Michio and Aveline Kushi Macrobiotics Collection
name: label: Creator
content: Kushi, Aveline, 1923-
label: Creator
content: Kushi, Michio, 1926-
label: Creator
content: Ohsawa, George
topic: label: Topic
content: Vegetarianism -- 1960-2000
label: Topic
content: Macrobiotic diet -- 1960-2000
label: Topic
content: New Age Movement -- 1960-2000 -- United States
label: Topic
content: Family -- 20th century
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The collection was donated to the Archives Center of the National Museum of American History by Michio and Aveline Kushi in August, 1997.
creator: label: Creator
content: Kushi, Aveline, 1923-
label: Creator
content: Kushi, Michio, 1926-
label: Creator
content: Ohsawa, George
setName: label: See more items in
content: Michio and Aveline Kushi Macrobiotics Collection
abstract: label: Summary
content: Publications, photographs, articles, audio and video recordings, and teaching materials relating to the rise of Macrobiotics in the United States, as popularized by Michio and Aveline Kushi. The bulk of the material was produced for the Kushi Foundation, Kushi Institute, and East West Foundation.
accruals: label: Accruals
content: Additional materials donated May 1999.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Macrobiotics is both a comprehensive vegetarian diet and a spiritual world view based on ancient Asian beliefs and practices. Founded by Sagen Ishizuka, macrobiotics began as a reaction to the introduction of western foods into Japan in the late nineteenth century. Ishizuka attempted to restate traditional Japanese beliefs in modern scientific terms in A Chemical Theory of Long Life, published in 1897, and A Method for Nourishing Life, published in 1898. 

Ishizuka believed that the key to good health was the relationship between potassium and sodium. Health is maintained when these two elements are in good balance. If there is not a good balance, then one will become ill.  Ishizuka believed the best way to maintain this balance was through a cereal based diet.  

Ishizuka, along with his disciples, founded the Food Cure Society in 1908 to advance his ideas.  After his death in 1910, society members, including Manabu Nishihata, a physician and social activist, carried on the work.

Yukikazu Sakurazawa, also known as George Ohsawa, joined the Food Cure Society in 1919. In 1923, after the destruction of his company in an earthquake, Ohsawa joined the staff of the society full time to disseminate its ideas. Mr. Ohsawa wrote many books for the society including a biography of Ishizuka. Ohsawa's most important contribution to the philosophy of macrobiotics was the incorporation of the concepts of Yin and Yang into macrobiotics. 

In the 1930s Ohsawa traveled as a representative of the society across Europe to spread the philosophy of macrobiotics. After disagreements with the leadership of the society, Ohsawa left the organization in 1939 to start his own group. 

Following his release from prison during World War II for his peace efforts, Ohsawa established macrobiotic teaching centers in Yokohama and Tokyo. It was at this point that Ohsawa met Michio Kushi.   
  
Michio Kushi was born in Kokawa, Wakayama-Ken, Japan, on May 17, 1926. While a student at Tokyo University, he became involved with the World Federalist Movement (WFM), an American organization working for world peace. It was through the WFM that Kushi met George Ohsawa. Kushi studied under Ohsawa for one year and then moved to New York City in 1949 to study political science at Columbia University. 

While living in New York, Kushi came to believe that by returning to a traditional diet of whole, natural foods, humanity would regain its physical and mental balance and become more peaceful. It was at this time that Kushi began to teach the macrobiotic way of life.    

Aveline Kushi was born Tomoko Yokoyama in 1923 in Yokota, Japan.  Before coming to the United States for higher education in 1951, she was a member of the World Government Association, run by George Ohsawa.  She married Michio Kushi in 1954 and was an active partner in their macrobiotic efforts.  She wrote cookbooks and an autobiography.  Aveline Kushi died in 2001.  

Michio Kushi's work in New York grew steadily until 1965 when a pregnant woman died due to her decision to go on an austere form of the diet. After the death of this woman many medical authorities came out against macrobiotics. The close proximity in time of this incident and the death of George Ohsawa greatly damaged the movement. After these incidents Kushi decided to start over in Boston. 

After the move to Boston, Kushi emerged as a prominent teacher and started to develop his own interpretation of macrobiotics. Kushi founded the East West Foundation and began to publish the magazine, >The Order of the Universe.  In 1970, East West Journal, intended for the general public, began publication. The scope of East West Journal was not limited to macrobiotics. It covered a variety of New Age topics and became the center of one of the first New Age networks. East West Journal provided contacts for people interested in eastern philosophies.  

In 1975 Kushi began summer residence courses for serious students of macrobiotics and in 1977 he founded the Kushi Institute, now located in Becket, Massachusetts, in the Berkshire Mountains. The mission of the Kushi Institute is to train people in the ways of macrobiotics.  The Institute offers a variety of classes around the themes of "health, healing, and well being."  In the 1980s the Kushi Institute expanded its programs by creating the Kushi Foundation Prison Project and conducting research in the fight against AIDS. In 1986 the Kushi Foundation started the One Peaceful World campaign. This campaign's mission was to remind the public that peace begins with the individual, family, and community. 

