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TOYOHARI© MERIDIAN THERAPY

Acupuncture appears to have arrived in Japan from China and Korea via Buddhist monks in the sixth century. In the mid 1600s, a blind Japanese acupuncturist named Waichi Sugiyama developed the shinkan (insertion tube). This radical invention allowed for painless needle insertion, and is now used by both blind and sighted acupuncturists worldwide. Sugiyama, considered the Father of Acupuncture in Japan, established the first acupuncture schools for the blind, which emphasized hands-on practice and a more pragmatic approach to classical acupuncture theory.

Currently more than 30 percent of all licensed acupuncturists in Japan are blind. The Toyohari Meridian Therapy Association, a specialized professional acupuncture association founded by blind acupuncturist Kudo Fukushima, currently has a Japanese membership of which approximately half are blind. The Toyohari Association of North America (TANA), the European Branch of the Toyohari Association (EBTA) and the Australasian Branch of the Toyohari Association (ABTA) are working to continue this legacy by making Toyohari available to acupuncturists worldwide. In the future, sight-impaired people will possibly live as independently as they do in Japan. Toyohari can enhance acupuncturists’ ability to feel qi and improve their clinical skills through gentle, nonstimulatory and effective treatment methods to regulate and harmonize qi.

Toyohari© is a form of traditional East Asian medicine. It is a refined system of Japanese meridian therapy. It is different from most other forms of acupuncture in that it uses more delicate (often non-inserted) and specialized treatment methods, placing great emphasis on the use of pulse diagnosis and palpation skills. Its theoretical foundation is derived from the medical classics: Nei Jing, Su Wen, Ling Shu and primarily the Nan Jing.

Many practitioners of this style in Japan are blind and have developed extraordinary sensitivity to Qi through this practice. The Toyohari© Association has developed quite unique training and teaching methods that can accelerate the learning of skills that usually take many years of practice to develop. Many who have studied the Toyohari© style of acupuncture have reported that it is more like what they thought they were going to be studying in acupuncture school. The Toyohari© Association was founded by blind acupuncturists in 1959 in Japan, evolving out of earlier developments in meridian therapy in the 1930s and 1940s. Today it includes both sighted and blind practitioners. Toyohari© is offered as a post-graduate training program in Japan, North America, Europe and Australasia. The curriculum is highly organized with an emphasis on hands-on clinical training and Kozato method study practice involving feedback to enhance skills.

The late past President of the Toyohari© Association, Kodo Fukushima, wrote a book available in English translation, "Meridian Therapy", which is required reading for the program.

Graduation from the certificate program entitles graduates to join the Toyohari© Association through one of the local Branches and become a registered Toyohari© practitioner. The principle purposes of the Branches are to foster and improve clinical skills by providing feedback and ongoing study opportunities both in Branch study groups and study sessions with senior Japanese instructors in Japan, North America, Europe and Australasia.

Graduates will considerably improve their pulse and tactile diagnostic and assessment skills, develop a greater sense of Qi sensitivity and learn a range of non-stimulation methods specifically aimed at regulating the distribution of Qi, enhancing the constitutional well-being of patients as well as relieving symptoms.

Toyohari is a powerful therapeutic system for both preventing disease and maintaining health.

References: * Paul Unschuld. Nan-Ching: The Classic of Difficult Issues. University of California Press, 1986. * Stephen Birch & Robert Felt. Understanding Acupuncture. Churchill Livingstone, 1999. * Kudo Fukushima. Meridian Therapy. Toyohari Medical Association, 1991. * "Toyohari: Effective, Nonstimulatory Acupuncture to Regulate Qi", Brenda Loew, MAc, LAc, Acupuncture Today November 2006 [Vol. 07, Issue 11] www.acupuncturetoday.com