The Shamanic Healer: The Healing World of Ikuko Osumi and the Traditional Art of Seiki-Jutsu

About this book

Although traditional medicine is still widely practiced in Japan some forms of it are extremely rare. One of these is Seiki-jutsu an ancient form of healing based on focusing and transmitting vital life force from healer to patient. One of the few remaining practitioners of this pre-Buddhist art is an extraordinary shamanic healer named Ikuko Osumi. Malcolm Ritchie is Ikuko Osumis deshi or apprentice and the first Westerner to be initiated in the art of Seki-jutsu. He recounts Osumis life story from her earliest years as a sensitive psychic child to her development as a healer. Included are case histories of her work and chapters on the basic method philosophy and ritual of Seiki-jutsu. The second part of The Shamanic Healer is a personal narrative of Ritchies own experiences of Seiki power and the dramatic story of his initiation and training as Osumis apprentice. His account recalls the tremendous personal transformation that was necessary for him to develop as a practitioner of Seiki-jutsu.