Waichi Sugiyama was a blind acupuncturist who lived and practiced in seventeenth-century Japan, is generally regarded as the "father of Japanese acupuncture."
Background
Waichi Sugiyama was born as the legitimate son of a samurai family in Tsu, Iseno-kuni, Japan in 1610. His father, Sugiyama Gon-emon Shigemasa, was a vassal of Todo Izuminokami Takatora.
Regarding the birthplace, there are several theses, but he lived at least since the age of six years in Anotsu. In his childhood he gave the name Yokei.
Education
An eye-disease in infancy blinded Sugiyama from a very early age. At the age of ten he moved from Kyoto to Edo (Tokyo) to study massage and other therapeutic techniques under Ryomei Irie, one of the most famous medical practitioners of the era. His apprenticeship was short, Irie quickly dismissing him because he was too slow to learn, he was expelled by his master. Then he went to Kyoto and further studied under Homei Irie.
On his way back to Kyoto, Sugiyama fasted and prayed for 100 days at the shrine of the goddess Benzaiten at Enoshima Cave, where he reputedly discovered the secret of the shinkan ("insertion tube") after pricking himself on a needle wrapped in a leaf.
Career
He founded his own system of acupuncture, combining the Irie and Yamase schools, and established fame as a first-class acupuncturist. He was appointed head of all acupuncturists in the Kan to Dishici (1692).
Sugiyama's teachings were recorded by his disciples and printed for the first time in 1880: Ryōji no taigaishū, Senshin no yōshū, and Igaku setsuyōshū.
Sugiyama's grave can be found in the graveyard of the Miroku-Temple in Tokyo (Sumida-ku).