CULIA

The history of Japanese acupuncture stretches back to the kingdoms of Xia, Yin, and Zhou, which prospered from nearly five thousand years ago in ancient China.  Already at that time people were dispensing treatments in the form of the so-called 'benevolent art', which included stroking and rubbing those who were suffering from disease.  Then, roughly two thousand and some hundred years ago during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods (ca 770BC ~ 221BC), which followed the Zhou Dynasty, records of the medical practices up until that time were written down. 

The so-called three great classics of acupuncture, the Su Wen (Basic Questions), Ling Shu (Spiritual Pivot), and Nan Jing (Book of Difficult Issues) were written during the Former Han (206BC ~ 8AD) and Later Han (25 ~ 220) dynasties.  With them the fountainhead of acupuncture was established.  The theoretical foundation of hari is derived from these medical classics and the science of ki.

Further, treatments that focused on herbal remedies, which appeared in the Yangzi River basin in southern China, began to flourish from the time of the Six Dynasties (229 ~ 587).  Then, from the time of the Sui (581 ~ 618) and Tang (618 ~ 907) dynasties acupuncture and herbal medicine began to influence each other, and both continued to develop.

Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine were transmitted along with Buddhism to Japan starting in the Nara period (710 ~ 794).  Both flourished greatly during the Heian period (794 ~ 1192).  Then, during the Edo period (1603 ~ 1867) a uniquely Japanese form of treatment, which focused on pulse and abdominal diagnosis, was developed and reached new heights of prosperity. 

However, during the Meiji period (1868 ~ 1912) contemporary Western biomedicine became dominant when traditional East Asian culture was pushed into the corner.  At that time the Japanese government was in such a hurry to implement a policy of increasing the nation's wealth and military power that it adopted Occidental culture across the board, including medicine.  Thereafter practitioners of Chinese herbal medicine nearly vanished in the shadows.  Acupuncture on the other hand continued to survive, although at a distance from mainstream medicine. 

From the Showa Era (1926 ~ 1989) until the present, people have not been satisfied with only the symptomatic treatment of biomedicine, and there has been resurgence in the general awareness of the value of East Asian medicine, which is based on holistic thinking.  Further research and development in the field has brought us to the point we are at today.