A Japanese acupuncture clinic has gone viral for the large number of needles it sticks into patients to help cure them of physical and spiritual ailments.
Acupuncture has been around for thousands of years, but practitioners often develop their own techniques in order to stand out from the competition. One such example is the Shirakawa acupuncture clinic in Tokyo, Japan, which relies on a large number of needles inserted in various parts of the body including the face, to relieve patients of all sorts of ailments, from muscle stiffness to bad luck and even possession by evil spirits. The clinic reportedly charges upwards of 200,000 yen ($1,400) per session and is very popular with Japanese celebrities and athletes.
Last month, Japanese actor Japanese actor Masataka Kubota shared photos of himself having Japanese acupuncture at Shirakawa Clinic, with needles covering most of his face and chest. The photos were flagged by Instagram as sensitive content, but the actor praised the experience as “exhilarating” adding that it pushed him to his core.
Kubota’s post went viral, but he wasn’t the first celebrity to post about Shirakawa’s acupuncture technique, known as root acupuncture. A month earlier, Japanese table tennis player Ai Fukuhara had also shared her experience, saying that she didn’t want to post photos of her face because she didn’t want to scare anybody. Some of Shirakawa’s other famous patients include actress Mami Kumagai, singer Hiromi Go, and gymnast Ryusei Nishioka.
“Most people who receive my treatment cannot help but cry. This is a manifestation of the soul’s purification. These are detoxifying tears,” said Yusaku Shirakawa, the founder of the clinic.
SCMP reports that Shirakawa’s acupuncture technique is said to help relieve physical ailments such as chronic pain and muscle stiffness, but also addresses spiritual issues, helps patients make better decisions, improves their luck, and purifies their souls.
If you’re wondering if Shirakawa acupuncture is as painful as it looks, that is hard to answer. However, the clinic’s official website states that the procedure involves sharp metal needles so “a certain amount of pain will occur”.
Although Shirakawa is currently the most famous practitioner of this acupuncture technique, he is definitely not the only one. A simple Google search reveals that there are around 500 root acupuncture practitioners in Japan. That sounds like a lot, but considering that there are over 120,000 acupuncturists in Japan, they are actually pretty rare.
