Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1891-12-26
THE JAPANESE ANNA.
THE ARTIST WHO KNEADs AND
su6S THE MUSCLES.

Oriental Massage ss Praeticed Among
Our Almond Eyed Rrrthr-n--An Old
woman's Hard work--A R~stfui Pro-
ces---.Ispanes- Medical students.
A. ! am sitting ia my room there comes
TO my ears the sound Of shriil pipe,
sounding not unlike u fife, The traveller
I'm Japan, 20 where lac may. almost inVari-
ably hears the sound at night. and will he
told in answer To- his inquiries that the
performance is n professional shampooer
or ANNA. MANY ul these people are blind,
and at night pass up and down The streets,
feeling their way with long sticks. which
they hold in ouev,Gand while with the
other hand they play npon the bamboo
pipe, which seems To notify the world of
their presence
The ANNA is not shampooer in the
American sense of the term. lie does not \
coniine his operations To the head and /
hair. He practices what is known by the I
French as the massage. His art consists \
In kneading all the muscles uf the body 1
and bringing them into plHy, and he is re-
gartied a. u useful unctinnary. second only
In Importance to the physician as a healer !
of physical disorders. The art is prac-
ticed not only by men. but also by women. !
and at almost every inn where | have
their services have been the ammas Only
once have yielded 10 their invitations to
allow my body to be treated like u piece
OF dough, and that was at Subasbirt, inn
Z medately after my descent from Full.
/ Tired and aching from the severe exer-
tion OF climbing the mountain the sug-
gestion Of DIR. knipping that it might be
well To allow an ANNA TO shampoo us
was acceded 10, more from curiosity as TO
the possible results than from any faith
in the efficacy II the treatment
The particular ANNA who came to our
room and shampooed us was an ungainly
and awfully ugly woman Of middle age
whose blnckened teeth when she smiled
locked like a row of watermelon seeds set
in her face, During the process | had an
opportunity to question her fully as To the
business, and learned from her quite a
number Of Interesting facts. She Informed
us that before commencing the practice OF
her art she has been obliged to serve an
apprenticeship of three wears during
which time she read large number OF
Japanese bonks tearhinS of the human
body, and especially the muscles, and had
become learned In anatomy and physi-
ology. She had practcesl the massage for
ten years already, and had by means ~ it
gained her livelihood. She stated that
to treat four persons. who paid her u fes
of fifteen sen apiece. Her daily earnings
were, however, not more than thirty sen
ON an average, or about twenty-four cents
of American currency.
In the operation uf shampooing as
practiced by the ANNA, the patient lies
upon a futon or rug. while the ANNA
kneels beside him. The first act in the
drama deals with the abdominal cavity
Placing one hand on either side of the
abdomen. above the hips, the ANNA COM
presses the body lalcrally number Of
times, then drawing mp the loose folds Of
flesh, hy, kneads and pinches them, at the
same time making passes which corre-
spond in their direction with that Of tile
colon. This portion Of the treatment
ended each leg is attacked aud vigorously
rubbed and kneahed, the process termin-
ating by "A smart hastiuadt administered
to the soles of the feet.
In rubbing and kueadinu the muscles
use is made of round ball OF lockwood,
though the ANNA To whose treatment
submitted employed only her fingers and
knuckles. The arms and chest are treated
as the legs, aud then the patient is turned
over face downward and the shoulders
and back are punched and kneaded until
the breath almost forsakes the body The
rubbing of the neck, which, in my case,
seemed TO threaten the dislocaticn OF the
cervical vertehrR. The amount oi
strength in fingers aud wrists display ed
by the ANNA Is quite remarkable. Our
ANNA shampooed four persons in success.
sion the evening we engaged her, consum-
ing four hours in the task, during which
she was working with all her might al.
most constantly, only stopping TO wipe of
the perspiration which flowed from her
face.
The result Of the experiment SO far as
personally was concerned, was, think
: such as To Warrant the repetition of the
treatment under like circumstances
awoke on the morrow feeling far less tired
, and sore than had reason To believe my
, mountain climbing would have left me.
The arr of the ANNA appears likely tc
live for long time In Japan, as IL is In
some respects founded upon rational prin'
, ciples. This ~ not, however, the cast
with the medical practitioner of the old
Chinese school, whose practice is swiftly
and surely dwindling away as the merit,
N western medical theory and practice ar,
becoming more and more recognized. Tn,
old style OF practitioner, with his nos
trums aud enchantments his mixtures o
. yillainous herbs and minerals, his pow
dung h still In tAe numerical majority
when census of the mediea
practitioners of japan Is taken, but tn,
young men, graduates Of the university a
> Toxic, are rapidly absorbing the entir,
practice among the wealthier and NOR
, intelligent classes. The medical depart
ment at the Imperial university ut Toxic
. Is under the care of German professors
men of thorough ability and experience
and the results achieved during late
, years have been most marked and mos
! beneficial to the country as a whole. i
is the feeling OF not few Europeans resi-
dent IN Japan that, while always prefer
ring the services Of European or Amer
lean practitioner, the graduate of the uni
yersity at Toxic may generally be truste,
. To treat paisnt carefully aud WE'LL
Cor. Cincinnati Commercial Gazette.
The New Geld Watch.