The Role of the Hands for Humanity
by Shizuto Masunaga, 19 May 1980
Shizuto Masunaga
Below is an essay that Shizuto Masunaga wrote in 1980 at the Iokai Shiatsu Center in Tokyo, Japan. His visionary approach, which included integrating aspects of psychology into the practice of shiatsu, had a strong influence in bringing it to the west. He taught and inspired a whole generation of skilled practitioners that continue to evolve how we use our hands to promote healing and consciousness.
I had the good fortune to study with Masunaga in 1978-79 in a series of intensive workshops at the Ohashi Institute in New York City. This had a big impact on my development and I continue to learn from his teachings. The following essay can deepen our understanding of the art of shiatsu, as well as inspire us to continue its evolution through our own touch.
Hope you enjoy, Saul Goodman
In the course of history, the use of the hands has been very important in the development of human civilization. This ability to use hands is a fundamental difference between us and other animals. Hands have enabled people to use many kinds of tools, and hands and tools have produced all machines. Therefore, our mechanical civilization is a sort of extension or a substitution for the hand.
In many ways, the functions of the hands have changed according to human development.
There is a very old fable about a king called Midas. As you know, in the story the king wanted to change everything into gold simply by touch. King Midas seems to us to have been very greedy and ignorant, but in this age of modern life, aren’t we much more greedy and ignorant? Today we want to change everything with powerful and easy operations at the simple touch of a finger. This desire becomes possible with the push button operations of computers. The latest nuclear weapons may destroy our world at the simple touch of a button.
It is very easy to use our hands mechanically, but when we forget the basic nature of our hands we may endanger our existence. The King Midas fable shows man’s desire to control and change the world with his hands, and a use of the hands in which man does not necessarily need to consider himself and others.
The human hand has been used in two different ways. In one way, hands have been used as tools, weapons and a substitute for other utensils. In these ways, hands have been used to attack, to protect, to push people away, to separate…. as in fighting, pushing, grabbing and manhandling. In all these cases, conscious actions are involved. The hand is active and the muscles are tense. The hands are used to separate people.
In another way, hands have been used as extensions of the heart, as a means to friendship, as in handshaking, embracing, holding and praying. In these ways, action is more subconscious and passive. The hands and muscles are more relaxed and work together with the whole body’s energy. This use of the hands does not separate people but brings them together.
The use of the hands is the most important method of diagnosis in Oriental medicine. This type of diagnosis is an attempt to understand the patient’s heart and mind.
The hands have been used widely as a method of healing, naturally, instinctively, since the beginning of mankind. But as the scientific medical field progressed, the use of the hands took on a secondary or complementary role. Modern medicine demands a more exact and objective treatment, so in modern medical treatment today, machines have replaced the hands in many instances.
In Japan, Shiatsu has shown that the manual method of treatment can play a chief role in the healing process. Chiropractors, osteopaths and other physical therapists have also found this to be true in the West.
Shiatsu has developed from the philosophy on which Oriental medicine is based. It began as a folk medicine in the same way that acupuncture and herbal medicine did. Now, Oriental medicine has become famous all around the world.
Shiatsu is not only a method of curing disease, but also a treatment that approaches the person as a whole. This means that the body and mind are considered in Shiatsu as two aspects of the same life. From this point of view, the use of the hands is the most important method of diagnosis in Oriental medicine. This type of diagnosis is not exact or objective in the modern scientific sense, but is an attempt by the practitioner to understand the patient’s heart and mind.
The hand is used as an extension of the heart. In this way, the Shitasu practitioner and the patient can be unified in spirit and share a sense of mutual permeation. Also in this way, trust and relaxation can be attained for mutual benefit.