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Traditional Japanese Medicine
Chinese Medicine was introduced to the imperial court of
Japan in the 5th century A.D. by Korean physicians. Monks and traveling
physicians from Korea and China introduced Chinese ideas more generally
during the 5th and 6th centuries. Medical works on acupuncture and
Moxibustion, with detailed diagrams, were made known in Japan by the Chinese
doctor Zhi Cong around A.D. 560, and from the early 7th century Chinese
medicine began to be adopted systematically under the influence of two
Buddhist monks who had spent many years in China.
A Japanese adaptation of Chinese medicine still exists today. However, there
are several distinctive features in Japanese medical practice.
A strong tradition of blind practitioners has resulted in very
well-developed palpation techniques of diagnosis and treatment, such as
abdominal palpation; shiatsu, which is a specifically Japanese form of
acupressure massage, has also developed.
Japan also has a strong herbal tradition, which has close links with Chinese
herbal medicine but tends to use smaller amounts of more refined ingredients
and also has different formulas of its own. There are also a number of
specifically Japanese manipulative and bone-setting therapies. Folk
remedies, spa baths, and spiritual medicine in the form of prayers and
talismans from shrines and temples are also popular.
The Japanese adaptation of Chinese medicine is known as kanpo, and the main
foundations of present practice date back to the 16th and 17th centuries.
Japan was also exposed to Western influence at this time, when Christian
missionaries began to arrive. Just as Buddhist monks had once cared for the
sick, now Jesuits, followed by Dominicans and Franciscans, did the same.
This type of medicine came to be known as "cosmopolitan" medicine.
During the 18th century, when the Dutch and Chinese were the only nations
allowed to trade with Japan, Western understanding of anatomy was
introduced, and at the same time many Oriental notions were introduced from
Japan to Europe.
Acupuncture and
Moxibustion became known for the first time
in the West in this way.
"Cosmopolitan" medicine now officially dominates in Japan, but kanpo is also
popular. This term is now often used to denote herbalism, but the whole
range of Chinese medicine is practiced.
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