Pressure point
points on body used in traditional Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine
Pressure points are areas of the human body that may produce significant pain or other effects when manipulated in a specific manner. They are related to the supposed meridian points in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Indian Ayurveda and Siddha medicine, and martial arts.
History
The earliest known concept of pressure points can be seen in the South Indian Varma kalai based on Siddha. The concept of pressure points is also present in the old school Japanese martial arts; in a 1942 article in the Shin Budo magazine, Takuma Hisa asserted the existence of a tradition attributing the first development of pressure-point attacks to Shinra Saburō Minamoto no Yoshimitsu (1045–1127).
Hancock and Higashi (1905) published a book which pointed out a number of vital points in Japanese martial arts.
Accounts of pressure-point fighting appeared in Chinese Wuxia fiction novels and became known by the name of Dim Mak, or "Death Touch", in western popular culture in the 1960s.
While it is undisputed that there are sensitive points on the human body where even comparatively weak pressure may induce significant pain or serious injury, the association of kyūsho with notions of death have been harshly criticized.
“Pressure point” enters the record as points on body used in traditional Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Pressure, point and points can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q13114280. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1942, 1045, 1127 and 1905.
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This entry incorporates text from “Pressure point” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.