Review of “Tales of 100 Treatments” by Shizuto Masunaga, re-published in English by Shiatsu Milano Editore in 2021. You can buy this as an ebook on the English version of their website https://www.shiatsumilanoeditore.it/prodotto/tales-of-100-treatments-ebook/
This was the last book Masunaga wrote, and in fact it contains 58 “tales”, not 100, as he died before completing it. There is a poignancy in knowing this as we read the last few tales, in which he crams foreign tours and presentations into his last remaining months and reflects wryly on how he has had to submit to “treatment” for the first time in his life.
I have emphasized the necessity of waiting when examining the kyo/jitsu diagnosis. I have explained from the perspective of the theory of the meridians that life must be seen from the whole towards that which cannot be seen. Despite this fact, concerning the rhythm of my own life, it was agonizing for me to wait…..And for the first time in my life I was forced to receive treatment over several months. Experiencing the extraordinary difference of vegetative rhythm, I am studying all over again what it means ‘to wait’. (Tale 54)
It must already be clear that this book is far from a textbook explanation of shiatsu treatment procedures. It is a journal, a memoir and a compendium of anecdotes drawn from Masunaga’s long career in healing and teaching. It is also in a sense a record of his journey towards formulating a new theory of Shiatsu, based on meridian function and the interaction of kyo and jitsu. Little by little the theory comes towards greater coherence until by Tales 50 and 51 he has arrived at the theory of the meridians as expressions of the desires and function of the whole being, even in unicellular organisms (amoebas). Over the 40 years since his death we have seen the extraordinary developments in Shiatsu that have sprung from this understanding.
Nonetheless, his journey towards a complete and profound theoretical model is long and meandering. Many of the earlier chapters show aspects of the theory which would be hard to identify with what we recognize now as ‘Zen Shiatsu’. The 100 Tales are immensely valuable from a historical perspective on ‘Zen shiatsu’ diagnosis; we can see how it has evolved from a more physically based interpretation to the more current Western model which emphasizes the energetic. Masunaga seems to arrive at the theory in the form we recognize in Tale 51, where he concludes that the root of a meridian’s function is not an anatomical organ but “the ki that wants to do something”. The earlier Tales show a much more physically oriented approach to the diagnosis and with great emphasis on the spinal distortions associated with each. There can also be a “typical diagnosis” for particular ailments.
The typical “kyo/jitsu diagnosis” for Basedow’s disease is “heart constrictor kyo, liver jitsu”. This manifests itself as a disorder of the heart constrictor meridian at the sacroiliac, the 7th-8th thoracic vertebrae and the 3rd-5th cervical vertebrae……….Moreover, when the liver meridian is jitsu, it indicates that there is an accumulation of fatigue. In addition, one’s blood is in a state of acidosis from emotional excitement, which makes one easily irritated by small issues. (Tale 8)
Masunaga, in the same passage, contemplates the balance between psychological and physical interpretations of disease;
Psychosomatic medicine emphasizes the psychological aspect causing physical anomalies. However, they do not think enough about the physical aspect influencing the mind. (Tale 8)
Sometimes he favours us with a detailed description of a technique to correct one of these physical ailments – for example in Tale 12 there is an account of a spinal correction that can be performed using the application of kyo/jitsu theory to correct a scoliosis caused by a triple heater kyo/kidney jitsu condition. My favourite is the technique given in Tale 25 on how to relieve heart palpitations by physically pulling the diaphragm down after performing abdominal massage (anpuku). I was surprised to find anpuku figuring at all in this book, since it is not part of the ‘Zen’ style as currently practised in the West, but there are two Tales devoted to it, which include a touching conversation with his mother in which she relates her experiences while giving anpuku and ends with a motherly request;
even though she has stopped her practice she’d sometimes say on my occasional visits “Let me just see your abdomen”, she’d give me shiatsu.. (Tale 57)
There are many asides in the book that throw light on Masunaga’s traditional Japanese mindset, unexpectedly. Many of us already know the Japanese belief that to treat the liver and gall-bladder it is helpful to massage the Achilles tendon (Tale1) but I was surprised to read in Tale 6 that problems with the legs and stomach mean that one has disobeyed one’s father in a previous life (or perhaps, as in my case, this life). But although he sometimes expresses this kind of traditional view, clearly Masunaga has a deep understanding of how his patients’ condition may be rooted in their relationships, particularly within the family; he refers to this with several patients in several Tales but particularly in Tale 29, which is fascinating. A young man is treated for insomnia, which appears to be a mental disorder but is traced back gradually to gastro-intestinal problems in childhood and thence further back to family distress. I found this Tale consoling because the insomnia does not improve for many sessions and the young man is sceptical of the shiatsu, but Sensei is quietly confident that the condition is improving and the insomnia will eventually go – it’s consoling because so often we want the receiver’s primary symptom to improve right away, not after months, as in this case. This Tale also includes a wonderful description of the simplicity of Shiatsu touch:
The deeply penetrating pressure of the shiatsu exerts influence on the region where the primitive babyhood body image remains intact.
