The Japanese Ministry of Health defines Shiatsu therapy in the book Theory and Practice of Shiatsu Therapy [1957] as follows: "Shiatsu is a treatment method that, by correctly applying pressure with fingers and palms on specific areas of the body, corrects imbalances and dysfunctions of the body, maintains and improves health, contributes to the healing of specific conditions, and activates the human body's natural ability to heal itself. It has no side effects."
Shiatsu therapy was created in Japan by the great master Tokujiro NAMIKOSHI, who at the age of only 7 successfully managed to alleviate the pain of his mother as she was suffering from severe rheumatoid arthritis. Encouraged by the results obtained, master Tokujiro Namikoshi perfected his method and after several years of studies and treatments, he opened the first clinic in 1925 and laid the foundations of Shiatsu therapy, recognized today by the Japanese Ministry of Health.
Japan Shiatsu College was founded in 1940 in Tōkyō by master Tokujiro Namikoshi and is officially recognized by the Ministry of Health, Education and Labor of Japan. The use of the term "Shiatsu massage" is misleading as Shiatsu is a therapy distinct from Anma and massage. The confusion stems from the fact that initially Shiatsu therapy was mistakenly placed under one common license with Anma and Western massage, but beginning with 1964, the Japanese Ministry of Health has recognized Shiatsu as a distinct manual therapy.