A European missionary who many years ago established a school in the hill station of Darjeeling said every person has two basic requirements in life: cleanliness and books.
Mitsunori Seino, quiet, calm and thoughtful, agrees with that dictum. Perhaps childhood in the bracing weather of Aomori disposed him towards vigor, and awareness of physical fitness and cleanliness. The son of a school teacher and the youngest of five children, from an early age he began practicing karate and judo. The mental disciplines, which stress purity of mind, were as important to him as the physical skills.
As it became time for him to choose a career, and motivated by a desire to be useful, Seino turned to books for guidance. He decided on acupuncture. "Needling," he explained, "began in China in the centuries before Christ, and came with Chinese medicine to Japan. An acupuncturist inserts needles into different spots of the human body in order to treat various disorders. Recently acupuncture has become very popular in Europe and the U.S.A., as well as in Asia."