World Massage Encyclopedia

🇹🇭Thailand

Thai Massage (Nuad Thai)

タイ古式マッサージ（ヌアッドタイ）นวดไทย / นวดแผนโบราณ

Nuad Thai is the name used for traditional Thai massage. It can combine pressure over clothing and assisted stretching. Sen belongs to its traditional understanding of the body; practice varies by school and setting.

Pressure · Stretch · Herbal

🇮🇩Bali (Indonesia)

Balinese Massage

バリニーズマッサージPijat Bali

A name used for oil massage in Balinese spas and other settings, often combining long strokes, kneading and scent. Local everyday care and tourism-spa menus should not be treated as identical traditions.

Oil · Pressure · Herbal

🇵🇭Philippines

Hilot (Filipino Traditional Healing)

ヒロット（フィリピン伝統療法）

A name for traditional care carried forward in the Philippines. Practices may include manual work, herbs and family care. Knowledge and explanations among practitioners known as manghihilot vary locally; spa wellness massage does not represent the whole tradition.

Oil · Herbal · Heat · Pressure

🇯🇵Japan

Shiatsu

指圧指圧（しあつ）

A practice developed in Japan using pressure with fingers, palms and other forms of contact, often over clothing. Namikoshi and Masunaga traditions illustrate differences in teaching and understandings of the body; no single intensity or benefit defines them all.

Pressure · Stretch

🇯🇵Japan

Anma

あん摩按摩（あんま）

A manual practice carried forward in Japan with historical connections to Chinese anmo. It combines kneading, stroking and pressure, often over clothing. The contributions of practitioners with visual impairments are an important part of its history.

Pressure · Percussion

🇨🇳China

Tui Na

推拿（すいな）推拿

Manual practices developed within Chinese traditional medicine, including pushing, grasping, kneading and rolling. They are described using concepts such as meridians and qi and blood. Introducing those concepts is separate from making medical judgements about symptoms.

Pressure · Stretch · Tool

🇯🇵Japan

Facial Massage and Kobido

フェイシャルマッサージと古美道古美道（こびどう）

Kobido is a name and system associated with Japanese facial manual work, including descriptions of quick finger movements and kneading. It is not a synonym for all facial massage; lineage accounts and use of the name require individual verification.

Face · Head · Lymph

🇮🇳Kerala (India)

Ayurvedic Massage (Abhyanga)

アーユルヴェーダ・マッサージ（アビヤンガ）अभ्यङ्ग (Abhyaṅga)

Oil-based manual work within Ayurveda, involving the spreading of oil, stroking and kneading. Its role differs in household routines, specialist facilities and spas. Concepts such as dosha are presented as explanations within that tradition.

Oil · Herbal · Heat

🇮🇳India

Indian Head Massage

インディアンヘッドマッサージचंपी (Champi)

A name connected with head care in India and seated practices developed in Britain and elsewhere. Work may include the scalp, neck and shoulders. Household champi and taught systems such as Champissage should be explored without assuming they are identical.

Head · Pressure · Face

🏔️Tibet

Ku Nye (Tibetan Massage)

クニェ（チベット伝統マッサージ）བསྐུ་མཉེ་ (bsku mnye)

Ku Nye is the manual therapy of Sowa Rigpa, Tibetan traditional medicine, in three stages: ku, anointing with warm medicated oil or butter; nye, kneading, pressure and joint movement; and chi, wiping the oil away with flour. Recorded in the Four Tantras (Gyud Zhi) compiled between the 8th and 12th centuries, it uses heated stones and herbal compresses alongside the hands, on a theory of balancing the three humours (lung, tripa, beken). It is taught today in Dharamsala, in Tibet and at schools in Europe.

Oil · Herbal · Stone · Heat

🇺🇸Hawaiʻi

Lomi Lomi (Hawaiian Massage)

ロミロミ（ハワイ伝統マッサージ）Lomilomi

A name for manual practices carried forward through families and communities in Hawaiʻi. Some use hands and forearms, with accounts emphasising aloha, place and relationships. Practice, including prayer and sequence, varies; a single spa form cannot stand for the whole tradition.

