How to become a Judo Therapist
Also called: Bonesetter
Helps people recover from bruises, sprains, dislocations, fractures and other injuries using hands-on first aid and treatments that support medical care.
Main tasks
- Assessing the patient's condition by asking questions, looking and feeling, and planning treatment
- Explaining treatment to patients and keeping in touch after treatment
- Applying force with the hands to put injured bones, joints, muscles and tendons back into their normal position
- Holding injured areas in place with splints or other materials to help healing
- Giving physical therapy such as exercise, heat and hands-on techniques to speed healing and restore movement
- Recording patients' condition in their records
- Guiding and advising patients on daily life so nothing slows their healing
- Coaching sport and training
- Giving treatment to prevent pain
- Relieving muscle spasms
- Running functional training
- Taping injured areas
- Helping to transport patients
- Visiting patients' homes to treat them
- Working with hospitals and sharing patient information as needed
- Preparing invoices and other documents
- Taking payment after treatment and preparing insurance claims
- Managing customers, sales and expenses
- Writing web articles and flyers to attract customers
- Visiting contacts to promote the practice and attract customers
- Studying treatment methods and skills
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
You must spend at least three years at a judo therapist training institution (a senmon gakko or vocational college, tanki daigaku or junior college, or university) learning anatomy, physiology, pathology, hygiene and other necessary knowledge, along with the skills of judo therapy (judo seifuku), and then pass the national exam. Passing the exam qualifies you to open your own practice as a judo therapist, but many people build experience for several years at a bonesetting clinic (sekkotsuin) or similar before doing so. Some judo therapists do not open their own practice and instead work in surgery or orthopaedic departments.
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: Judo therapy. 専修学校 courses in 柔道整復 (医療関係) had 2,774 graduates in the 2024 school year, 2,142 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): 柔道整復師. 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 a Judo Therapist?
You must spend at least three years at a judo therapist training institution (a senmon gakko or vocational college, tanki daigaku or junior college, or university) learning anatomy, physiology, pathology, hygiene and other necessary knowledge, along with the skills of judo therapy (judo seifuku), and then pass the national exam. Passing the exam qualifies you to open your own practice as a judo therapist, but many people build experience for several years at a bonesetting clinic (sekkotsuin) or similar before doing so. Some judo therapists do not open their own practice and instead work in surgery or orthopaedic departments.
How much does a Judo Therapist 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 a Judo Therapist?
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: Judo therapy.
Will AI change the work of a Judo Therapist?
Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.
Sources
- 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
- 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
- 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