The Mikao Usui memorial stone is the single most important early source for the life of Reiki's founder. It was erected in February 1927, about a year after Usui's death, in the cemetery of Saihōji Temple in Suginami, Tokyo. Its inscription gives a chronology, a family background, an account of Usui's practice on Mount Kurama, the founding of his Tokyo centre, his response to the 1923 Kantō earthquake, his death and the number of his students. It also gives the five precepts in a form close to the one used today.
It is not a modern biography. It is a memorial commissioned by grieving and respectful students, written in formal literary Japanese, and shaped by the conventions of that genre. It leaves out as much as it includes. Reading it well means taking it seriously as evidence while refusing to make it carry claims it never makes.
Where the stone is
The memorial stands at Saihōji, a Jōdo-shū (Pure Land) temple in Suginami, Tokyo. Usui's grave is at the same temple, and the memorial was placed in the cemetery grounds by his students. The site is a real, active temple and cemetery, not a Reiki visitor centre. Anyone who goes should check access arrangements and behave as a respectful visitor.
The stone is sometimes called the Usui memorial, the Usui monument or the memorial of Usui Sensei's virtue. The Japanese title is usually rendered Reihō Chōsō Usui Sensei Kudoku no Hi, "Memorial of the Benevolence of Usui Sensei, Founder of Reihō." That word reihō — spiritual method — is itself significant. The earliest monument calls Usui's teaching a spiritual method, not simply "Reiki."
What the inscription says
The text moves through several movements: a philosophical opening on virtue and merit, Usui's family and birth, his education and travels, his practice on Mount Kurama, his Tokyo centre, the earthquake relief, his move to Nakano, his death, his character, the precepts, and the number of his students.
The core chronology is:
| Date given | Event |
|---|---|
| 15 August 1865 | Usui is born in Taniai village, Yamagata district, Gifu Prefecture |
| Undated | He travels to Europe, America and China to study |
| Undated, 21st day | He climbs Mount Kurama, undertakes severe practice, and experiences a great Reiki |
| April 1922 | He moves to Aoyama Harajuku, Tokyo, and establishes a centre |
| September 1923 | He treats survivors of the Great Kantō earthquake |
| February 1925 | He moves to a larger centre in Nakano |
| 9 March 1926 | He dies at Fukuyama while travelling, aged 62 by the inscription's count |
The inscription also says that more than two thousand pupils learned from him, that senior students in Tokyo maintained the centre after his death, and that students in the provinces spread the method. It names his wife Sadako, from the Suzuki family, and his son Fuji. It describes Usui as gentle, prudent, physically strong and widely read.
The precepts appear in a five-line form, rendered here in the ICRT translation:
- Do not get angry today.
- Do not worry today.
- Be grateful today.
- Work diligently today.
- Be kind to others today.
The inscription calls these teachings the "secret method of inviting blessings" and the "spiritual medicine to cure many diseases." That is the memorial's language, not a clinical claim, and it belongs to the religious world of 1920s Japan.
Who wrote it
The authorship is usually described in two layers. Masayuki Okada, a doctor of literature and a member of the Usui society, is credited with composing the text. Jūzaburō Ushida, a naval rear admiral and senior Shihan, is credited with the calligraphy and with leading the project to erect the stone.
English accounts sometimes reverse or blur these roles. The International Center for Reiki Training's translation says the inscription was "written by Juzaburo Ushida" and "edited by Masayuki Okada." James Deacon's translation says it was composed by Okada and written in calligraphy by Ushida. The second is more precise about the distinction between composing a text and brushing its characters. Both agree that the stone was a collective project of Usui's students, completed in February 1927.
The memorial is therefore not an autobiography and not a court record. It is a commemorative text produced by a community that had lost its teacher and wanted to preserve his memory and legitimise his work.
What the stone does not say
The absences are as revealing as the contents.
- It does not mention Chujiro Hayashi, Hawayo Takata, the twenty-two masters, or any Western lineage.
- It does not describe the symbols, attunements or level structure in detail.
- It does not say Usui was a Christian minister, a university president, or a graduate of the University of Chicago.
- It does not mention a waterfall on Mount Kurama.
- It does not name a successor or describe a grand master.