Sources:

"Aveline Kushi 78, Leader in Health Food Movement," Associated Press, July 6, 2001 

http://www.imss.macrobiotic.net/avelinekushi.html (consulted October 1, 2008)


"Aveline Kushi, 78, Advocate of Macrobiotic Diet for Health," New York Times, July 23, 2001
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 29 Cubic feet (88 boxes)
label: Extent
content: 339 Cassette tapes
label: Extent
content: 218 Video recordings
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1960-2006, undated
label: Date
content: bulk 1970-1989
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0619
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Cassette tapes
label: Type
content: Video recordings
label: Type
content: Videotapes
label: Type
content: Vernacular photographs
label: Type
content: Snapshots
label: Type
content: Lectures
label: Type
content: Audiotapes
label: Type
content: Cookbooks
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged into seven series. 

Series 1: East West Foundation, 1966-1991; undated

Subseries 1.1: Publications, 1966-1991

Subseries 1.2: Foundation Information, 1974-1988; undated

Series 2: Kushi Foundation, 1968-1999; undated

Subseries 2.1: Background Information, 1987-1989

Subseries 2.2: Forms and Publications, 1968-1995; undated

Subseries 2.3: One Peaceful World Campaign Information, 1973-1999

Subseries 2.4: One Peaceful World Press Publications, 1991-1999

Series 3: Kushi Institute, 1979-1999; undated

Subseries 3.1: Educators' Materials, 1983-1994 

Subseries 3.2: Student Materials, 1979-1981; undated

Subseries 3.3: Course and Conference Materials, 1979-1999; undated

Subseries 3.4: Patient Files, circa 1980s-1991 (Restricted)

Subseries 3.5: Kushi Foundation Prison Project, 1993-1996  

Subseries 3.6: AIDS Research Project, 1983-1989;undated

Subseries 3.7: Video Tapes, 1983-1989; undated

Sub-subseries 3.7.1: Educational, 1984-1989; undated

Sub-subseries 3.7.2: Promotional, 1983; undated

Subseries 3.8: Audio Tapes, 1980-1997; undated

Sub-subseries 3.8.1: Lectures, 1984; undated

Sub-subseries 3.8.2: Consultations, 1980-1982; undated (Restricted)

Sub-subseries 3.8.3: Simon's Rock College Summer Conference, 1987

Sub-subseries 3.8.4: , Summer Conference, 1988

Sub-subseries 3.8.5: Summer Conference, 1989 and 1990

Sub-subseries 3.8.6: Summer Conference, 1993

Sub-subseries 3.8.7: Summer Conference, 1997

Sub-subseries 3.8.8: Other and Unidentified Materials, 1985-1989; undated

Series 4: Michio Kushi Papers, 1981-1995; undated

Subseries 4.1:  Biographical Information, undated

Subseries 4.2: Papers and Publications, 1981, 1995; undated

Subseries 4.3: Correspondence, 1984-1992

Series 5: General Publications, 1978-1996, undated

Subseries 5.1: Books by Michio and Aveline Kushi, 1979-1997

Subseries 5.2: Articles relating to Macrobiotics, 1982-1993; undated

Subseries 5.3: Books relating to Macrobiotics, 1978-1996

Subseries 5.4:  Foreign Books, 1979-1995

Series 6: Other Macrobiotics Organizations and Publications, 1960-2006; undated

Subseries 6.1: East West Center of Washington, D.C., 1981-1988

Subseries 6.2: Oshawa Foundation, 1960-1990, undated

Subseries 6.3: Macrobiotic Organizations and Publications, 1969-2006; undated

Subseries 6.4, Miscellaneous Materials, undated

Series 7: Photographs, 1964-1971, 1994; undated
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Processed by David Smolen (intern), date, Amanda Leinberger (intern), 2006, Alison Oswald (archivist), 2006, and Vanessa Broussard Simmons (archivist), 2006.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Videotapes
label: Genre/Form
content: Vernacular photographs
label: Genre/Form
content: Snapshots
label: Genre/Form
content: Lectures -- 1950-2000
label: Genre/Form
content: Audiotapes -- 1950-2000
label: Genre/Form
content: Cookbooks -- 1900-1990
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: This collection documents the work of Michio and Aveline Kushi as writers and teachers in popularizing macrobiotics in the United States.  It consists largely of publications and recordings produced by three organizations created by the Kushis: the East West Foundation, the Kushi Foundation, and the Kushi Institute.  The collection also includes publications and recordings created by others involved in macrobiotics and related areas.  The materials in this collection span the years 1960 through 2006, but the bulk of the material is from the 1970s and 1980s.
separatedmaterial: label: Separated Materials
content: In addition to the archival materials, the Division of Science, Medicine, and Society (now Division of Medicine and Science) acquired sixty-six artifacts. See accession numbers 1997.3165 and 1999.3026.