Tokujiro Namikoshi (1905-2000) is the founder of Shiatsu therapy.
He was born on the island of Shikoku. As a young boy of seven, he discovered his hands-on therapy pressure method while treating his mother’s rheumatoid arthritis. He named this method “Shiatsu”.
In 1940, he established the Japan Shiatsu College in Tokyo. Many of his graduates now practice in Japan and overseas. Some of these graduates have popularized their own styles, called Derivative Shiatsu, such as Tadashi Izawa of Meridian Shiatsu and Shizuto Masunaga of Zen Shiatsu. Namikoshi also established the Japan Shiatsu Association in 1947. He died at age 95 in 2000.
In 1955, Ministry of Health and Welfare of Japan officially legalised Shiatsu therapy in Japan as medical therapy. Tokujiro Namikoshi's (1905-2000) is considered to be the founder of Shiatsu Therapy.
- 1912 - Shiatsu therapy developed by Tokujiro Namikoshi aged 7, when he cures his mother's arthritis
- 1925 - Namikoshi founds first shiatsu clinic in Hokkaido
- 1933 - Namikoshi opens shiatsu clinic in Tokyo
- 1940 - Japan Shiatsu college established
- 1947 - Ministry of Health and Welfare of Japan begins eight-year clinical investigation period to ascertain which of 300 treatments get results and should be legalised
- 1955 - Shiatsu officially legalised in Japan as medical therapy
- 1957 - Japan Shiatsu College officially licensed by Ministry of Health and Welfare of Japan
- 1964 - Shiatsu recognised as an individual therapy by the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Japan
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