Notice of Passing Away

 Shoji Kobayashi, Honorary Chairman of Shakuju Association, passed away on August 3, 2022 at the age of 80.

On his behalf, we would hereby like to express our deepest gratitude for your support and friendship during his lifetime.

The wake and funeral ceremony were held only for the next of kin.

We sincerely regret that we are unable to accept condolences, incense, offerings, flowers, or telegrams of condolence.

A memorial will be held at a later date (we will announce the date and time once it has been decided).

President of Shakuju Association

Osamu Hara

Shakuju Therapy one-day seminar

Recently, we held a one-day seminar at Taishodo acupuncture clinic.

We had a student named Zach Olesinski who's Canadian, and he works as acupuncturist.

He had interested in japanese acupuncture and happened to have a chance to read "Acupuncture Core Therapy" written by Shoji Kobayashi.

And not only japanese style acupuncture, but he likes japan especially green tea and ceramics. He likes green tea more than coffee …hmm～…excellent♪

Well, the seminar had a lecture & practice from 10a.m. to 5:30p.m..

The seminar went on while making sure each time if he've understood everything.

Whenever he had a question, he was able to  ask on the spot. That was one of advantages one-on-one seminar.

He had already read "Acupuncture Core Therapy" thoroughly so his questions were to the point.

He also asked some questions from a clinical point of view. It seems he was able to  get a deeper understanding of Shakuju Therapy in the end.

 I'm sure he will take advantage of what he learned this time to be a better acupuncturist and hopefully more and more people in Canada will be interested in Shakuju Therapy.

When I'm in situation like this, I feel shakuju therapy is spreading step by step beyond the sea and I'm glad with it truly.

Also, I was very impressed by his enthusiasm to learn something new.

I would feel too shy to contact an unknown organization in a foreign country and ask them to hold a seminar for me.

His braveness made it happen!

I'm looking forward to seeing you again.

Zach,
Mori sensei,
Translator Masaki,
We had a long but productive day.
Good Job!!

Hikari Yokoi

New President

As of April first, Mr. Osamu hara was appointed as President of Shakuju Association, and Shoji Kobayashi, the former president, became an honorary president.

Shakuju Therapy Seminar in San Francisco

Please join us in San Francisco for a Shakuju Therapy seminar with internationally renowned teacher, Master Kobayashi Sensei, and several teachers from Japan.
Translation by Stephen Brown, L.Ac.

Study with an internationally-renowned master of Japanese medicine and learn about Shakuju Therapy developed by Kobayashi Sensei. It is an effective acupuncture non-insertive technique using a specially designed silver needle or a teishin needle.

At the end of this seminar, participants will be ready to:

• Demonstrate basic root treatment with Shakuju and Teishin needles
• Apply methods for diagnosing the sho using the abdomen and pulse adjustment
• Use non-insertive techniques such as contact needling
• Include a supplemental treatment for local application

Visit the event page to register and get information on accommodations and transportation!

Shakuju Therapy Seminar in Berkeley, California, May 1-3, 2015

We are happy to announce that Shakuju Therapy Seminar is going to be held in Berkeley, California, in May 1st~3rd, 2015! It is a big opportunity to learn Shakuju Therapy from Kobayashi sensei and all other practitioners!

For more details, please visit HERE!

Tokyo Seminar 2014

Thank you for coming for "Tokyo Seminar 2014" at Taishido Acupuncture Clinic on 29th April. 18 acupuncturists, graduates and students at NESA came to study Shakuju Therapy to Komae. Diane sensei, Robert, Susan, Wyatt, Ellen, Linda and all graduates and students who attended the seminar, how was the seminar???

In the morning, we had a lecture, Kobayashi sensei talked about "Absolute Yin-yang and Relative Yin-yang", one of the core topics in the theory of Shakuju Theory. Once you understand this idea of the Tai-ji, the absolute yin-yang and the relative yin-yang, you can apply this idea to anything, including how to evaluate the condition of the body, etc.

In the afternoon session, there was a demonstration treatment by Kobayashi sensei and participants made pairs and practiced the treatment procedure each other.

After the seminar, we moved to "Sen no sho　鮮の庄", Izakaya near Komae station and enjoyed the big dinner with Ms. Sue Gorman, the president of NESA and Nancy and Ali.

We are all looking forward to meeting you again!!! Please enjoy the rest of your stay in Japan and see you again at the next seminar in USA or Japan!!!

demonstration

lecture

practice session

in front of the clinic

 

Kobayashi sensei and NESA members

at Izakaya

Qi and the body (1)

The base of the view of the body in the Oriental medicine, as well as Oriental thoughts in general, is summed up with a word, qi. However, the concepts of the word, qi varies even among Oriental people, so it is difficult to define what it is. It is hard to grasp the idea of qi even for Oriental people, but if people look at the history about qi in China, it leads to one view.

It is difficult to describe the whole history of qi here, but those who try to grasp qi philosophically and understand the universe in terms of qi are Zhang Zai（張横渠） and Zhu Xi （朱子） of Neo-Confucianism.

According to Zhu Xi's Li-Qi theory (理気説), the existence of the matter is formulated by the cohesion of qi（気） and "how it is" is shaped by li (理). Li would be the concept corresponding to DNA in the term of the modern science, however there is no modern concept comparable to the accumulation of qi.

What is notable here is that we can comprehend the phenomena relevant to the cohesion of qi from the clinical experience of acupuncture and moxibustion therapy, and it is significant to reevaluate the body and the universe in the view of qi.

When looking at the body from this kind of view, it is natural to see how the body is according to the degree of accumulation of qi. Rather, it is better to see diseases as unbalance or deviation of the state of qi cohesion, because it gives a different view of diseases from the western point of view and shows more distinctive characteristic of Oriental medicine.

The base of the disease concept of Oriental medicine, especially acupuncture medicine is deficiency and excess concept (*1) .

The definition of this concept in the textbook is that deficiency refers to deficiency of the healthy qi and excess refers to excessiveness of the pathogenic qi; deficiency is the weakened condition of the body function and excess is the state that the strong constitution reacting strongly against the pathogens, in the modern words.

However, these interpretations are merely giving each word a meaning conceptually, and it is hard to see the substantiality in the Oriental medicine, rather it is more likely to imagine the patient in the schema of the western medicine.


*1 translator's note: this deficiency and excess concept refers to the relative yin and yang. This article was written in 1987 (Shoji Kobayashi and Sango Kobayashi "Toyo Igaku Koza vol.10 "Keiraku Shakuju Chiryo hen", p254-5).