The Usui Reiki symbols are a set of four pictographs that act as energetic keys to focus healing intention. Developed by Mikao Usui in 1922, each symbol has a specific function—power, emotional healing, distance healing, and master-level transmission—and is activated through attunement, not mere drawing.
The symbols are the written vocabulary of the Reiki system, a Japanese healing practice developed by Mikao Usui in the early 1920s. Each symbol has a name, a specific shape, and a function tied to a particular aspect of life force energy (ki). They are taught only during initiations called attunements, and their power lies not in the ink but in the relationship between the practitioner and the symbol’s intention.
What Are the Usui Reiki Symbols, Exactly?
The Usui Reiki symbols are a set of four primary pictographs (with a fifth used in some lineages) that represent different qualities of healing energy. They are called shirushi in Japanese, meaning “marks” or “seals.” Each symbol has a Japanese name, a unique drawing, and a mantra (kotodama) that is chanted to activate it.
The symbols are not secret in the sense of being hidden from the unworthy. They are secret in the sense that their full meaning is transmitted through direct experience during an attunement, not through reading about them in a book. A practitioner who has not received the attunement for a symbol may draw it correctly but will not feel its effect. The attunement is what connects the practitioner to the symbol’s energetic frequency.
Where Did the Symbols Come From? A History
The origin of the symbols is both documented and debated. Mikao Usui, born in 1865 in the village of Taniai (now part of Miyama, Gifu Prefecture), developed the Reiki system after a personal spiritual experience. The standard account, taught in most Western Reiki schools, holds that Usui received the symbols during a 21-day meditation and fasting retreat on Mount Kurama in 1922. He was struck by a powerful spiritual energy that he later described as a “great light,” and the symbols came to him as part of that transmission.
However, the historical record is more complex. Usui was a Tendai Buddhist lay practitioner and had studied esoteric Buddhist practices that made extensive use of Siddham script, an ancient Indian writing system used for mantras. Several of the Reiki symbols bear a strong resemblance to Siddham characters used in Shingon and Tendai Buddhist rituals. The Cho Ku Rei symbol, for example, closely resembles a Siddham syllable used in Buddhist initiation ceremonies.
Sources disagree on whether Usui invented the symbols himself, adapted them from existing Buddhist practices, or received them in a purely spiritual transmission. What is known is that the symbols were not widely taught in Usui’s original Japanese organization, the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai. They became central to the practice only after Reiki was brought to the West in the late 1930s by Hawayo Takata, a Japanese-American woman who studied under one of Usui’s students, Chujiro Hayashi. Takata simplified and systematized the teachings for a Western audience, and the symbols became the backbone of the three-degree system (First Degree, Second Degree, and Master) that most Western Reiki practitioners use today.
The Four Primary Symbols and Their Meanings
Each symbol is a tool for a specific kind of work. They are not interchangeable. A practitioner chooses a symbol based on the intention of the session.
Cho Ku Rei (The Power Symbol)
Cho Ku Rei is the first symbol taught in Second Degree Reiki. Its name is often translated as “Place the power of the universe here” or “Switch on the light.” The symbol looks like a coil or spiral, sometimes with a vertical line through it. It is used to increase the flow of Reiki energy, to ground and protect a space, and to focus the practitioner’s intention. In practice, it is the workhorse symbol. When a practitioner draws Cho Ku Rei over a client’s body, they are essentially telling the energy to concentrate there. It is also used to “charge” objects like crystals, water, or food with Reiki energy.
Sei He Ki (The Mental/Emotional Symbol)
Sei He Ki is the second symbol. Its name is often translated as “Earth and sky together” or “God and man become one.” The symbol is composed of several curves and lines that resemble a stylized face or a butterfly. Its function is to address mental and emotional patterns: trauma, anxiety, depression, addiction, and deeply held beliefs that no longer serve the person. Sei He Ki works on the subconscious mind. Practitioners use it when a client’s physical ailment appears to have an emotional root. The symbol does not force a release; it creates a safe container for the client to process what they are ready to face.
Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen (The Distance Symbol)
Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen is the third symbol. Its name is a complex phrase often translated as “The Buddha in me reaches out to the Buddha in you to promote healing across time and space.” The symbol is a series of angular lines that resemble a Japanese character. This symbol is used for distance healing, sending Reiki energy to a person who is not physically present. It is also used for past and future healing, working with memories or future events as if they were happening in the present moment. The symbol operates on the principle that time and space are not barriers to energy. A practitioner using Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen is not sending energy through the mail; they are connecting to the person’s energetic signature regardless of location.
