-deep warm water for deep relaxation and aquatic therapy.
Carlo Zendo Tetsugen Serra is an Italian missionary Soto Zen master, in the lineage of Harada Daiun Sogaku . He founded his sangha, of the "Sangha della foresta di Bambü" and the monasteries Ensoji il Cerchio in Milan, and Sanbo-ji Tempio dei Tre Gioielli in Berceto. He also founded the "Scuola Zen di Shiatsu", that aims to use the art of shiatsu treatments as a zen practice. He is one of the buddhist religious authorities in Europe signator of the interreligious Italian "Manifesto della pace".
Hiroshi Nozaki (1926-2006) was a Shiatsu master and alternative healer well known in Switzerland, France and Italy for his innovative techniques of Shiatsu, Qigong and Yoga and for starting the Ko School of Shiatsu. He is known for founding Hiron Shiatsu a branch of Shiatsu.
