Massage Therapy

OTA, Shinsai.

Anpuku zukai [trans.: Illustrated Account of Massage].

Numerous illus. in the text (many full-page). 30 folding leaves. 8vo, orig. patterned wrappers (rubbed & a little worn, some worming in blank upper margins), orig. block printed title label on upper cover, new stitching. Osaka: 1827.

First edition. “The last monograph of importance on massage in old Japan was the Ampuku zukai, compiled and published by Shinsai Ota in 1827, which gave the technique of massage in text and illustrations.”–Mestler, A Galaxy of Old Japanese Medical Books, II, pp. 485-86.

This work by Ota, a physician in Osaka, serves as the foundation of modern Anpuku therapy. “Anpuku,” which means to “ease or calm the abdomen,” is a massage therapy which can be traced back to the Nara and Heian periods in Japan (710-1185 A.D.). It is still practiced in Japan.

The illustrations depict the therapist applying pressure to various parts of the body, pressure points, a baby receiving a massage, an expectant mother receiving a massage, a self-massage, the therapist massaging the breasts of a woman to stimulate her breast milk, etc.

A very nice copy.

Price: $3,000.00

Item ID: 6037