Reference; https://mbp-japan.com/tokyo/seino-1987/column/5110174
Modified and translated by CFJA
This is the thirteenth blog on acumoxa therapy. Since the content on acumoxa therapy is heavy due to its long history and it played a central role in the medical field in Japan and China, we will be breaking it down into pieces and writing several blogs.
What is Eastern Medicine? 01 was about acupuncture therapy from ancient times to the Asuka period (592 – 710).
What is Eastern Medicine? 02 was about acupuncture therapy until the beginning of the Edo period (1603 – 1868).
What is Eastern Medicine? 03 was about moxibustion therapy until the beginning of the Edo period.
What is Eastern Medicine? 04 was about acumoxa therapy after the Edo period.
What is Eastern Medicine? 05 was about China from ancient times to the 1960s.
What is Eastern Medicine? 06 was about how TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) was established in China in 1960.
What is Eastern Medicine? 07 was about “What is TCM?”
What is Eastern Medicine? 08 was about how Japanese acumoxa techniques have been transmitted and adapted in China.
What is Eastern Medicine? 09 was about acupuncture techniques practiced in China.
What is Eastern Medicine? 10 was about Japanese acupuncture techniques that have been brought and adapted in China.
What is Eastern Medicine? 11 was about Cheng Dan’an – the father of TCM – acupuncture techniques.
What is Eastern Medicine? 12 was about moxibustion therapy practiced in Japan and China.
This time, “What is Eastern Medicine? 13” will be about the Japanese moxibustion techniques that Cheng Dan’an attempted to implement in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).
The content of What is Eastern Medicine? 09 – 10 was very specialized. This one will be the last specialized content.
We have been writing this blog with the aim of “the enlightenment of Eastern medicine and the spread of the Eastern medical therapies.” Acumoxa therapy is a form of medical treatment that can serve as an alternative to pharmacotherapy and potentially avoid surgery. However, the evaluation of acupuncture and moxibustion therapy remains low, with the majority of medical professionals and patients believing that combining pharmacotherapy with acumoxa therapy might lead to better outcomes. However, the effects of drugs are potent, and it is safe to say that there are hardly any diseases that can be cured with acumoxa therapy while taking the medication.
We have been writing this blog with the aim of “the enlightenment of Eastern medicine and the spread of Eastern medical therapies.” Acumoxa therapy is a form of medical treatment that can serve as an alternative to pharmacotherapy and potentially avoid surgery. However, acumoxa therapy is still receiving low evaluations and the majority of medical practitioners and patients believe combining acumoxa therapy with pharmacotherapy might lead to better outcomes.
Symptoms such as pain or fever are signs from the body saying that it wants to return to its original state. The aim of the acumoxa therapy is to maximize the body’s seitai power 整体力 (Jp. seitairyoku), the body’s natural self-healing ability to restore the diseased body to a healthy state. While pharmacotherapy suppresses signs of illnesses, it also suppresses the body’s seitai power. Eastern and Western medicine both share the same goal of curing diseases, however, methods of acumoxa therapy and pharmacotherapy are fundamentally opposite. Combining opposing methods only depletes the body’s energy.
No effort from either side of the medical profession has been put to raise public awareness of deciding which approach – acumoxa therapy or pharmacotherapy – should be taken for treating a particular disease. We are writing the blog, with the hopes of some kind of change in this situation.
First and foremost, it is important to have as many people as possible to recognize the effectiveness of acumoxa therapy. Since there are significant differences in the skills of acumoxa practitioners, many patients in Japan are unable to experience the true therapeutic effects of acumoxa therapy. We believe that raising acumoxa practitioners who will carry on into the future is crucial.
(The following content is the same as the past blogs. If this is your first time reading our blog, please start here.)
In China, herbal and acumoxa therapy has been practiced as a national medicine from the Han dynasty, through the Sui, Tang, Yuan, and Song dynasties, to the Qing dynasty. In 1822, the court physician committed medical malpractice on the son of the Daoguang emperor of the Qing Dynasty. The emperor raged with anger and edicted ‘Although acumoxa therapy holds a prolonged history, inserting a needle on one’s body or burning with moxa are unfavourable to practice on the emperor. Therefore, the department of acumoxa in the imperial medical hospital within the Qing dynasty shall be closed forever’ (鍼灸の一法、由來已に久し、然れども鍼を以って刺し火もて灸するは、究む所奉君の宜しき所にあらず、太医院鍼灸の一科は、永遠に停止と著す). Prohibition of acumoxa therapy on the emperor, consequently, led to prohibition amongst the civilians as well. Since then, acumoxa therapy continued to decline; Chinese medicine in general, including herbal therapy, declined. In China, the research on acumoxa stopped, and it became difficult to transmit as a medicine to the next generations and faced corruption in the early period of the Republic of China (ROC). The government of the ROC,established in 1911, did not acknowledge acumoxa and herbal therapy as national medicine, even after the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was established in 1949.
