History

The originator of Shiatsu therapy was a young boy named Tokujiro Namikoshi. He was born on November 3, 1905 on the Japanese Island of Shikoku. When Namikoshi was 7 years old he and his family moved from the warm Southern climate to a more harsh one on the northern Island of Hokkaido. Once there, Namikoshi's mother began suffering from what is known today as rheumatoid arthritis in her joints. To alleviate the growing pain and in the absence of a village doctor Namikoshi began stroking and pressing the afflicted parts of her body. This reduced the mother's pain and allowed Namikoshi's hands to develop a sensitivity to the stiffness, temperature and skin condition of the body. Soon the young therapist realized the greatest healing benefit was achieved when he pressed the body 80% of the time and rubbed it 20%. In time he cured his mother's condition.
This experience sparked Namikoshi to study the human body and eventually he systemized his thumb pressure method known as SHIATSU, ("shi" means finger and "atsu" means pressure in Japanese). In 1925 he opened the first Shiatsu Institute of Therapy on Hokkaido. Once accepted and operational, Namikoshi then moved to Tokyo to infect the Japanese capital with the genius of his new founded therapy. After years of perseverance the Japan Shiatsu Institute was founded on February 11, 1940. After years displaying the unique affects of shiatsu and thus gaining country wide acceptance, the Japanese Minister of Health and Welfare officially licensed Namikoshi's school under its new name: The Japan Shiatsu School. To this day Shiatsu is wholeheartedly promoted and regulated by the Japanese government and there have been over 20,000 graduates from the school. Some of these graduates are responsible for transmitting the therapy world wide with special western proliferation in the 1970's to the 1990's. It was in 1953 that Shiatsu was exported as a Healing Art form from Japan and introduced to North America when the Palmer Chiropractic School in Iowa, USA invited Master Tokujiro Namikoshi Sensei and his son Toru (author of The Complete book of Shiatsu Therapy) to teach the art. Over 4 decades later, Shiatsu has become internationally accepted as one of the most effective natural healing art forms. Yet Master Kensen Saito, Director of SAT, remains one of only three original students that Master Sensei had personally mentored.