Netherlands

The history of Shiatsu in the Netherlands
Denis J. Binks (1930-1997) was trained at the Japan Shiatsu College in Tokyo, Japan. His teacher  was Tokujiro Namikoshi-sensei. After he had completed his studies to become a shiatsu-therapist and shiatsu-teacher, he introduced the treatment modality, which had been unknown until that moment, to The Netherlands in 1975. A year later he opened the Nippon-Dutch Shiatsu School (de Nippon-Nederlandse Shiatsu School).

This school provided an important contribution to the process of change pertaining to health and healthcare, which had surfaced in the seventies of the last century. Within different disciplines of health care interest sparked for Shiatsu as an independent holistic therapy and as a complementary treatment modality. The eastern premise that body, mind and heart are connected, began to integrate into western medicine.

The Shiatsu School in the Netherlands spread its wings over Europe. Denis Binks and Roberto Taverna of the Italian Shiatsu School in Rome developed a solid collaboration. Later the Swiss Namikoshi School joined this twosome. This lead to the establishment of the European Shiatsu Academy with departments in the Netherlands, Italy and Switzerland. Honoring Toru Namikoshi’s request Denis established the European Shiatsu Association in that same year.