The Chinese, with the hopes of reviving acumoxa therapy in their country, came to Japan to study Japanese medicine. The key person was Cheng Dan’an 承淡安. He studied in Japan for eight months, from 1934 to 1935, to investigate the advanced education of the Japanese acumoxa therapy. He studied at Tokyo High School of Acupuncture and Moxibustion 東京高等鍼灸学校 (Kuretake academy 呉竹学園 today), founded in 1929, for 6 months and received a certificate of completion. After returning to China, he attempts to integrate the educational content from the acumoxa school in Japan.
In 1956, Jiangsu College of Chinese Medicine 江蘇省中医進修学校 (Currently, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine 南京中医薬大学) was built in Nanjing, which indicated the official revival of acumoxa therapy as the national medicine in China. The first president was Cheng Dan’an and his educational policies became the basis for the education of Chinese medicine in China.
When Cheng Dan’an was studying in Japan, he was strongly influenced by the Japanese moxibustion therapy. He even delayed his return to his hometown for about half a month to receive and experience moxibustion therapy in many different clinics. After returning to China, in his diary, he wrote his impressions of the fact that ‘there was a clinic where the specialist for moxibustion therapy resides.’Cheng Dan’an proposed gaikyu therapy艾灸療法 (Jp. gaikyu ryoho), to spread moxibustion therapy, and to improve the therapeutic effect. This has also been the mainstream academic ideology for Chengjiang Acupuncture and Moxibustion Style 澄江鍼灸学派※1.
※1 Chengjiang Acupuncture and Moxibustion Style 澄江鍼灸学派… School of thought that emerged in 1989, to commemorate the 90th anniversary of Cheng Dan’an’s birth. Chengjiang澄江 (Jp. Choko) is another name for the region Jiangyin江陰 (Jp. Koin) – hometown of Cheng Dan’an. Please visit “What is Eastern Medicine? 08” for more details.
Based on Japanese moxibustion therapy, Cheng Dan’an attempted to construct gaikyu therapy – a method that involves kneading moxa into small pieces with a hand and lighting a fire with an incence. At that time, China did not practice this technique. Cheng Dan’an’s method of gaikyu therapy is something that Japanese moxibustionist can easily recognize just by observing the technique. However, surprisingly, the moxibustion therapy that has been practiced in Japan does not have the proper nouns. Cheng Dan’an has analyzed the Japanese moxibustion therapy, given proper nouns and clearly established the treatment method. Despite the fact that his study in Japan was short, it is surprising to see how much he was able to analyze the Japanese moxibustion therapy. We will be introducing the methods in this blog.
(The new content is from here.)
A. Cheng Dan’an’s classification moxibustion therapy .
Cheng Dan’an classified moxibustion therapy in the following eight types:
Ⅰ) Direct moxibustion 直接灸 (Jp. chokusetsukyu)
Directly burning the skin by kneading gaishu艾炷 (moxa cones/grains). One burn, one moxa. Our country’s oldest moxibustion technique. The amount of stimulation is adjusted depending on the patient’s medical condition and body constitution; soft and big will leave a scar, soft and small will not leave a scar.
[Comments from Dr. Seino]
Direct moxibustion is referring to permeating moxibustion and sensing moxibustion which are one of scarring moxibustion in Japan. This method is, indeed, the Japanese method (Please refer to What is Eastern Medicine? 12 for more details). Cheng Dan’an’s enthusiasm of attempting to transmit the Japanese moxibustion technique can be felt from the fact that he brought this technique at first out of the eight. By introducing it as the oldest moxibustion technique in the country, they might have been trying to cover up the fact that this is not practiced within China and encouraging everyone to practice.
Ⅱ) Ginger moxibustion 隔姜灸 (Jp. kakukyokyu)
A method that involves slicing ginger into pieces approximately 1cm thick, puncturing them with needles in several places, placing them on acupuncture points, and burning gaishu on top. It is used for patients with chronic pain or paralysis.
Ⅲ) Garlic moxibustion 隔蒜灸 (Jp. kakusankyu)
Same process as the ginger moxibustion. It involves using garlic 蒜 (Jp. nobiru). It is used for symptoms of early swelling and growths.
Ⅳ) Bean cake moxibustion 豉餅灸 (Jp. shiheikyu)
Mix fermented soybeans, Japanese pepper, ginger, etc., together, flatten them to about 1cm, and place gaishu on top to burn. This method is used to treat growths, swellings, and scars.
Ⅴ) Aconite moxibustion 附子灸 (Jp. bushikyu)
Grind aconite into fine powder, add a small amount of white musk powder, mix with water, flatten to about 1cm thick, and place gaishu on top to burn. This method is used to treat various types of swellings, boils, etc.
[Comments from Dr. Seino]Ⅱ)～Ⅴ) is the same as the Japanese indirect moxibustion. It is also called insulating moxibustion as the object is placed between the skin and the moxa. This is non-scarring moxibustion, a method that does not leave a scar (Please refer to What is Eastern Medicine? 12 for more details). While this method has been practiced since ancient times in China, it can be said that its practice has declined and ceased. A slight modification has been done to the Japanese method. Cheng Dan’an’s imagination is wonderful.
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