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[Winter Seminar & Workshop] Kanto Branch of Hokushinkai


On December 16, I visited the Tokyo Eisei Gakuen College in Omori, Tokyo. The purpose of my visit to this college was to attend the winter seminar & workshop held by the Hokushinkai, one of the biggest and the most influential society in the field of Japanese acupuncture. When I met Dr. Yu Takeshita at his clinic, Seimei-in, on December 13, he generously invited me to this seminar & workshop as a guest.

Quality of the seminar and workshop was surreal --far beyond my expectation. The first session was a lecture about history of abdominal diagnosis and hammer acupuncture given by Dr. Shinya Ozaki, Director of Kanto Branch and and his clinic, Soutendou in Kunitachi, Tokyo. Although I have never studied the history of abdominal diagnosis and hammer acupuncture before, I could easily understand how they have evolved in long history. Later, I could have a chance to talk with him. He mentioned to me that, to prepare for this presentation, he did not have enough time to sleep (only two to three hours everyday!).

The second session was a lecture about crucial techniques of abdominal diagnosis and hammer acupuncture by Dr. Yu Takeshita. During the lecture, he repeatedly emphasized the point that beginners should spend much time to master basics of these two techniques. Yes, basic is important in any fields such as sports, studies, arts, etc. However, while listening to his lecture, I sometimes felt like I was listening to a lecture about cognitive psychology. For instance, Dr. Takeuchi told us if we are obsessed with logic and minor issues we lose our broad perspective (it means our intuition does not work at all and leads to misdiagnosis).

Also, he stressed the point that pay attention to the patient's bad chi is first, inserting the needle is the second (In other words, if the acupuncture therapist can notice the location and type of bad chi, s/he can control the patient's condition just before using the needle). I thought what Dr. Takeuchi implied was the same as the concept of sensemaking in my specialty.

The third session was workshop. Dr. Shinpu Fujimoto, the second oldest son of Dr. Renpu Fujimoto and President of Hokushinkai, demonstrated his technique of abdominal diagnosis and hammer acupuncture in front of the audience. Some instructors were chosen as mock therapists, others were mock patients (actually, the patients have health problems like pains in neck, nausea, etc). While Dr. Fujimoto practiced, Dr. Takeshita shared his observation with us. I was very surprised to learn that both Drs. Fujimoto and Takeshita made the same diagnoses. Moreover, Dr. Fujimoto immediately alleviated the mock patients' pains. It's miracle! This time, I watched expertise.

After the seminar & workshop, I was allowed to attend the party. Fortunately, the members and instructors of the Hokushinkai welcomed me. Some of them attentively listened to me about my research project. In the party room, I could talk with Dr. Fujimoto! He showed his interest in my project and encouraged me to promote it.

Indeed, the seminar and workshop were truly meaningful. I truly appreciate Dr. Shinpu Fujimoto, Dr. Shinya Ozaki, Dr. Yu Takeshita, and other members of Hokushinkai.

With Dr. Joe Tsuchida, Director of Kaminari Clinic in Asakusa, Tokyo. He joined the workshop as a mock patient.

With Dr. Shinya Ozaki, Director of Kanto Branch of Hokushinkai. His lecture about history of abdominal diagnosis and hammer acupuncture was wonderful. I could easily understand the history.

From right, Dr. Yu Takeshita, my research supervisor, Dr. Kensuke Morishita, Director of Neishindou in Osaki, Tokyo, and Dr. Show Yokoyama, Director of Salon-im. They warmly welcomed me.

This is an exclusive photo. With Dr. Shinpu Fujimoto, President of Hokushinkai. The son of the expert acupuncture doctor is the expert acupuncture doctor. 'We will revolutionize the fields of acupuncture and cognitive science in 2019!'

Thank you very much, Dr. Fujimoto and all members of Holushinkai!

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