About Ninniku Okyū
Ninniku Okyū is a traditional form of healing and a rare treatment originating in Northeastern Japan among a community of healers and seers. The treatment process involves intuitive hand-based work throughout the body followed by heat being applied to specific points through the use of moghusa, or the Japanese mugwort plant. This herb is placed on slices of garlic at various points on the body to transmit heat and energy where healing is needed. We use the high grade moghusa produced by the Kobayashi family for seven generations in Shiga Prefecture.
The in-depth process also involves intuitively guiding the client to open themselves to discovering and understanding the root causes of their challenges. This process of opening up both physically and emotionally prepares them to receive the heat therapy. Each day of treatment typically takes 3-4 hours and the full treatment could be 1 day, 3 days, 7 days, 14 days or 21 days depending on what challenges the client is facing. Multi-day treatments can be consecutive or spread out over some period of time. Each treatment, no matter what the length, is a Healing Journey, full of twists and turns, ups and downs, surprises and discoveries.
This entire treatment process is distinct and slowly disappearing in Japan today. It is a very rare practice worldwide. Dr. (Ph.D.) Mukund Subramanian and Toni Cupal the only practitioners of Ninniku Okyū in the United States and India. Preserving this powerful work is the mission of Healing Cultures.
History of Okyū
Ninnikyu Okyū is translated as garlic moxibustion, and has been traditionally practiced among the ascetic folk healers and seers of north-eastern Japan, in the Tohoku area of the main Honshu island. It is a very deep and rare form of treatment and cleansing not known throughout Japan.
The Japanese mugwort plant used (Artemisia princeps) in Okyū is locally termed as moghusa. The common term “moxa” is derived from the Japanese “moghusa,” also referred to as “yomogi” or Artemisia princeps (Japanese mugwort), which has been used for centuries throughout East Asia, Tibet and Mongolia. Okyū meaning “Moxibustion” refers to the burning of moghusa on specific points on the body so as to strengthen the blood and qi energy which offers the foundation to our life force.
The Monk Bodhidharma healing by burning moxa on himself, from 18th century Japan. Bodhidharma is said to have been a monk from Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, South India (Pallava Dynasty, 5th/6th Century) who today is a part of popular lore as Daruma in Japan.
Hieroglyphics and various documents reveal the fact that moxa has been used for over 3000 years in China. It is also apparent how interconnected moxa has been with acupuncture in medical practice through the ages. In fact, the original Chinese characters denoting “acupuncture” (zhenjiǔ ) literally translate as “acupuncture” (zhēn) and “moxibustion” jiǔ, two complementary techniques together forming one fundamental approach to health. In Japan, moxibustion has been extensively developed as a distinct practice over the ages. Various schools of medicine have regarded moxibustion as being highly effective, in par with acupuncture or even yet of greater value when treating specific ailments. Moxibustion has been widely practiced for therapeutic effects and was a rage among commoners in the Edo period (1603-1867). In this era, treatment of moxibustion became an annual event to maintain health, while detailed information on cultivation, preservation, and preparation of Japanese mugwort for moxibustion were recorded.
The use of moghusa for healing came to Japan, as per written records, during the 6th to 7th Century from parts of China. This later in the 12th to 16th century period thrived through monks practicing healing through the use of moghusa, who were connected to temples in Shikoku island and elsewhere. Later again, in 16th century the feudal leader Oda Nobunaga treasured the mugwort of Mt. Ibuki in Shiga Prefecture. This region is special for the grey hairs that grow on the mugwort which make the moghusa more powerful. There was a period when large scale productions of moghusa thrived in this region. At the base of Mt. Ibuki is the town Nose where the Kobayashi family has been producing very high quality moghusa for the past seven generations. We use this moghusa in our healing practice.
“A disease that may not be treated by acupuncture may be treated by moxibustion” Chapter 73, Lingshu Jing (Classic of the Miraculous Pivot), one of the earliest medical cannons of Traditional Chinese Medicine complied between 770-221 BC.