This is an area like virgin soil left untouched by the influence of civilisation, so the communication which takes place in that domain does not require technique nor is it hampered by an unexpected wariness. It is a world where one can talk frankly in plain terms like an innocent child.
I found many such gems in this book, too many to give them all here; for example, in Tale 3, where Masunaga explains the importance of the lower back and neck as kaname, points from which all movement originates, and compares them to the pivot of a folding fan, a beautiful metaphor. Or in Tale 34;
the visible Yang points to the existence of Yin, which is invisible. What is visible leads the way to taking care of the unseen area. This allows a sort of relaxation to be born at the bottom of the patient’s heart.
As a Masunagaphile, what I really enjoyed most about this book was getting to know the man himself better. He has a disarming capacity for self-observation; when a woman falls near his clinic and is brought in for shiatsu help, he takes a little while to realise she has broken her hip, and recounts how as he phones the hospital he can feel the cold sweat trickling down his neck as he gives thanks he did not try further. He has difficulties in class that many teachers will recognize – he says to a volunteer “the pain is on the right side, isn’t it” and the patient says “No, the left”, which causes a commotion among the students and Sensei has to save the situation by re-diagnosing.
Tale 14 is completely taken up with the kind of situation we are rarely taught to deal with in shiatsu schools – feeling responsibility for a patient in a grave condition, to the point of praying for them, dealing with the relatives and their scepticism, and even when the outcome is positive, thinking that it could have been handled better and doubting its success. There is a touching humility and caring there.
The last half of the book is taken up with his trips to Toronto, New York and Paris. First of all there is the jetlag!
I am writing this manuscript in the middle of the night in New York
he says as he tries to fit the circadian rhythm into Yin and Yang theory. Then there are the people. Masunaga finds Westerners difficult to understand, and not just in their language but their ways.
They think nothing of entering the living room with their shoes on. The only time they take off their shoes is when they go to bed. They seem to become conscious of sex when they take their shoes off. (Tale 34)
In France he cannot understand why eating a meal takes so long and is so complicated, and only manages to eat half the food on offer (Tale 48). In San Francisco he is sweet-talked into accepting a spliff –
However, I am generally inclined to be doubtful of strange and bizarre things so I was feeling more uneasy than curious. (Tale 38)
So, probably he didn’t inhale!
He goes into great detail when describing his course in a large venue north of Paris, and this interested me hugely, as I was there, a budding Shiatsu student overcome with emotion at studying with this master, in spite of the fact that his English was so incomprehensible that his theories and philosophy, on which he spoke volumes, were fairly incomprehensible as well. In Tale 50 he recounts being “at his limits” and wondering what to do for the afternoon, so as most of the participants are women, he decides to abandon theories and teach “beauty shiatsu”, which is a great success – and which I remember well. This is such a treasured memory of mine, Masunaga Sensei relaxed and joking – and finally a piece of technique I could understand and practise with joy!
I do recommend this book, hugely, even for non-Masunagaphiles. The translation is a little clumsy at times (it has been translated from Japanese into Italian and thence into English) but Masunaga’s voice speaks clearly from the pages, giving us all the benefits of decades of shiatsu practice; experience, wisdom, curiosity, humour and understanding. As a record of an influential life in Shiatsu and an intensely significant transitional period in Shiatsu history, it has great value.