How to become an Acupuncturist and Moxibustion Practitioner
Also called: Moxibustion Practitioner, Acupuncture and Moxibustion Therapist, Acupuncturist
Stimulates acupuncture points with needles or moxa to ease patients' symptoms, based on East Asian and modern medicine.
Main tasks
- Asking patients about their symptoms and observing and checking their body
- Touching the patient's body and finding acupuncture points with the fingers according to their symptoms
- Taking the pulse to check the patient's condition
- Finding set acupuncture points on the body and disinfecting the skin there
- Inserting stainless steel or other needles in set ways to stimulate the affected area and the nerves around it
- Treating by inserting needles several times or touching the skin without inserting them
- Treating by passing a weak electric current through the needles
- Burning moxa made from mugwort and other plants to stimulate the affected area and nerves around it with heat
- For some symptoms, burning moxa until it marks the skin to give sharp stimulation
- Stimulating acupuncture points with moxa on a base
- Pressing stiff and tender points with the fingers alongside needles and moxa
- Treating with specialist equipment such as treatment devices
- Correcting the pelvis
- Talking with patients during treatment and checking how their body feels afterwards
- Giving patients advice on improving their health
- Taking payment after treatment
- Counting the needles after treatment
- Recording symptoms and treatment in patient records
- Cleaning the clinic and managing hygiene
- Visiting business contacts
Workers in this job say vocational college (senmon gakko) or university is common. From job tag's survey of people in each job, who could give several answers. It shows what workers see as common, not how many workers hold each level.
How to become one
To practise acupuncture or moxibustion as a job you need an acupuncturist licence and a moxibustion practitioner licence. To sit the exams for these licences you must study acupuncture and moxibustion skills and knowledge for three years or more at an approved senmon gakko (vocational college), university or tanki daigaku (junior college). People with visual impairment often study at schools for the blind or vision impairment centres. People with visual impairment can become eligible for the national exams with five years of training even if they have only finished junior high school. Many people work at an acupuncture clinic for several years to build experience before opening their own practice. Because you treat patients directly, as well as treatment skills you need good communication to put people at ease and build trust.
Ways in
- University: Allied Health degrees, Offered by 52 universities in Japan
- Vocational college, junior college, kosen and trade skills tests: Vocational college (専門学校) course: Acupuncture, moxibustion and massage. 専修学校 courses in はり・きゅう・あんま (医療関係) had 3,002 graduates in the 2024 school year, 2,329 of whom started work in a related field (School Basic Survey 2025, table 237). Course matched to the occupation by Peernovo.
- National licence or qualification: Listed by job tag as a qualification related to this job (関連資格): はり師、きゅう師. Needed to do this job (Peernovo, from job tag's entry description). English name and classification by Peernovo.
Pay · Job openings · AI and this job
- Average annual income: ¥4,541,500 Private sector only: employers with 10 or more staff. Public servants, such as public school teachers and police officers, are not in these figures.
- Monthly base pay (before overtime and bonus): median ¥282,200, and the middle half earn ¥240,000 to ¥335,900 a month.
- Pay measured for the wage survey group: Other health care workers
- 1.93 job openings per applicant at Hello Work (2025). A current demand signal, not a projection. It counts only the jobs and job seekers registered at Hello Work, Japan's public employment offices, and many graduate and professional hires never pass through it.
- Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.
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Questions people ask
How do I become an Acupuncturist and Moxibustion Practitioner?
To practise acupuncture or moxibustion as a job you need an acupuncturist licence and a moxibustion practitioner licence. To sit the exams for these licences you must study acupuncture and moxibustion skills and knowledge for three years or more at an approved senmon gakko (vocational college), university or tanki daigaku (junior college). People with visual impairment often study at schools for the blind or vision impairment centres. People with visual impairment can become eligible for the national exams with five years of training even if they have only finished junior high school. Many people work at an acupuncture clinic for several years to build experience before opening their own practice. Because you treat patients directly, as well as treatment skills you need good communication to put people at ease and build trust.
How much does an Acupuncturist and Moxibustion Practitioner earn in Japan?
Average annual income in the private sector, bonus included, is ¥4,541,500 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare). The figure is for the wage survey group Other health care workers, which covers several jobs.
Do you need a degree to become an Acupuncturist and Moxibustion Practitioner?
Not always. In this job's census occupation group, 28% of workers are university graduates. Ways in include: Allied Health degrees; Vocational college (専門学校) course: Acupuncture, moxibustion and massage.
Will AI change the work of an Acupuncturist and Moxibustion Practitioner?
Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.
Sources
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare: Basic Survey on Wage Structure (賃金構造基本統計調査) 2025: earnings by occupation (2025 survey (June 2025 pay, 2024 bonus), published 2026-03-24), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare: Employment Referrals for General Workers (一般職業紹介状況): Hello Work job-openings-to-applicants ratio by occupation (2025 annual (release of 2026-10-02)), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
- Statistics Bureau of Japan (MIC): 2020 Population Census (令和2年国勢調査) detailed sample tabulation: employed by occupation, sex, age and education (2020 Census (tables 9-1 and 15-1, published 2022-12-27)), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
- JILPT (職業情報データベース) via MHLW job tag: job tag download data: 解説系 (descriptions, how to become, related qualifications) and 簡易版数値系 (interests, tasks, education) (解説系 ver.7.01 (2026-06-04); 簡易版数値系 ver.7.00 (2026-03-17)), retrieved 4 October 2026
- International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成 職業情報データベース 解説系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_description_7_01.xlsx）ver.7.01 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成
独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成 職業情報データベース 簡易版数値系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_numeric_7_00.xlsx）ver.7.00 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成
Sources: JILPT Occupational Information Database download data via job tag (解説系 ver.7.01 and 簡易版数値系 ver.7.00, downloaded 4 October 2026), processed by Peernovo; MHLW, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025; Statistics Bureau of Japan, 2020 Population Census; MEXT, School Basic Survey 2025; MHLW, Employment Referrals for General Workers (Hello Work statistics). Figures processed by Peernovo. English job names, translations and the matching of jobs to statistical groups, schools and degree fields by Peernovo.
Updated 4 October 2026