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Shiatsu Society News Autumn 2007 Page 8

Zen Shiatsu: 30 Years On

by Michael Rose

I have been asked to contribute some thoughtsto mark the thirtieth anniversary of MasunagaSensei’s seminal book, “Zen Shiatsu” (Masunaga S. Japan Publications 1977).

It is difficult to do justice in a few words to thetremendous significance that this book, andMasunaga Sensei’s work, had, and continue tohave, on the Shiatsu world.

It was a milestone in establishing Shiatsu as weknow it today. This was true universally and,especially for me, personally.

For my own journey of discovery (thirtysomething years ago) prior to “Zen Shiatsu”,there was Namikoshi ‘One Point Shiatsu’, basedon Western physiology, ‘Macrobiotic Shiatsu’,based on a somewhat extreme dietaryphilosophy, and ‘Acupressure’. With due respectto these approaches, I was finding increasinglythrough my own practise and experimentation,exciting and profound relationships between mytwo hands and a more extensive network ofconnections than the classical Acupuncturechannels.

In San Francisco in 1978, a mysterious andpsychedelic encounter with Zen Master ReuhoYamada, himself a student of Masunaga Sensei,turned me on to “Zen Shiatsu” for the firsttime. It was a revelation! It described qualitiesand connections which I had been feelingmyself and which I yearned to develop. Itopened up and systematised a profound andbeautiful approach which was both spiritual andpractical. It encompassed traditional knowledgeand contemporary psychological understandingbut most importantly, it elevated Shiatsu to be aprime therapy in its own right, with its owncoherent diagnostic method, and not just apoor cousin to Acupuncture. Reuho told methat I had to meet this guy!

My dream came true in 1979 when I had thegreat privilege to spend a year in Japan studyingwith Master Masunaga in person.

Important and profound as his book is, it doesnot reveal the charisma, the compassionatepresence, the humour and the high energy ofthe man in the flesh. For my first month inTokyo I sat silently every day in a corner of his

clinic and just watched and watched andwatched….

Masunaga Sensei had the most beautiful handsand ‘x-ray eyes’. When he put his hands onyou, you just opened up. You felt he could seedeep inside. He had a keen intelligence and awide-ranging knowledge – from East to West –yet he was playful and child-like in his energy.Above all he had a strong spiritual yearning andpresence and his Shiatsu was a kind of devotionas much as a treatment for illness. It was asearch for the ‘echo’ of life – a truly heart toheart connection.

In his teaching he stressed the importance of‘catching his feeling’ and derided students whotook notes rather than connecting fully to his‘transmission’ and the reality of the moment.However he also had a thorough system andmethodology which he emphasised and which,to this day, I believe to be the most helpful andcomprehensive framework and ‘map’ forstudents and the best platform from whichindividuals can develop their own particulardirections. Many talented practitioners haveindeed done this and thus enriched the scopeof Shiatsu practice and theory.

Masunaga Sensei expended much energy inelevating the status of Shiatsu in Japan andthroughout the world, for which we should beeternally grateful. It is easy to take for grantedthe importance of “Zen Shiatsu” intransforming Shiatsu forever.

But my overriding memory is of his deepspirituality. On his sick bed, when I asked him ifhe would do anything differently when he‘recovered’, he said that he would try to treatpeople’s souls rather than their bodies.

May his soul be in eternal peace and berewarded for the benefit his work has broughtto humanity.

Michael Rose is one ofthe UK’s mostexperienced Shiatsuteachers and the onlyone to have beengraduated by ShizutoMasunaga. He hastaught almost all of ourmost experiencedteachers and is invitedas a regular guestteacher to a number ofschools. He is muchvalued for his uniqueapproach, enriched byhis Sufism andemphasising quality oftouch and connection:heart-to-heartconnection andconnection to thespiritual via thephysical.

Shizuto Masunaga, photographed by Michael Rose