by Shawn Kirby L.Ac.

Arguably the greatest acupuncturist in Japanese history, Waichi Sugiyama has probably had more of an impact on the modern practice of acupuncture than any other acupuncturist in the history of our art.

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Waichi Sugiyama was born in Mie Prefecture in 1610, the last year of the reign of emperor Go-Yōzei whose reign spanned the transition between the Azuchi-Momoyama period and the Edo period. Born into the samurai class, Waichi sensei became blind at the age of ten due to an illness. In Japan, the practices of acupuncture, moxibustion, anma and shiatsu were, and still are, considered not only suitable but ideal professions for the blind. Waichi sensei chose to begin his studies in acupuncture at age 18 under the auspices of Takuichi Yamase, himself a blind acupuncturist.

To say that Waichi sensei had an inauspicious start to his education would be an understatement as his teacher dismissed him as hopeless, after five years of study, due to his poor needling skills. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t insert the needle without causing his patient pain. Discouraged and heartbroken, Waichi Sensei made his way to the island of Enoshima to petition the goddess Benzaiten for help. The goddess of poetry, music and water, Benzaiten is also famed for her ability to fulfill the wishes of worshippers, particularly those with worthy or noble requests.

Entering the shrine, Waichi sensei began a fast that lasted twenty one days. At the end of his ordeal Waichi sensei stumbled, hungry and exhausted, out of the temple area and tripped over a large stone, now known as “the stone of good luck.” As he lay on the ground swearing under his breath, his hand came upon a pine needle and a tiny reed of bamboo. In that moment inspiration struck, and Waichi sensei received the idea that revolutionized acupuncture and forever changed its practice – the guide tube.

By experimenting with the reed of bamboo as a guide tube for the thin pine needle, Waichi sensei quickly realized that he had discovered a foolproof method for painless insertion of an acupuncture needle. Waichi sensei believed wholeheartedly that his discovery was divine inspiration given to him by Benzaiten. Aided by this ingenious technique, Waichi sensei’s skills progressed rapidly and he soon became a peerless practitioner.

When Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, the fifth Tokugawa Shogun, became seriously ill, doctors and practitioners of various healing arts from around Japan were summoned to his bedside. Only Waichi Sugiyama was able to benefit the shogun, whose progress under Waichi sensei’s ministrations was rapid. Filled with gratitude, the shogun gave Waichi sensei a plot of land and made him his personal physician. The only problem with this arrangement was the Waichi sensei spent so much time on pilgrimage to the island of Enoshima to give thanks and worship Benzaiten, that the shogun often found himself unable to call upon his physician when he needed him. To keep Waichi sensei closer to home, he built a shrine to Benzaiten in his household.

By the end of his career, Waichi sensei had established over fifty acupuncture schools for the blind, including Shinji Koushujo, the first organized school for the blind which was built on the land given to him by the shogun. His invention of the guide tube is often credited with not just revolutionizing acupuncture, but saving it. Acupuncture, due to the pain involved, was in rapid decline in Japan. With the advent of the guide tube, acupuncture again became a popular and much sought after treatment, giving acupuncture a vital and rich life in Japan from then on.

Acupuncture went into a long decline in China as well, and was nearly extinct when Cheng Dan-an, one of TCM’s prominent patriarchs/creators, sought to revive the practice during the 1930s. Acupuncture was in such a state of decline by this point, that Cheng Dan-an had to leave China and make his way to the nearest country that still had a vital acupuncture culture in order to study the art – Japan. In a way, Waichi sensei has even had a hand in the most recent surge of interest in acupuncture in China starting with Cheng Dan-an in the last century, when the great Chinese acupuncturist made his way to the island nation to learn from the inheritors of Waichi sensei’s profound skill and acumen.

To understand the genius of the guide tube, try this experiment. Take a large sheet of plastic wrap (Saran Wrap) and a small dowel. First, have a partner hold the sheet loosely and try to poke the dowel through the plastic wrap. After an initial pause, the dowel will likely go through with a fair amount of tearing. Now have your partner hold the plastic wrap as taught as possible. With a sharp/quick downward movement, you should find that you can send the dowel through leaving a much smaller hole and in a much more rapid fashion. That’s exactly what a guide tube does. The roughly 4 millimeter diameter guide tube, pressed down on the skin, stretches the skin as taut as a drum head enabling the practitioner to insert the needle without any pain.

Today, the guide tube is taken for granted by most acupuncturists in the west as standard equipment. Not only does the guide tube help promote painless insertion, but it also enables modern practitioners to ensure 100% clean needle technique, providing the necessary level of safety and hygiene for our patients.

SOURCE MATERIAL
In the Footsteps of the Yellow Emperor: Peter Eckman, M.D. p.127
Japanese Acupuncture, a Clinical Guide: Stephen Birch, Junko Ida, pp. 3-10
Sticking to the Point: Bob Flaws, Honora Lee Wolfe, pp. 3-4
Japanese Acupuncture: Blind Acupuncturists, Insertion Tubes, Abdominal Diagnosis and the Benten Goddess; Subhuti Dharmananda, http://www.itmonline.org
Introduction of Traditional Japanese Massage, Anma, and its Education for the Visually Impaired, the Past and the Present: Nozoni Donoyama http://www.tsukuba-tech.ac.jp/repo/dspace/bitstream/10460/113/1/ETec03_0_06.pdf
Pictures available from http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/ktkbd382