- It does not give the exact year of the Kurama practice, only its place in the sequence before April 1922.
Those omissions do not prove that later stories are false. They do mean that the later stories cannot be validated by the memorial, and that claims about Usui's Christian ministry or academic career need other evidence. So far, no such evidence has been produced: the University of Chicago connection and the Doshisha presidency remain unverified.
Why the age discrepancy matters
The inscription says Usui died at sixty-two. He was born on 15 August 1865 and died on 9 March 1926, which makes him sixty by ordinary Western reckoning. The difference is usually explained by traditional Japanese age counting, in which a person is one at birth and gains a year at each New Year, or by the calendar transition from the old Japanese system to the Western one in 1873.
This small discrepancy is a useful reminder that the memorial's dates are recorded in a different cultural and calendrical world. It does not undermine the text, but it shows why literal readings can mislead.
The two English translations
Most English readers encounter the memorial through one of two translations.
The first is Tetsuyuki Ono's translation, reproduced by the International Center for Reiki Training and associated with Hiroshi Doi's Iyashino Gendai Reiki Ho. It is readable and widely quoted, and it uses "Reiki" where the Japanese says reihō. It also contains romanisation inconsistencies and at least one apparent typo in the place name "Cifu" for Gifu.
The second is Jiro Kozuki's translation for James Deacon's AETW site, published in 2003. It is more literal in places and preserves the reihō terminology. Deacon's accompanying notes discuss the age discrepancy and the memorial's composition.
Neither translation is a critical edition. Both are secondary renderings of a Japanese text that most English-speaking practitioners cannot check. Where they differ, the safest approach is to say so rather than to choose the version that supports a preferred story. The AETW translation and notes and the ICRT history are both useful, and reading them side by side is more instructive than reading either alone.
What the memorial tells us about early Reiki
The memorial gives a portrait of a practice that was public, charitable and spiritually framed. Usui taught at a centre, treated people during a natural disaster, trained a large number of students, and emphasised gratitude and ethical conduct. The method was not a secret family tradition; the inscription explicitly says Usui rejected keeping it within his family.
It also shows that Reiki was already organised as a teaching centre with senior students who could carry on after the founder's death. That is the seed of the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai, even though the society's formal structure is not described on the stone.
The memorial's language of healing places Usui's work within a religious and philanthropic response to physical and moral distress. Its praise of his work does not establish clinical efficacy. The NCCIH overview summarises the clinical evidence, which does not support such claims.
Visiting and reading the stone
The memorial is a grave-side monument, not a museum exhibit. Visitors should keep their voices low, avoid climbing on the stone, and follow the temple's rules. Photography may be restricted; ask rather than assume. Offerings and incense should follow local custom.
For readers who cannot visit, the best approach is to read the inscription as a whole rather than quarrying it for proof texts. Its structure matters: the philosophical opening, the family history, the Kurama experience, the Tokyo centre, the earthquake relief, the precepts and the closing appeal to future generations. Each part frames the others. A single line lifted out of that structure can be made to say almost anything.
Frequently asked questions
When was the Usui memorial stone erected?
February 1927, about eleven months after Usui's death. It was commissioned by his students and placed at Saihōji Temple in Suginami, Tokyo.
Is the memorial stone the same as Usui's grave?
No. Usui's grave is at Saihōji, and the memorial was erected nearby in the cemetery grounds. They are related but distinct monuments.
Who wrote the inscription?
Masayuki Okada is generally credited with composing the text, and Jūzaburō Ushida with the calligraphy and the project. Some English accounts simplify this to "written by Ushida."
Does the stone say Usui was a Christian minister?
No. That claim comes from Hawayo Takata's later oral account and from writers repeating it. The memorial describes Usui's wide reading, including Christian texts, but not a Christian ministry.
Does the stone mention the twenty-one-day fast?
It says Usui undertook severe practice on Mount Kurama and that the experience came on the twenty-first day. It does not use the word "fast" in every translation, and it does not date the event.
Why do translations differ so much?
They are independent renderings of a formal Japanese inscription, made by different translators for different audiences. Romanisation, terminology and sentence structure vary. Neither is an official critical edition.
Related topic: History and traditions, Reiki in the West, Types of Reiki, Founder, origins and traditions, Reiki's development in Japan.