Dai Ko Myo (The Master Symbol)
Dai Ko Myo is the fourth symbol, reserved for Reiki Masters. Its name means “Great shining light” or “Great bright light.” The symbol is the most complex in form, a dense arrangement of lines that resembles a stylized pagoda or a Sanskrit character. It represents the full spectrum of Reiki energy, the source itself. A Master uses Dai Ko Myo during attunements to transmit the ability to use the other symbols to a new practitioner. It is also used for deep spiritual healing, clearing the practitioner’s own energy field, and connecting to the highest aspect of the self. In some lineages, a fifth symbol, Raku, is used to seal the attunement.
How the Symbols Are Used in Practice
The symbols are not drawn once and forgotten. They are activated through a specific process. The practitioner first centers themselves, often through a brief meditation or by placing hands on the heart. Then they draw the symbol in the air with the dominant hand, palm facing the client or the area being treated. As they draw, they chant the symbol’s name three times, either aloud or silently. The combination of the visual form, the sound vibration, and the practitioner’s intention activates the symbol.
The symbols can be drawn over specific body parts, over the entire body, or in the space around the client. They can be drawn on the practitioner’s own hands or body before a session. Some practitioners visualize the symbols glowing in a specific color (Cho Ku Rei is often seen as gold, Sei He Ki as silver or blue). Others simply feel the shift in energy when the symbol is activated.
A common practice is to combine symbols. A practitioner might draw Cho Ku Rei to amplify the energy, then Sei He Ki to direct that energy toward an emotional issue, then Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen to send that intention across time to a younger version of the client who experienced the original trauma. The symbols stack like layers of a spell.
How Reiki Symbols Compare to Other Esoteric Systems
The Usui Reiki symbols share structural similarities with other esoteric writing systems but differ in function. In Western ceremonial magic, sigils are created by the practitioner for a specific intention, then charged and released. Reiki symbols are fixed and received, not created. In Buddhist and Hindu tantra, yantras are geometric diagrams used for meditation, often associated with specific deities. Reiki symbols are not yantras; they do not represent a deity. They are more like mantras made visible, a visual equivalent of a sound vibration.
The closest parallel is the use of Siddham script in Shingon Buddhism. In Shingon practice, specific Sanskrit syllables (bija mantras) are visualized and chanted to invoke specific energies or Buddhas. The Reiki symbols function in a similar way, but they are not tied to a specific deity or Buddhist cosmology. They are tools for the practitioner’s own energy system, not for invoking external beings.
Common Misconceptions About the Symbols
The most persistent misconception is that the symbols are inherently powerful, that drawing them without training will produce an effect. They will not. The symbols are a technology that requires a key, and the key is the attunement. A person who has not been attuned may draw Cho Ku Rei perfectly and feel nothing. The symbol is a lock, not a key.
Another misconception is that the symbols are secret in the sense of being dangerous. They are not dangerous. They are tools. A person who has not been attuned cannot accidentally activate them any more than a person who has never learned to drive can accidentally start a car with a drawing of a key.
A third misconception is that the symbols are universal, that they work the same way for every practitioner. They do not. The symbols are a framework, but each practitioner’s relationship to them is personal. Two Masters may draw the same symbol and feel different energies. The symbol is a door, and what lies behind it depends on who is walking through.
FAQ
Can I use Reiki symbols without being attuned? You can draw them, but they will not function as Reiki symbols. They will be shapes on paper or in the air, not energetic keys. The attunement is what connects you to the symbol’s frequency.
Do the symbols have to be drawn perfectly? No. The intention and the attunement matter more than the exact shape. A shaky Cho Ku Rei still works if the practitioner is connected to its energy. The symbol is a guide, not a prison.
Can I use the symbols on myself? Yes. Self-treatment is a core part of Reiki practice. You can draw the symbols over your own body, visualize them in your energy field, or chant their names as a meditation.
The Usui Reiki symbols are not magic marks. They are a language. Learning them is like learning to read a new alphabet, one that speaks to the energy body rather than the thinking mind. For a deeper look at how these symbols interact with the body’s energy centers, see our guide on Reiki and the chakra system. For the full history of the Reiki system and its founder, visit our Reiki energy hub. And for a glossary of related terms like attunement and kotodama, see our symbols glossary.