Sodo Okabe is known as a highly respected Japanese acupuncture practitioner of the Showa era. His many accomplishments include helping establish Meridian Therapy (経絡治療) theory, negotiating against an acupuncture ban by post-war American occupation forces' General Headquarters in the “GHQ days”, and his establishment of the Oriental Medicine Research Center at Kitasato University, among others.
In order to re-examine the history of acupuncture and moxibustion in the Showa Era, we investigated the formation processes for Okabe's treatment methods and theories. We searched through Okabe's literature, mainly his 1933 work on “the theory of tonification and dispersion from classical theory (古典に於ける補瀉論に就て) ”, and also had an interview with Mr. Ryo Aizawa who was a pupil of Okabe in later years.
We discovered the following. Pre-war, Okabe's treatment method was different from later years. It was unlike fundamental treatments (本治法) via pulse strength comparison diagnoses (脈差診) based on the Nan Jing (難経) . His pre-war treatment method was tonification and dispersion of a single channel by pulse quality diagnosis (脈位脈状診) . It is generally said that the beginning of Meridian Therapy was March 3,1939, the day that the Yayoi Freshman Group (新人弥生会) was organized. However, the theory and the clinical methods behind Meridian Therapy had already been systematized in 1936.