{"id":1957,"date":"2012-03-14T10:47:20","date_gmt":"2012-03-14T01:47:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2012-03-14\/1957"},"modified":"2012-03-15T11:01:08","modified_gmt":"2012-03-15T02:01:08","slug":"kyoto-butsugen-college-of-massage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2012-03-14\/1957","title":{"rendered":"Kyoto Butsugen College of Massage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\nNOTE<\/b>: Images with an icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>320 sec, f<\/span>\/2.5, ISO 900 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nOn Pins and Needles<\/span>\nankle acupuncture at the Kyoto Butugen medical school\n<\/div>\n\n

Not far from the temple where the Japanese archery\nevent I've been posting about<\/a> was held, there's a college<\/span> of massage\ncalled Kyoto Butugen (\u4eac\u90fd\u4ecf\u773c\u937c\u7078\u7406\u7642<\/span>\u5c02\u9580\u5b66\u6821).<\/span> It's closer<\/span> to the\nAmerican idea of physical therapy than “massage”.... words like\n“relaxation” and “aromatherapy” have no place here. The doctors (which in\nthis case are students in a three<\/span>-year curriculum) have a deep<\/span>\nunderstanding of the physical mechanics of muscle, bones, etc., and use\nthat to attack with vigor whatever aches and pains you come in with. The massage<\/span> itself can be extremely painful (exactly as described here<\/a>), but the results are impressive and\nreadily apparent.<\/p>\n\n

They also do “eastern medicine” things like acupuncture, and something\ncalled “moxibustion<\/a>”\nthat involves burning little blobs of herbs at various points on your skin. As far as<\/span> I can<\/span> tell, the moxibustion thing is just ridiculous, but I have<\/span>\nbeen surprised to find that the acupuncture (or its placebo effect) has\nbeen helpful.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>320 sec, f<\/span>\/2.5, ISO 1600 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nTummy Acupuncture<\/span>\nit was a fairly awkward photo to try to take while face-up on the table\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 cropped — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>320 sec, f<\/span>\/2.5, ISO 6400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nBusiness End<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>80 sec, f<\/span>\/11, ISO 6400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nTray of Used Needles<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

This is, of course, the answer to the “What am I ?” quiz<\/a> that I posted<\/span> the other day.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>250 sec, f<\/span>\/2.5, ISO 6400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>320 sec, f<\/span>\/2.5, ISO 1000 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nPack of Unused Needles<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 14-24mm f\/2.8 @ 14mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f<\/span>\/6.3, ISO 1250 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nWriting Post-Treatment Reports<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

I first had acupuncture about nine years ago when I threw<\/span> out my back,\nand after not really being able to walk for a couple<\/span> of weeks I was<\/span> ready\nto try anything. It was a<\/span> complete waste of time. My savior<\/span> then was in finding the “bone-setting” clinic I wrote<\/span> about here<\/a>,\nwhere the doctor did deep massage well into the area Americans would deem “physical therapy”.<\/p>\n\n

I eventually found this school, which is conveniently close to home, and\nalso inexpensive. In exchange<\/span> for letting yourself be used for practice by\nthe students, you get an hour's massage for 1,800 yen (about US$20) from\nsomeone earnest enough about it to commit to an expensive three-year\ncollege. For the most<\/span> part, the quality is very good.<\/p>\n\n

As I said, they also do acupuncture, and over the years I've tried it a few<\/span> times,\nand found it to be a complete<\/span> waste of time. I'd given<\/span> it a try<\/span> back in 2010 when\nI had<\/span> some debilitating arm pain<\/a>, to no avail.<\/p>\n\n

Last year when California friend Paul Barr was in town, I took him<\/span> for a\nmassage<\/span> to introduce him to the school (it's close to the hotel he stays at<\/a> when\nin Kyoto), and on a whim<\/span> asked whether he'd like to try acupuncture, just\nfor the experience. He did, so I extended<\/span> my massage as well to include it,\nand wow, what a difference<\/span> from every other time.<\/p>\n\n

Normally you don't feel the needles when they go in, when they are in,\nor when they're taken out... you have no idea that they exist unless you\nlook. But this time<\/span>, I got<\/span> zings<\/i> that ran up and down my spine as if\nzapped by electricity. It was definitely<\/span> different and powerful, but for\nthe life of me I couldn't<\/span> decide whether it was a pleasurable<\/span> or painful.<\/p>\n\n

And the next day I felt fantastic. I was shocked<\/span>, because I generally<\/span> don't\nbelieve fuu-fuu crap like acupuncture.<\/p>\n\n

Since then, I've been back for many massages, and acupuncture maybe 10\ntimes. About half the time the acupuncture is a total<\/span> waste, and the other\nhalf it's amazing. There seems to be no middle ground.<\/p>\n\n

A week ago Monday was the last day for the third-year students to see\npatients before graduation, so I brought<\/span> my camera along. By this time<\/span> they\nhad already taken and passed their final school exam, and had already taken\n(and presumably passed) the national license test, so there was a festive<\/span> feeling.\nHere I am<\/span> with the half of the class that showed up on that last day:<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>320 sec, f<\/span>\/6.3, ISO 4500 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nGraduating Class of 2012<\/span>\nand me\nphoto by Dr. Ohama<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

Their graduation was on Sunday; congratulations to them all.<\/p>\n\n

The guy at far left, Ueda-sensei<\/i>, was the one whose amazing\nacupuncture opened my eyes to its possibilities last year. The girl at<\/span> right giving\nthe peace sign was my masseuse\/acupuncturist the day these photos were taken.\nI've had massage by all of these students, and they were all very good.<\/p>\n\n

Even though they all have the same curriculum, they each apply it with\ntheir own style, sometimes differing wildly from each other. The guy at<\/span> far\nright with the red sleeves brings almost a Buddhist<\/span> monk's zen to the\ntable, while the tall guy at left next to Ueda-sensei brings a ferocious<\/span>\npinpoint attack like his fingertips are tactical weapons trying to massage\nthe muscle from the inside out. Both are very, very good.<\/p>\n\n

I'm sad that I'll not see them for massage again, but another school\nyear starts in April.<\/p>\n\n

First-year students don't actually get to treat patients. Second- and\nthird-year students see patients at\nregular hours<\/a>, though what's “regular” changes with the season. The morning<\/span> sessions are generally held by the more advanced third-year\nstudents on Monday, Thursday and Friday; second-year students take the\nmornings on Tuesday and Wednesday. If you're in Kyoto, I recommend<\/span> giving them a try.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not far from the temple where the Japanese archery event I've been posting about was held, there's a college of massage called Kyoto Butugen (\u4eac\u90fd\u4ecf\u773c\u937c\u7078\u7406\u7642\u5c02\u9580\u5b66\u6821). It's closer to the American idea of physical therapy than \"massage\".... words like \"relaxation\" and \"aromatherapy\" have no place here. The doctors (which in this case are students in a three-year curriculum) have a deep understanding of the physical mechanics of muscle, bones, etc., and use that to attack with vigor whatever aches and pains you come in with. The massage itself can be extremely painful (exactly as described here), but the results are impressive [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1957"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1957\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}