George Ohsawa, born , was the founder of the Macrobiotic diet

Macrobiotic diet

A macrobiotic diet , from "macro" and "bios" , a dietary regimen which involves eating grains as a staple food supplemented with other foodstuffs such as local vegetables avoiding the use of highly processed or refined foods and most animal products...

 and philosophy

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

. When living in Europe he went by the pen names of Musagendo Sakurazawa, Nyoiti Sakurazawa, and Yukikazu Sakurazawa. He also used the French first name Georges while living in France, and his name is sometimes also given this spelling.

Background

Ohsawa was born into a poor samurai

Samurai

is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...

 family during the Meiji Restoration

Meiji Restoration

The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, Reform or Renewal, was a chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan in 1868...

. He had no money for higher education. Around this time is when his spiritual path started. Around 1913 he met up with Manabu Nishibata (a direct disciple of the late Sagen Ishizuka

Sagen Ishizuka

was a doctor in the Imperial Japanese Army who pioneered the concepts of shokuiku and the macrobiotic diet. He was one of the first to investigate the nutritional value of whole grains as well as sea vegetables, daikon, and kudzu.-Biography:...

) and studied with him in Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

 in the movement Shoku-yo Kai.

Ohsawa also claims in his books that he cured himself from tuberculosis

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

at age 19 using what he knew about the ancient yin-yang concepts that originated in China, as well as the teachings of Sagen Ishizuka.

Later he travelled to Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, particularly Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 where he started to spread his philosophy (it is in this period he supposedly adopted his new pen name "Ohsawa", after the French "oh, ça va" which means "all right" or "I'm doing fine" as a reply to the question "how are you doing ?"). After several years he returned to Japan to start a foundation, and gather recruits for his now formalized philosophy. After drawing attention to himself during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 for his pacifist ideals, he wrote a book which predicted Japan's defeat and was incarcerated, narrowly escaping death for his views. After being freed from prison by U.S. General McArthur, he moved his institution to a remote area in the mountains of Yamanashi prefecture

Yamanashi Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of the island of Honshū. The capital is the city of Kōfu.-Pre-history to the 14th century:People have been living in the Yamanashi area for about 30,000 years...

.

It is presumed that he got the Western name for his movement from a book written by Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland

Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland

Christoph Wilhelm Friedrich Hufeland was a German physician. He is famous as the most eminent practical physician of his time in Germany and as the author of numerous works displaying extensive reading and a cultivated critical faculty.-Biography:Hufeland was born at Langensalza, Thuringia and...

, a famous Prussian physician. It is known that he spent time in Europe with a descendant of Hufeland.

Several of his Japanese disciples were also instrumental in disseminating Macrobiotics in the West. They are, in particular, Herman Aihara in California, Roland Yasuhara in Belgium (where LIMA, the well-known manufacturer of macrobiotic products was born), Tomio Kikuchi in Brazil, Clim Yoshimi of Kyoto and Michio Kushi

Michio Kushi

Michio Kushi born 1926 in Japan, helped to introduce modern macrobiotics to the United States in the early 1950s. He has lectured about philosophy, spiritual development, health, food and diseases at conferences and seminars all over the world.-Background:After World War II, Kushi studied with...

 in Massachusetts.

Another famous student of Ohsawa was Noburo Muramoto, a Japanese native who became head of the Tokyo Macrobiotic Center before being invited by Herman Aihara to Aihara's and his wife Cornelia's study center in San Francisco in the 1970s, the George Ohsawa Macrobiotic Foundation (GOMF). After spending some time teaching Macrobiotics and Traditional Oriental Medicine with the Aiharas, Muramoto founded his own center called Asunaro Institute in Glen Ellen, California. During this time Muramoto wrote "Healing Ourselves" with the collaboration of Michel Abehsera, a student of George Ohsawa who compiled the book from lectures Muramoto gave while he was on tour in the USA. Abehsera, a noted author in his own right, most notably of "Zen Macrobiotic Cooking" and "Our Earth, Our Cure", as well as several other books on natural health, diet, and philosophy, through his association with Swan House Publishers in Binghamton, New York, was able to publish and distribute the book through health food stores and metaphysical outlets.

While in France Ohsawa wrote a number of books in French related to the Macrobiotic world view, which were published by Vrin Publishers in Paris, France. Among them were "L'Ere Atomique", The Atomic Age, written during the Cuban Missile Crisis

Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation among the Soviet Union, Cuba and the United States in October 1962, during the Cold War...

. Ohsawa was motivated to write the book because of the looming possibility of atomic war and the consequences on life as we know it. In this book, as was typical of all books Ohsawa wrote, he devotes considerable time to explaining his views regarding how Macrobiotics can shed light on many social problems as well as causes of war and how Macrobiotics can help bring about a world in which war will be seen as an outcome of an error of judgment, and discarded as an effective solution to social conflict.

Ohsawa also created a stir by predicting the deaths of several notables including actress Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....

, USA President John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....

 and his brother Robert Kennedy, based on the condition known in Japan as "Sanpaku" (three-spaces empty). Sanpaku

Sanpaku

Sanpaku gan or Sanpaku is a Japanese term that means “three whites” and is generally referred to in English as "Sanpaku eyes"...

 refers to traditional Japanese physiognomic

Physiognomy

Physiognomy is the assessment of a person's character or personality from their outer appearance, especially the face...

 diagnosis in which eyes can be seen to present a white area below as well as to each side of the iris

Iris (anatomy)

The iris is a thin, circular structure in the eye, responsible for controlling the diameter and size of the pupils and thus the amount of light reaching the retina. "Eye color" is the color of the iris, which can be green, blue, or brown. In some cases it can be hazel , grey, violet, or even pink...

 when viewed straight on. This anomaly was considered a sign of extreme fatigue that made one accident-prone and slow to react. In ancient Japan, Samurai warriors were trained to watch for this feature to assist in determining how formidable an enemy would be in hand-to-hand combat. Ohsawa adapted it to a more general diagnostic indication of one's general state of health. William Dufty

William Dufty

William Francis Dufty was an American writer, and nutrition activist. Including ghostwriting, he wrote approximately 40 books.-Biography:...

, sixth husband of actress Gloria Swanson

Gloria Swanson

Gloria Swanson was an American actress, singer and producer. She was one of the most prominent stars during the silent film era as both an actress and a fashion icon, especially under the direction of Cecil B. DeMille, made dozens of silents and was nominated for the first Academy Award in the...

 and noted author of "Lady Sings the Blues", the 1956 autobiography of blues singer Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...

, borrowed this concept as the title of his book "You Are All Sanpaku", which was based on Sakurazawa Nyoichi's teachings.

See also

• Macrobiotic diet
  Macrobiotic diet
  A macrobiotic diet , from "macro" and "bios" , a dietary regimen which involves eating grains as a staple food supplemented with other foodstuffs such as local vegetables avoiding the use of highly processed or refined foods and most animal products...