Oil · Breath · Stone · Abdomen

🇳🇿Aotearoa New Zealand

Mirimiri and Romiromi (Māori Bodywork)

ミリミリとロミロミ（マオリ伝統手技）Mirimiri / Romiromi

Mirimiri and romiromi are manual practices discussed within rongoā Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand. Accounts may emphasise concepts such as mauri and wairua and relationships with community. They should not be reduced to fixed light-versus-deep categories; practitioners’ own explanations matter.

Pressure · Wood · Tool · Herbal · Stretch

🇹🇷Turkey

Hammam (Turkish and Moroccan Bath Massage)

ハマム（トルコ式・モロッコ式浴場マッサージ）حمّام / Hamam

The hammam is the steam bath-house that developed in the Islamic world from the Roman and Byzantine public baths, and the sequence of body care performed there. In the Turkish form, the tellak (bath attendant) scrubs the skin with a coarse kese mitt and kneads the whole body in foam (köpük) on a heated marble platform (göbek taşı). The Moroccan form uses black soap (savon beldi), a kessa glove, ghassoul clay and argan oil. It carries both the religious meaning of purification and the role of a social gathering place.

Steam · Water · Heat · Tool

🇸🇪Sweden

Swedish Massage

スウェディッシュマッサージKlassisk massage

Swedish, or classic, massage was systematised in Europe and spread through varied educational and spa settings. Terms such as effleurage and pétrissage describe gliding, kneading and friction. This vocabulary is not a universal framework for describing or judging every massage tradition.

Oil · Pressure · Percussion

🇩🇰Denmark

Manual Lymphatic Drainage (MLD)

リンパドレナージュ（マニュアル・リンパ・ドレナージュ）Manuelle Lymphdrainage

Manual lymphatic drainage uses light movements of the skin and is taught in systems including the Vodder method. Clinical decisions should be distinguished from use of similar names on beauty menus. Suitability for a medical condition requires assessment by a qualified clinician.

Lymph

🇫🇷France

Aromatherapy Massage

アロマテラピーマッサージMassage aromathérapique

Massage combining manual techniques with preparations such as appropriately diluted essential oils. Training includes effleurage (gliding) and petrissage (kneading). Techniques and scent choices vary, with the recipient’s preferences respected.

Oil · Herbal · Lymph

🇫🇮Finland

Sports Massage

スポーツマッサージSports massage

An umbrella term for manual work in sport and activity settings. Touch and timing are discussed around training, events and the person’s preferences. The label does not guarantee better performance, injury prevention or faster recovery.

Pressure · Stretch · Fascia

🇺🇸United States

Esalen Massage

エサレンマッサージEsalen® Massage

Esalen massage is a style of bodywork that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s at the Esalen Institute, founded in 1962 at Big Sur, California. On a foundation of Swedish strokes it emphasises long, slow strokes that treat the body as one whole, rocking, passive joint movement, and the practitioner's presence and synchrony with the receiver's breath. Shaped by the human potential movement, Gestalt therapy and Sensory Awareness, it aims at relaxation and a deepening of self-awareness.

Oil · Breath

🇺🇸United States

Deep Tissue Massage

ディープティシューマッサージDeep tissue massage

A name for manual work that attends to muscle and fascia through slow movements and sustained contact. Explanations vary by school and practitioner. Deep does not mean a contest of strength or that enduring pain is desirable.

Pressure · Fascia · Elbow

🇺🇸United States

Myofascial Release and Trigger Point Therapy

筋膜リリースとトリガーポイント療法Myofascial release / Trigger point therapy

Myofascial release is a name for approaches using sustained contact or stretching with attention to fascia. Trigger-point therapy is a related but distinct explanatory system. School-specific theories and practices should not be equated with established tissue changes or benefits for symptoms.

Fascia · Pressure · Stretch

🇺🇸United States

Reflexology

リフレクソロジー（足の反射区療法）Zone therapy / 若石健康法

A practice applying pressure to feet, hands or other areas using the concept of reflex zones. Zone maps describe particular systems; they are not maps for diagnosing organs. Tools and ways of touch vary across schools.

