Volume 12, Number 1 | Spring 2017

Editorial
The Power of Life
Medicine is made up of theories, techniques, and patients who are the subjects of medicine. However, medicaltheories and techniques vary according to the times and region.
Modern Western medicine is founded on science. Eastern medicine, on the other hand, is said to be founded
not on science. This is because Eastern medicine is based on theories that are unrelated to science, such as the Theory
of Yin-Yang and the Five Elements and the Three Yin and Three Yang Theory.
Nevertheless, among the fields of Eastern medicine, the biological effects of acupuncture and moxibustion havealso been regarded in terms of physical stimulus and biological reaction, and have been scientifically studied andsupported as well. For example, it was proven in the 1980s that acupuncture stimulation has an effect on promoting
the secretion of β-endorphin, and ongoing studies that have continued from the mid-19th century to today haveshown that acupuncture and moxibustion has an impact on autonomic nerves (such as the somato-visceral reflex
increasing the functions of internal organs). In other words, while acupuncture and moxibustion are said to be
therapies founded on unscientific theories, they also have physiological effects that can be scientifically proven.
From an academic perspective, it might be meaningful to question the meaning of the efficacy of acupuncture
and moxibustion therapy by asserting it as a science on the grounds of the biological effects of their physicalstimulation. In fact, it is well known that the world of acupuncture and moxibustion in Japan after World War II wasparticularly focused on establishing scientific acupuncture and moxibustion therapies. In post-war Japan, being
scientific was a requirement for academic excellence, so proving the efficacy and value of acupuncture andmoxibustion in scientific terms had no doubt been necessary for asserting their existence, in light of their historical,
legal and social status in Japan.
However, the significance of acupuncture and moxibustion today is not necessarily conditioned on clarifying
whether they can be scientifically proven or not. Acupuncture and moxibustion emerged 2000 years ago as medicine of
the ancient Chinese people. They were not only meant to treat illnesses, but also noted that the way in which people
spend their daily lives is directly related to preventing illnesses. Historically, this precise thinking (“the concept of health”)
underlay the spreading of acupuncture and moxibustion in Japan. Kissa-yojoki (Treatise on Drinking Tea for Health),
written by Eisai in the early 13th century, and Yojokun (The Book of Life-nurturing Principles), written in the early 18thcentury by Kaibara Ekiken, were instrumental to spreading the concept. Eisai writes from his capacity as a Buddhist monk
who acquired a mastery in Zen, and Ekiken writes from the perspective of health as regarded in Eastern medicine. It issignificant that Ekiken wrote from the standpoint of Eastern medicine. Yojokun consists of eight volumes, and in the 8thvolume with the first half written on the basics of the body and health theories, and the latter half on treatment using
Kampo, acupuncture and moxibustion. Indeed, the weight placed on the meaning of health and specific methods ofstaying healthy differ according to treatment. What Ekiken emphasized the most was that, in life it is important to know
one’s own body, and to know how to live and how not to become ill.
Herein lies the reason why giving scientific grounds to Eastern medicine is not an overriding concern. Without
depending on sciences, Eastern medicine more importantly teaches how to maximize one’s power to live and power
to stay healthy, how to eliminate elements that act negatively on one’s efforts to maximize those powers, and how
to reconcile the natural and social environments and one’s power of life.

Shuichi Katai
Associate Editor of the Journal of KAIM
National University Corporation
Tsukuba University of Technology

The Journal of Kampo, Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine (KAIM)

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