Acupressure and acupuncture

“Anma shares one licence with massage and shiatsu. Tokujirō Namikoshi founded the Japan Shiatsu College (1940 per several sources). Shiatsu entered the law in 1955 under anma, the school was licensed in 1957, shiatsu recognised as a distinct method in 1964 (dates vary).”

“The licence line in Japan. Law No. 217 of 1947 requires anyone who is not a physician to hold a national licence for anma, massage and shiatsu (anma-massage-shiatsu-shi), acupuncture (hari-shi) or moxibustion (kyū-shi), after a designated school and a national exam. Article 19 protects the share of visually impaired practitioners, Article 7 restricts advertising (Hitotsubashi University, MHLW 2018). Seitai (整体) and chiropractic have no national licence and no insurance cover. The split itself is a safety lesson.”

“Acupressure. Points are 穴位 (xuéwèi), "hollow places". Find the hollow, press with the thumb or middle finger, firm and comfortable, in small circles, half a minute to two minutes, both sides, breath slow. Press until you feel it, never until it hurts. The body's own inch is the cun (寸, cùn): four fingers held together are three cun.”

“Acupuncture (针刺, zhēncì, with moxa together 针灸, zhēnjiǔ). Fine needles at points along the channels, to free the flow, used in the tradition for pain and many complaints. Serious harm is rare but real: a punctured lung, infection from unclean needles, injury from poor technique. Only a trained practitioner with sterile single-use needles, told about every medicine, a blood thinner, a pregnancy.”

“Micro-sting therapy: Controlled bee stings at acupuncture points. Administered by trained apitherapists.”