Foot · Pressure · Tool

🇺🇸United States

Hot Stone Massage

ホットストーンマッサージStone therapy

A format using warmed smooth stones, held or placed during a session. Local traditions involving heated stones should be distinguished from modern spa systems. Temperature, skin condition and the recipient’s ability to sense heat require careful attention.

Stone · Heat · Oil

🇺🇸United States

Chair Massage (Seated Massage)

チェアマッサージ（シーテッド・マッサージ）On-site massage

Chair massage treats a clothed receiver seated forward in a purpose-built chair, working neck, shoulders, back, arms and hands in 10 to 30 minutes. David Palmer of San Francisco, drawing on his study of Japanese anma, systematised it as 'on-site massage' in the 1980s and designed the first dedicated chair in 1986. In Japan, short seated anma and shiatsu spread at the same time as 'quick massage', and the two together underpin the championship's chair category.

Pressure · Percussion

🇧🇷Brazil

Body Shape Massage (Modelagem and Maderotherapy)

ボディシェイプ・マッサージ（モデラージェムとマデロテラピー）Massagem modeladora / Maderoterapia

An umbrella term used for manual work in appearance-related beauty settings. Examples include Brazilian modeladora and forms using wooden tools, but these are not one system. We do not judge body shapes or promise fat loss or lasting change; the person’s wishes and boundaries come first.

Oil · Wood · Tool · Lymph

🇮🇳Kerala (India)

Four-Hands and Multi-Hands Massage

フォーハンズ／マルチハンズマッサージFour hands massage

A format in which several practitioners work with one recipient at the same time. Two-practitioner work in Ayurveda and contemporary spa menus each have their own contexts. More hands do not imply greater benefit; consent, coordination and comfortable pacing matter.

Oil

🇨🇳China

An Mo (Anmo)

按摩（アンモ）按摩

Pressure

🇨🇳China

Pediatric Tuina

小児推拿小儿推拿

Pressure

🇨🇳China

Chinese Acupressure Massage

中国式指圧（点穴・穴位按摩）穴位按摩

Pressure

🇨🇳China

Abdominal Tuina

腹部推拿（内科推拿）腹部推拿

Abdomen · Pressure

🇨🇳China

Orthopedic Tuina

整骨推拿（正骨）正骨推拿

Pressure

🇨🇳China

Die Da / Dit Da Bodywork

跌打（ティッター）跌打

Herbal · Pressure

🇨🇳China

Chinese Foot Massage

中国式足裏マッサージ足底按摩

Foot · Pressure · Tool

🇨🇳China

Qigong Massage

気功按摩气功按摩

Breath · Pressure

🇨🇳China

Chi Nei Tsang

チネイザン（氣内臓）氣內臟

Abdomen · Breath

🇨🇳China

Gua Sha

刮痧（グアシャ）刮痧

Tool · Fascia

🇨🇳China

Cupping

カッピング（拔罐）拔罐

Tool

🇨🇳China

Fire Cupping

火罐（ファイアカッピング）火罐

Tool · Heat

🇨🇳China

Moxibustion

灸（モグサ）艾灸

Heat · Herbal

🇯🇵Japan

Japanese Massage

日本式マッサージ（あん摩マッサージ指圧）あん摩マッサージ指圧

Pressure · Oil

🇯🇵Japan

Namikoshi Shiatsu

浪越指圧浪越指圧

Pressure

🇯🇵Japan

Zen Shiatsu

禅指圧（増永経絡指圧）経絡指圧

Pressure · Stretch

🇯🇵Japan

Ampuku

按腹（あんぷく）按腹

Abdomen · Pressure

🇯🇵Japan

Seitai

整体整体

Pressure · Stretch · Movement

🇯🇵Japan

Japanese Head Massage / Head Spa

ヘッドスパ・ヘッドマッサージ（日本）ヘッドスパ

Head

🇰🇷Korea

Chuna

推拿（チュナ）추나요법

Pressure · Stretch

🇰🇷Korea

Korean Meridian Massage

韓国式経絡マッサージ경락 마사지

Pressure · Lymph

🇰🇷Korea

Golki

骨気（コルギ）골기

Face · Pressure

🏔️Tibet

Hor Me

ホルメ（温めた油の布袋療法）ཧོར་སྨན

Heat · Herbal · Oil