What is Macrobiotics
Sagen Ishizuka 石塚左玄 (1850-1910)
Important influencer
Sagen Ishizuka was a Japanese physician who formulated some of the basic concepts of macrobiotics particularly regarding the dietary part. He noticed that modern Western dietary influences were having a negative effect on the health of Japanese people. Particularly changes in food proportions characterized by increases in meat, milk and sugar consumption along with changes in food quality such as refinement of food and importing food from far away places that were traditionally rarely consumed. He began to recommend eating in a more traditional pattern centered around whole grains and vegetables or what is now also referred as a plant-based diet, to use natural more natural quality such as whole or unrefined foods and consume foods primarily from local sources. Through his work and research he realized that food is the primary cause of sickness and therefore also the cure helping many people to regain health through dietary and lifestyle means.
Yukikazu Sakurazawa(George Ohsawa) 桜沢如一 (1893-1966)
Regarded as the initiator and founder of macrobiotics
George Ohsawa contracted pulmonary and intestinal tuberculosis at the age of 16. His mother and brother had already passed away of this disease and was given little chance of survival. Guided by the dietary recommendations found in a book by Sagen Ishizuka he was able to overcome the disease and regain health. Inspired by his recovery he dedicated his life to the study, promotion and teaching about the importance of diet and lifestyle for health and wellbeing.
His interest in the relation between diet and health led him to research the use of food in healing throughout history around the world. Influenced by the traditional oriental medicine approach to healing using food along with yin yang principles he began to study, renew and apply the use of yin yang in food, cooking and in other areas of life while combining it with modern Western knowledge and new scientific developments. Little by little he began to formulate the basis for a healthy, sustainable and harmonious way of life founded on a unique synthesis of traditional Eastern notions adapted to modern times.
George Ohsawa also came to know about the work of Hippocrates, a Greek philosopher and physician considered the father of Western medicine. Hippocrates used food as the main way to heal disease and is known for coining the popular proverb “Let food be thy medicine”. In his work he observed that those who practice a natural balanced way of eating and living could easily live long healthy lives or what he referred as macrobiotics from the Greek root words macro, meaning “long” or “great” and “bios” meaning “life”.
George Ohsawa was a prolific writer and as he began teaching in the West in his talks and books he started to use the word macrobiotics in reference to his holistic approach to health by following a natural balanced diet and way of life. Along with his wife Lima Ohsawa, a proficient cooking teacher, they dedicated much of their lives to introduce, teach and spread the macrobiotic diet, lifestyle and yin yang and other oriental principles of health and balance around the world while guiding many individuals and families towards better health.
Michio Kushi 久司道夫 (1926-2014)
Main proponent and developer of contemporary macrobiotics
Michio Kushi moved to the United States in 1949 from his native Japan after completing law and international relations studies at University of Tokyo. He believed in the harmonious coming together of East and West for achieving world peace, happiness and prosperity and began to teach oriental culture, philosophy and other aspects of the way of life as a means to develop mutual understanding and benefit from each other’s views, developments and achievements. Influenced and encouraged by George Ohsawa he became the main proponent and educator of the macrobiotic way of life. He also contributed to it’s development and fashioned macrobiotics in the way we know, study and practice today around the world.
Together with his wife Aveline Kushi they developed macrobiotic education, founded the Kushi Institute in Massachussetts and trained a whole generation of international teachers and cooks. Later those teachers opened macrobiotic schools around the world and Kushi Institute branches throughout Europe and in Japan. A prolific writer, Michio Kushi published over 70 books on health, diet, lifestyle, family care, peace, oriental culture, philosophy and medicine; yin yang applications for achieving balance and other aspects of the macrobiotic way of life. In 1994 he received the Award of Excellence from the United Nations Society of Writers.
In the 1960’s Michio and Aveline Kushi founded Erewhon Natural Foods and pioneered the natural and organic food movements in the United States and around the world. Through their educational activities they introduced and helped popularize around the world healthy traditional Asian foods and food culture including cooking with brown rice, noodles, soy sauce, miso, tofu, soymilk, tempeh and other soy products; seitan and other wheat gluten products; sea vegetables, rice malt syrup, amasake, rice vinegar and many others. They also contributed to develop healthy sustainable cooking and eating practices such as consuming whole foods, plant-based diets, local food production and consumption, and encouraging eating and cooking in a more natural traditional pattern.
Michio Kushi was at the forefront of the holistic and alternative medicine movements and also taught and promoted traditional and natural methods of healing including oriental medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). And promoted various holistic lifestyle practices such as yoga, tai-chi, do-in, martial arts, meditation and many others. His extensive work linking diet and lifestyle with the rise of modern chronic diseases and posible relief through comprehensive dietary and lifestyle changes led to scientific research and the devepment of evidence based dietary and lifestyle approches to health including preventive medicine and lifestyle medicine. Over the years Michio and Aveline Kushi personally guided thousands of individuals and families to better health and recovery stories through the macrobiotic approach abound in books, magazines, scientific articles and papers, and other literature.
In 1999 Michio Kushi was mentioned in the U.S. Government Congressional record in recognition of the dedication and hard work to educate the world about the benefits of the macrobiotic diet. The same year The Smithsonian Institution opened a permanent collection on macrobiotics and alternative health care at the Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. and recognizing macrobiotics as the spearhead for the natural and organic foods movement, holistic health, and alternative medicine in America and around the world. The Smithsonian’s Division of Science, Medicine, and Society stated: The National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution is honored to present the Michio Kushi Family Collection on Macrobiotics and Alternative Health Care. This collection of health, nutrition, and personal family materials and artifacts documents an important and little studied aspects of American life and culture…The significance of macrobiotics in American life is little understood although it relates to such broad historical issues as the postwar move toward a more healthy diet, our increasingly global culture, alternative healing, peace studies, and traditions of grassroots activism.
Global Macrobiotics is our Macrobiotics concept (>>>more details) and Global Macrobiotics School is now one of the many centers and schools continuing the work of disseminating, educating and further developing macrobiotics around the world.