Japanese abdominal diagnosis or Fukushin is the diagnostic art developed in medieval Japan based on the canonical writings by Zhang Zhongjing. Careful inspection of the Shanghan Zabing Lun reveals countless references to abdominal conditions that could only have been diagnosed by actual palpation of the abdomen. The skill however never fully developed in China but flourished in Japan. Fukushin 腹診 refers specifically to the style of abdominal diagnosis developed by Japanese scholars during the Edo period (1603-1867 CE) for the purpose of prescribing the Han dynasty formulas of Zhang Zhongjing.

Diagnosis in Han-dynasty was primarily done by taking the pulse. Every formula can be identified through one or more pulse patterns presenting in the patient. Though many pulses are mentioned in the Jingui Yaolue, crucial detail is often hidden, and it is as if this knowledge is merely implicitly present, as if it were embedded. Therefore, the Tian Heming Canonical Formula lineage’s main strength and contribution to the field of Chinese medicine to have made this advanced knowledge on pulse diagnosis crystal clear and evident. This knowledge has never been recorded in any book, but was rather transmitted orally from Dr. Tian Heming through Dr. Zeng Rongxiu to Dr. Arnaud Versluys. The latter of which has been teaching this material around the world in more systematized and structured format since a few years.