A brief history of Jin Shin Jyutsu!

Jin Shin Jyutsu, “The art of the creator though the person of compassion”.

A man named Jiro Murai is responsible for taking a nearly lost spoken tradition of energy medicine/thought that has been around for thousands of years and developed that knowledge into an all-encompassing art form. Today this ancient knowledge is known as Jin Shin Jyutsu!

Jiro Murai was born in 1886 in Taiseimura, Japan and as Japanese tradition stimulates, the first born follows into the footsteps of his father’s occupation. In this case, his brother being the first born, had to become a medical doctor, and this afforded Jiro the freedom to choose whatever path he wanted. He took advantage of this and experienced life in various ways like entering eating contests (for ingesting the most food) for prizes/cash. When Jiro was 26, he became gravely ill and even with the attention and help from the best medicine resources that were available at the time, he was considered terminal. His last request was to be brought to the family cabin in the mountains and to be left alone there for seven days and that they return on the eighth day to retrieve him. Jiro meditated, fasted and utilized ancient energy healing techniques during this time and on the seventh day his body’s temperature grew very cold and he drifted in and out of consciousness. Being tested to its limit, his body went from conditions of feeling extreme cold, to feeling like he was burning up in the throws of a fire. Unknown to Jiro as to why, he felt much relief, peace and calmness after passing through his dark night of the soul. He was grateful to be alive!

Working with the homeless population in Wano park in Tokyo, Jiro began his lifelong study of Jin Shin Jyutsu. He would look for specific projects (diseases, conditions, etc. ) and would come up with flows or various ways to treat these people and then he would move on to another project. It is believed that Jiro did not leave Japan during his lifetime but felt an urge to introduce the old traditions to the West. Jiro would mentor a hand-picked student who would be instrumental in bringing this modality to the West. He met a woman named Mary Iino who was born in Seattle, Washington in 1918. Mary moved to Japan in the late forties for work and met Jiro at a mutual friend’s house. Jiro asked Mary, “Would you like to study with me to take a gift from Japan to America? “. With little awareness of what Jiro was asking of her, she felt a great urge to say YES! Mary studied with Jiro for twelve years and at one point she became very ill and Jiro cured her illness (project) and she gleamed much from her ordeal and used that to carry her forward in her studies of this art. Mary moved to the United States in 1954 and began to practice this art and worked diligently to promote and educate Jin Shin Jyutsu world wide till her passing in 2008. The institute for Jin Shin Jyutsu is located in Scottsdale Arizona and continues to promote this modality by training thousands of students all over the world.

Legend is told that Jiro and a good friend went on separate spiritual paths. One came down the mountain with the art of Jin Shin Jyutsu while the other friend came back with the modality of Reiki. An instructor told us about this legend in class, and it is interesting to think about their relationship, what they were seeking and how they ultimately found what they were looking for!