SHIRUSHI:
The four Usui Reiki symbols
Copyright 2003/5 James Deacon

The Reiki symbols (shirushi in Japanese) have been the source of great interest and much discussion over the years.

Sacred or Secret?

Takata-Sensei taught that the Reiki symbols were sacred and as such should be kept secret - not shown to the uninitiated. To this end, her students were required to memorize the symbols and were not permitted to keep written copies of them.

[Takata-Sensei believed that the symbols should be treated with respect - even the practice sheets used by students in her Reiki classes had to be disposed of respectfully, rather than simply crumpled up and dumped in a bin.]

While the four symbols used in Usui Shiki Ryoho and Usui Reiki Ryoho are still considered by many of us to be Sacred (or at least, of sacred significance), ever since two of the symbols (the SHK and the HSZSN) were first revealed in a Reiki book: 'The Challenge To Teach Reiki' by A.J. MacKenzie Clay, (published in 1992), the belief in the need to keep them secret is no longer generally considered relevant.

[I think it is also important to remember that (as will be discussed in the following pages) the four symbols/their names are not exclusively the 'property' of Reiki.]


Many people, on first hearing about Reiki, have jumped to the conclusion that knowledge of the four symbols will give them the 'power' to do Reiki.

But this is not the case.

To reveal the visual representations of the four symbols, or the Japanese words which form their names (and for that matter the Anglicised meanings of those Japanese words) is not to 'give away' their power - their 'secret'

The 'secret' of the four symbols is something which cannot be expressed in words or images, but can only truly be understood by experiencing the symbols once properly initiated into Reiki.

To be effective as 'keys' to Reiki, the symbols need to be 'psychically imprinted' on the student by a Reiki Teacher as part of the Initiation/attunement process.

For this reason, I have no problem in presenting and discussing the four Usui Reiki symbols here.

In the following pages you will find examples of the symbols, their jumon or mantras, and information concerning their significance and status within Reiki.

You will also find information concerning: the Buddhist significance of three of the symbols; links between some of the symbols and Japanese 'new religions'; various attempts to link the symbols to unrelated belief-systems; views as to how the symbols came to be incorporated into Reiki; and also the kanji and / or katakana written forms of their jumon, along with guides to their proper pronunciation, and actual meanings.