SHIATSU
Shizuto Masunaga
Founder of the IOKAI Shiatsu school in Japan
Shizuto Masunagawas born in 1925 in Japan in Kure, Hiroshima prefecture.He was made aware of shiatsu very early on thanks to his mother who practiced belly shiatsu on him and rubbed shoulders with great shiatsu masters. He studied psychology at the University of Tokyo then entered the Japan Shiatsu College where he studied shiatsu with Tokujirō Namikoshi, the school's founder. He will teach and work there for 8 years. Thanks to his observation and his own research, he established a map of the meridians more complete than that used in acupuncture and by Namikoshi. He actually discovers that the meridians are located both on the upper and lower limbs, which is not the case with the meridians in acupuncture and classical shiatsu. He develops his own style, rather than just stimulating acupuncture points, he works on the entire meridians, all along the body. For him, it is fundamental to apprehend the human being as a whole, both physical and emotional. He also develops the Ampuku method (ampuku is belly shiatsu). He then determines the diagnostic areas of the abdomen. The difference with Namikoshi will force him to found his own school in 1968, the Iokai Institute in Tokyo.
The term IO is inspired by the Buddhist sutra relating to the one who knows the imbalances and determines the appropriate means to rebalance them. Kaï represents association, communication between people under one roof.
His technique is based on “simultaneous diagnosis-treatment”
and its practice insists on the notion of exchange between the giver and the receiver. His teaching is based on the concept I SHIN DEN SHIN, that is to say direct transmission from person to person, literally “from my soul to your soul”. Teaching can only be done from master to student and not through theoretical concepts.
Masunaga is recognized in Japan as a brilliant innovator whose research is rooted in origins, practice and direct observation.
Until his death in 1981, he taught shiatsu not only in Japan but in Europe, Canada, the USA, Korea and Hong Kong.
Kazunori Sasaki
Founder of the iokai meridian shiatsu europe and president of the AISE (Association Iokai Shiatsu Europe)
Before studying shiatsu, Kazunori Sasaki practiced Neeshin-ryoho, a traditional Japanese therapeutic approach that stimulated the meridians through the application of hot styles.
In search of an understanding of Eastern spiritual thought, he made a long trip to India and Asia. Then, having joined the Iokai Institute of Masunaga, he worked there as a practitioner and assistant to Masunaga Sensei for many years. He was the contact with the European students who passed through it, so he was invited with Masunaga to spread the teaching in Europe.
On the death of Masunaga, he was invited to continue his work on the oriental approach and to continue deepening research in the field of the spirit and knowledge of traditional oriental medicine through shiatsu. .
Since that time, Sasaki Sensei has lived in Europe and trained Iokai practitioners and teachers there.
Shizuto Masunaga
The flow of Ki is always better when one is completely relaxed and the mind is not attached to anything. But simple rest and relaxation are not enough to change the balances because the pattern of tension induced by our lifestyle tends to keep us in the same condition and the adjustments necessary for our particular type are not made.» S.Matsunaga
Masunaga's books translated into French:
Zen shiatsu, or how to balance yin and yang.
Zen, visualized exercises
Shiatsu and Western medicine
The 100 treatment stories
