Jin Well Point

As one of the supplemental treatment, a practitioner sometimes uses a jin well point. Then, which Jin well point is the problem, either painful one or senseless one? In other words, which is considered as more deficient in terms of Hie?

Regarding other symptoms would help answering this question well. Almost all symptoms start from the state of yin deficiency, then develop through the yin excess, the state that heat was kept inside of the body, the yang excess, the heat starts spreading outwards, then the yang deficiency, the state that the heat itself diminishes in the end.

Namely, the deficiency of Jin-qi caused by some reasons, was something like discomfort feeling in the beginning, but as it gets Hie gradually, it develops from the pain inside to the pain outside, then finally it ends up with the state of desensitization without feeling of any pain. This is the process of the deficiency of Jin-qi growing. It is applicable to almost all symptoms, and an extremely physiological process. Then, it is possible to answer the question which is the more severe state of Hie.

Then, how can you confirm that the unresponsive well point is the more deficient in terms of Hie? It is obvious when you stimulate the jin well point and check the change of deep reference points responsive to the stimulation. That is, when you press the painful jin well point and see which reference point changes, and compare it with when you apply pressure to the jin well point without sensibility. One chooses the jin well point because it links with the deep Hie, not because it is simply the jin well point. It is notable that every step of Shakuju therapy is a process of getting rid of Hie, i.e.. tonifying the deficiency of Jin-qi.

* This article is translated from Japanese Shakuju Association blog.

Inserting ability

To insert the soft needle with the round shaped tip, the pressure applied from up to down with one's fingers has to be transmitted to the tip of the needle correctly. When the vector indicating the direction of pressure applied to the needle is in alignment with the tip of the needle, one can minimize the degree of damage towards the human body. The gap between the vector of pressure applied to the needle and the tip of the needle means the unstability of the needling, namely it makes the numbers of cells injured by the needle increase.

The basic training to insert a soft needle without making it bend would be the most appropriate practice to know such a vector. In other words, if one uses a hard needle, even though the vector is not in alignment with the needle tip and makes the needle unstable, it can penetrates the body easily without being bend. This is so called "painful needle", the unstable needling, dispersing the pressure applied to the needle. Those who are used to hard needles are prone to get stuck in such needling. Just apply the pressure towards only one point, the tip of the needle. When you can do this precisely, you are able to insert a needle. This is called inserting ability.

* This article is translated from Japanese Shakuju Association blog.

Two days seminar in Chiba

Two-days Shakuju therapy seminar was held in Chiba last weekend. This two-days workshop has been held annually since 1997. Many acupuncturists and acupuncture students who have been doing Shakuju therapy gather to attend Kobayashi Sensei's lecture. In clinical practice sessions, Kobayashi Sensei introduced the new supplemental treatment using points between toes. Answering the question from participants, he explained that it is a very useful and effective treatment for symptoms such as a sprain, but put stress on the importance of back shu points for the fundamental treatment rather than using the handy supplemental treatment as usual.

Exercise (8)

A human being floats on water, because the specific gravity is around the same or rather lighter than water. One gets lighter in the sea water furthermore, but it is notable that there are people who are called "hammers" (note: those who cannot swim are called "hammers" in Japanese ).

This is because lacking experience in water makes one's consciousness upset, and the body gets harder more than necessary, and as a result it makes impossible for him/her to adapt to water. This can be understood as one's consciousness thickened density of qi, so that the body gets heavier than water.

It can be said that the flexible movement of qi lightens the body, makes the movement of the body smooth, lessens the stress to the body, this is largely related to the state of consciousness.

*This article is translated from "Yamai hitokuchi Memo" written by Shoji Kobayashi, 2005.

Fire Alarm

Reference points are like fire alarms. If the deficiency of Jin qi itself were the origin of a fire, reference points that appear in the body were like a fire alarm hung on the wall. This is the phrase of Kobayashi sensei.

It means that even if the fire alarm rings loudly there, it is not the origin of a fire. We have to make sure that the point of treatment is the origin of fire, and as long as the fire is still smoldering, the fire alarm keeps on making sound.

However, in fact, the fire alarm is not the only one ringing. "Sensei, here is a fire alarm ringing." "No, this is not a fire alarm, but a telephone." "Oh, this is an alarm clock." Many other things, which are not related with the origin of fire, are also ringing.

The thing is, if you want to treat the origin of a fire, namely the deficiency of Jin qi, you have to choose which are the fire alarms connected to the origin of a fire alarm, and treat checking only such reference points. However, those who are not sure which is the fire alarm, ends up needling or perform moxibustion on all ringing points in their treatment.

But, you learn such reference points connected to the origin of a fire in the seminar; which one and from which angle. That's it. Because they are only those connected to the origin. Many people tend to think about needling only, but as a fact, if you can find out such fire alarms, the main part of treatment procedure is over.

* This article is translated from Japanese Shakuju Association blog.

About Shakuju Therapy (5)

In Shakuju therapy, the cause of any symptoms is considered "the deficiency of Jin-qi".  So, treatment is tonifying the deficient Jin-qi, precisely speaking, the pathological deficient Jin-qi.


The Jin-qi in Shakuju therapy is the "vital energy" in other words. Any human being gets old and dies in the end inevitably. Nobody can live infinitely, and treatment to prolong life is impossible. If possible, rejuvenation also becomes possible.


The vital energy is consumed inevitably as one gets older. However, the problem is that one consumes the vital energy more than necessary amount by his/her lifestyle or intemperance. This consumed amount exceeding the original amount is considered as the cause of diseases. This pathetically deficient Jin-qi is what acupuncture treatment is aiming at tonifying.


The living person is soft and warm, or rather hot, the clump of heat. On the other hand, the dead person gets hard and cold. When one becomes sick and gets worse and worse, the person dies. Here, we call the condition of sickness as "cold".


The cold in Shakuju therapy (Hie), refers to not the cold in a narrow sense, such as merely sensitivity of cold, but the cold in a wider sense like this. As pursuing grasping human bodies in Oriental way, we call such cause of any diseases as the cold (Hie), which is easily understandable for the contemporary people. (Please refer to "Acupuncture Core Therapy".)


Shakuju therapy has seminars mainly in Tokyo, but we have seminars in Osaka and Hokkaido in Japan as well. For overseas practitioners, we usually have the annual seminar in summer, however, we are going to have Shakuju Therapy Seminar in Hawaii in March. Hoping many acupuncturists all over the world know Shakuju Therapy. If you are interested in Shakuju Therapy, this is the chance!



Shakuju Therapy Workshop in Hawaii 2012

Date: March 23 - 25, 2012 from 10am - 5pm

Place: Sheraton Keauhou Resort & Spa in Kona, Hawaii, USA

Fee: Early Bird Rate: $400 (before March 1) / Regular Tuition: $430

CEUs: 15 CEUs for CA / 18 for NCCAOM (pending)

For more details, please visit http://www.tishamallon.com/