Onnetsu is a Japanese therapeutic system that uses heat to diagnose and cure. This methodology first came to FAIM’s attention in an alternative medicine expo in Mexico City where Dr. Kazuko Tatsumura was giving a demonstration. Dr. Tatsumura is an extremely active Japanese lady: not only is she an acclaimed therapist but also, among other things, a patron of the arts, a benefactor of orphanages and a world-class pianist. We were immediately charmed by her energetic and humanitarian zeal to share Onnetsu with the world, that we promptly made a site-visit of her Gaia Holistic Health center in NYC.
Onnetsu Therapy is the brainchild of Mrs. Tomeko Mitsui, a Japanese schoolteacher who, at retirement, enrolled in an institute to study Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). While experimenting with moxa, she realized that one can also effectively apply heat in meridian points that are related to the main spot being treated. From there, one aha moment to another, she stumbled upon a major discovery of a forgotten Hippocratic principle: heat heals.
Mrs. Mitsui was getting quick results and resourcefully started to replace moxa with an electric iron, similar to a home device one uses to iron clothes! Her fame quickly spread by word-of-mouth and occasional magazine articles started appearing. At Narita Airport where her flight was delayed, Dr. Tatsumura picked up a magazine with one of these articles. It gave an address that was nearby. She quickly took a taxi and visited the address. Dr. Tatsumura tells how there was a line of people waiting to be attended. There was a patient lying down on a massage table who had uncontrollable diabetes with skyrocketing glucose levels. Mrs. Mitsui quickly applied heat to a series of spots from which the patient clamored with pain. Minutes later, the glucose levers had plummeted a few hundred points. Dr. Tatsumura was immediately gripped and became Mrs. Mitsui’s apprentice.
Mrs. Mitsui created a school and developed a simple device – Mitsui Onnetsu – that has a basic medical-registry. When a few years later she passed away, her acolytes continued her work in Japan. We owe to Dr. Tatsumura the initiative of bringing this system to the rest of the world; her tireless drive to promote Onnetsu Therapy needs acknowledgement.
Onnetsu Therapy is simply the application of heat. As we slide the Onnetsuki (ki means device in Japanese) along the skin, the patient feels an agreeable sensation of heat. But when one hits an ill-spot (i.e. a place with cancer) this pleasant heat becomes very painful. This is where Onnetsu Therapy is actually very sophisticated because it not only treats but also diagnoses. An advanced therapist would be able to quickly detect the patient’s problem and treat it by applying heat following the protocols based on TCM. FAIM has carefully looked at other heat therapies like mudbaths at 42 C that simulates a fever, or big machines that are able to heat a tumor inside the body such as Oncotherm. However, the precision, efficacy, and sophistication of Onnetsu Therapy are unmatched.
Recognizing its potential and fitting all of Berkley Bedell’s criteria (innovative, low-cost and non-toxic), FAIM immediately attempted to get more hard data to corroborate the anecdotal cases observed. The initial work was done in Peru by Dr. Jose Aranda of Instituto de Medicina Tradicional (IMET) who successfully treated a patient with TB. This patient had objected to and was refusing to take the conventional medication that The Global Fund makes so generously available to people around the world for free. After a few months of meticulous Onnetsu Therapy, without the use of medication, the patient was declared cured by the Peruvian Ministry of Health. With this one impeccably documented case, FAIM was able to get approval to do more small pilot studies.
A few years down the line, with the collaboration of Dr. Tatsumura, FAIM has promoted Onnetsu Therapy in various Latin American countries. In the meantime, Dr. Tatsumura would never miss an event anywhere around the globe to lecture and do demonstrations. The Mitsui group in Japan started getting requests from neighboring countries and receiving international students. Finally, the Cuban government has promoted various pilot studies, including a major one to measure the effects of Onnetsu Therapy on shoulder and back pain. It has already sponsored two international congresses within the framework of BioNat (Congreso de la Sociedad Cubana de Medicina Bioenergética y Naturalista) with the next installment already scheduled for 2021.
One day, the world will take notice of this therapy, too basic for the ivory towers of medicine. Mrs. Mitsui, the gentle rural schoolteacher with a kind heart, will most certainly posthumously receive due recognition for her gift to humanity. A statue in her honor would be the least of such gestures. It has been an honor for FAIM to have been part of this discovery and help carry the torch a little bit of the way.
