Volume 1, Special Edition | Current Japanese Acupuncture and Moxibustion 2010

Manufacturing
ProcessofClassicalAcupuncture Needles (since the Ancient
Period of Edo)
I. Introduction
Thin needles commonly used in the Japanese
acupuncture have been manufactured since the Edo
Periodup up to the present. Attitude toward sanitaryaffairs, however, changed over time and the method ofneedle manufacturing maintained since the Edo Period
was forced to undergo changes. Moreover, with the end of
the Edo culture that supported the technique of needle
manufacturing, manufacturers of long standing have
faced difficulty finding successors. This report will
introduce the manufacturing process of acupunctureneedles that has been handed down to the present fromthe Edo Period. In preparing the report, Aoki Jitui
Shouten, which has a history of 140 years inmanufacturing acupuncture needles since the end of theEdo era, provided cooperation.
II. Manufacturing process of needles
1. Needle handle
The manufacturing method of needle handles
underwent a great change. Many years ago, handles
were all made of processed pure silver. To make a handle,a pipe was made with a block or ingot of pure silver(Photos 1 and 2), which was processed into a shape ofplate (Photo 3), and then passed through a die (Photo 4).
A die is a modern tool. Many years ago, a tool withequivalent functions was made uniquely using the samematerial as the one used for Japanese swords (Photos 5and 6). Patterns were elaborately handcrafted on ahandle which was very time consuming for the artist(Photo 7). Presently, seamless pipes of stainless steel orbrass are manufactured and these are processed to makehandles (Photo 8).
2. Needle body
A needle body is the most important part of a needle,
but there were almost no changes made in its
manufacturing method. Or rather this is the part for
which manufacturers do not want to make alterations.
This section will mainly describe the manufacturing
process of a silver needle (for a gold needle, the process isalmost identical). A needle made of pure silver is too soft
to prick the skin skillfully, and when pricking the skin,
the needle gets bent in the guide tube and its tip does notadequately cleave the skin to get into. To give hardness,different metals are blended. Alloy composition withcopper, or brass, or others depend on manufacturers.
Metals are mixed by an electrical furnace, whereas it wasdone by an air blasting unit called Fuigo (Photo 9) manyyears agro.
As a first step, a thick cylindrical block is made, andthen it is extended by little by little. It is not shaved off,
but stretched thinly (Photos 10 & 11). At the initial stage,a machine is used, but when the silver alloy becomes acertain diameter, the machine is stopped and a craft-manextends it manually with a pair of pliers. This process isabsolutely necessary and it is in this process to get rid ofsomething bad, which requires technical skills of thecraft-man. The tool used is a diamond die (a hole is madein the center of the diamond) (Photo 12). In the earlydays, diamonds were not available, so the tool with anarrow hole as in Photo 5 and Photo 6 was used. A pieceof silver alloy is elongated to the required diameter,
which is cut to the specified gauge, and pressed to attach
to the handle.
Initially, materials used to make the body were gold,
silver and iron in old days, whereas gold, silver andstainless steel are now used. Iron rusts easily, so since
the development of stainless steel, iron has been replacedwith stainless steel.
3. Attachment of a handle to a body
A handle and a body are attached by presswork, but
it was done so by soldering in the past. A piece of solder
alloy with unique blending was made in a plate shape(Photo 13) and cut thinly, and then the thinly cut solder
was run into a heated pipe in which the body was placed
and attached after cooling. The autoclave popularity
created a thermal problem in soldering and the calking
technique by presswork is now employed.
4. Needle tip
In the early days, natural whetstone was used togrind the tip (Photo 14). At present, the tip is sharpened
on a whetstone attached to the grinder. A tip sharpening
process can be finished in four steps. This is the mostdifficult process and challenging to the craftsman. Thereare reasons why this process is used. Aoki Jitui Shouten
produces needles that are used in a guide tube (“pineneedle type”) and needles as “nenshin” that do not use aguide tube (“willow leave type”). The tips of these two
types of needles have quite different shapes. There aredemands from clinicians that the tip should be mademore round (“oval type”), or that they need more
sharp-pointed tips (sharp-pointed tip, “noge type”) andThe Journal of Kampo, Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine (KAIM)

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Volume 1, Special Edition | Current Japanese Acupuncture and Moxibustion 2010

the Jitui Shouten is responding to their requirements.
However, only manual work can fully satisfy theirrequirements as described above. What makes thebiggest difference between automated production andmanual production is this process.
5. Needle guide tube
In the early years, a guide tube was made throughthe process of hammering a piece of pure silver plate to around tube. To make a square guide tube, edges of theplate were rasped off to make it octagon. At present, aguide tube is produced by pulling a tube from a die
specially made for the purpose (Photo 15 & 16).
Materials used are three kinds of metals, gold (20K),
pure silver, and stainless steel (Photo 17).
Photo 1

Photo 5Photo 2III. Summary
The manufacturing process described above ishighly appraised among clinicians as the manualtechnique for making needles by a craftsman, rather
than the method of making needles mechanically. Aoki
Jitui Shouten has more orders received for needles ofsilver than those of stainless steel. There are two typesof needles available for selection in Japan of today: lessexpensive needles and more expensive needles
produced according to the requirement of clinicians.
Less expensive needles have one disadvantage in thatclinicians have to carefully pre-sterilize the needles
and dispose them once used.

Photo 3

Photo 6

Photo 4

Photo 7

Photo 8

Photo 9Photo 10

Photo 11

Photo 12

Photo 13

Photo 14

Photo 15

Photo 16

Photo 17

(Contents and photos provided by Aoki Jitsui Shoten)

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