Although Shiatsu is considered a typically Japanese technique, its roots go back to the ancient Chinese philosophical ideas.

One of the older written mentions is: "The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine" (Han Dynasty 206 BC - AD 25).
This book bring us to understand how medicine and philosophy were tied together at that time. The document is written in the form of a dialogue in which the emperor Huang Ti seeks information from his minister Ch'I-Po on all questions of health and the art of healing.

A detail of the greatest interest that comes out from the concepts is how environment and geography can influence human health, for this reason were developed four different medical forms in different regions:

in Southern China, with warmer climate and blooming vegetation, developed herbs treatments (aromatherapy and phytotherapy, foundation of the modern homeopathy);
in the North, where temperature was colder, medical science gave more importance to acupuncture performed with small burns in particular points of the body;
in the East, where nourishment was made of fish and salt, the pathology best studied was the stomach ulcer. Here began the classic method of acupuncture with the thorough study of the points stimulated with needles, at that time made of little sharp fragment of bone. Often those points were linked to the sore internal organs;
in the Centre of China developed physical techniques of all kinds, including massage techniques (point of origin of Shiatsu), breathing exercise of spiritual evolution. The aim of all every these techniques was to re-find and balance the Tao -flow of life- called Qi in Japan.

In the 6th century Chinese monks introduced in Japan a synthesis of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. The commerce between the two peoples favoured important channels of cultural trade, and in the 7th century the emperor sent to China a delegation of Japanese students, with the purpose to study medical techniques. During the period in which the country was directed by dynasties of samurai warriors, the martial arts became particularly important.


All war techniques, in particular ju jitsu, learned how and where hit with minimal effort and best effect by Chinese Medicine, studying vital points of human body. An aspect of the Anma massage evolves in Japan during the Edo Period (1602-1868) This therapy was performed by blind masseurs. Unfortunately their medical knowledge wasn't as good as that of doctors and "herbalists", for this reason the Anma practitioners were considered as masseurs practicing anti-stress massage, only useful for relaxation.
Only round about the 20th century Shiatsu, as we know it today, took form and substance. The originator was Tamai Tempaku, who published "Shiatsu Ho" (finger pressure method) in 1919. In this book he combined Anma, Ampuku (an ancient form of abdominal massage practiced during pregnancy and childbirth), the Do In (therapeutic exercises), with Western anatomy and physiology.

During Taisho period (1911-1925) Shiatsu was defined and catalogued under the "Shiatsu law".
In 1955 Shiatsu was lawfully approved as part of Anma massage.
In 1957 Japanese Shiatsu school was officially licensed by the Japanese Minister of Health and in 1964 Shiatsu was recognised as a therapy in its own right, as distinct from Swedish Massage and Anma.
At present Japanese law are approved 3 different kinds of techniques of therapy, which were incorporated into the Japanese Health Care System.
The three big Japanese masters, who greatly contributed to the evolution of the framework medical e technical establishment of modern Shiatsu were:

- Tokujiro Namikoshi
- Shizuto Masunaga
- Katsusuke Serizawa


Tokujiro Namikoshi
In 1905, when he was very young, he moved with his family from Hokkaido country to a northern Japanese island. Due to the extreme climate, his mother developed arthritis in her knee which developed into many other parts of her body. Toqujiro, when he was still young, decided helping his mother and he started to test a technique based on hands-on pressures, slowly he discovered his treatments caused improvements in his mother's health.
Continuing with his experiments he realized that by pressing on either side of her back, the adrenal glands were stimulated to produce cortisol, producing a curative effect for rheumatism.
In 1925 Toqujiro opened the Shiatsu Institute in Hokkaido, after completing his studies of Anma and Western massage. In 1933 he left the school in Hokkaido under the supervision of some of his students and went to Tokyo to found a new Shiatsu school, with the aim of divulge his technique, seven years later, in 1940.
In 1957 the school was legally licensed by the Minister of Health under the Japan Shiatsu School, that gained a great success. Namikoshi's style, due to recognition by Western medical, doesn't incorporate meridian theory and requires a thorough knowledge of the musculo-skeletal structure of the human body, and the nervous system.

Shizuto Masunaga
Shizuto Masunaga, born in 1925 in the outskirts of Hiroshima (Japan), was the founder and president of the Iokai Shiatsu Centre in Tokyo. He graduated in psychology by the University of Kyoto, and then he became teacher in University of Tokyo. He reflect mother's influence, she studied Shiatsu with master Tempaku and he qualified in Namikoshi school, where he remained as teacher around ten years. In the latter part of the twentieth century Shizuto Masunaga brought Shiatsu back to its origins, developing a personal style, called by himself Zen Shiatsu, reflecting his studies in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Japanese Medicine and Western Physiology. This technique considers the receiver in the whole: through the meridians, system of canals of the flowing of Ki, the practitioner acts on mind, spirit, emotions and body of the patient. This technique reflects the simplicity and the approach of Japanese Buddhist monks. Zen Shiatsu introduced a diagnostic system known as Kyo/Jitsu, which analyses the energy present in the meridians, according to deficiencies (Kyo) and excesses (Jitsu), and a new system of exercises, Makko-Ho, which are specially designed exercises to help individuals to correct imbalances in the flow of Ki energy through their own meridians Masunaga also developed a form of abdominal diagnosis known as Hara diagnosis , and he extended the traditional acupuncture meridians to include some supplementary ways. After his death, in 1981, his students started the teaching and the divulgation of Zen Shiatsu, in particular Wataru Ohash, collaborator of Masunaga, contributed to development and the growth of this style in U.S.A., personalising it to its own necessities. That of Masunaga is a style of Shiatsu, which rouse study and individual development, his theories are at today very popular in U.S.A. and in Europe.

Katsuke Serizawa
He concentrated his studies on the tsubos (sensitive points of the meridians). He was able to prove the existence of these points using modern techniques and measuring instruments. He called his system Tsubo Therapy and a new style of Shiatsu known today as Acupressure Shiatsu derived by this.