九字切り Kuji Kiri — nine syllables, nine hand signs, nine cuts through space. What appears in popular culture as a spectacular gesture is, in truth, one of the oldest and deepest spiritual paths of East Asia. In Shingon Reiki, Kuji Kiri is not a single element — it is a complete Master Path of nine levels, nine initiations, and a systematic deepening that transforms body, speech, and mind.
Each level has its own hand sign (mudra), its own mantra, and its own power that becomes activated. The nine levels build on each other — not as an arbitrary sequence, but as an organic path on which each power lays the ground for the next. You cannot skip the first level to begin at the ninth. The path is the practice.
Where Kuji Kiri comes from 起源
Kuji Kiri is older than Ninjutsu, older than the samurai tradition, and older than Japanese Buddhism. The nine signs go back to the Chinese Baopuzi — a Daoist work by Ge Hong from the 4th century. In it he describes nine words spoken as a protective formula when crossing wild lands: 臨兵闘者皆陣列在前.
From China the practice traveled through Korea to Japan. There it was integrated by the Yamabushi — the mountain ascetics of Shugendō — into their spiritual practice. In the esoteric Buddhism of the Shingon and Tendai schools it merged with the mudras and mantras of the tantric tradition. And the ninja of the Iga and Kōga regions, who lived in close contact with the Yamabushi, took up the practice as a central element of their lineage.
That means: Kuji Kiri has not one source, but several — shamanic Daoism, Shugendō, esoteric Buddhism (Shingon), Shintō. It is a synthesis that grew over centuries. In Shingon Reiki, this layered nature is preserved, not reduced to a single tradition.
The nine levels at a glance 九字
Each of the nine levels carries a kanji, a mantra, and a power. Here is the overview — not as a full description (the depth of each level requires initiation and practice), but as orientation for the path.
The names of the powers sound dramatic — and they are. But not in the sense of superhero abilities. This is about the systematic development of perceptual capacities known in every spiritual tradition: presence, intuition, empathy, focus, the ability to perceive beyond the visible. Kuji Kiri is the path on which these capacities do not arise by accident, but are cultivated with intent.
How the path is built 道の構造
The Kuji Kiri Master Path does not begin with hand signs. It begins with the foundation: meditation, breathwork, energy perception. Without this foundation the hand signs are empty gestures — outer forms without inner power. In Shingon Reiki, every Kuji Kiri level is therefore embedded in the larger context of the Reiki practice.
Each level has three dimensions — the Sanmitsu, the "three mysteries" of Shingon Buddhism: the body (the mudra, the hand sign), speech (the mantra), and mind (the visualisation and meditation). Only when all three dimensions act together does that level unfold its full power. This is why Kuji Kiri cannot be received from a book or a video — the transmission happens through initiation, not through information.
Body: the mudra — each level has its own hand sign, which changes the flow of energy in the body.
Speech: the mantra — each level has its own sound, which vibrates in the body and aligns awareness.
Mind: the visualisation — each level opens an inner image that creates the connection to its specific power.
Between the levels lies practice. Not knowledge, not understanding — practice. The hand sign is rehearsed until it no longer needs to be thought. The mantra is recited until it is no longer spoken, but heard. The visualisation is deepened until it is no longer imagined, but experienced. Then — and only then — is the next level ready.
The first three levels — the foundation 臨兵闘
Rin 臨 — the first level — builds inner strength. Not hardness, not muscular force, but the ability to be anchored in yourself. The mudra of Rin joins the hands into a gesture that condenses the energy body. The mantra activates the Hara — the energy centre in the lower belly. Whoever practices Rin feels, after some time, a stability that does not depend on outer circumstances.
Pyō 兵 — the second level — gives the power a direction. Where Rin builds the energy, Pyō directs it where it is needed. The mudra changes — the fingers form a new configuration that guides the flow of energy from the centre outward. In the traditional practice, Pyō was used to align the mind toward a goal. Today this means: focus, clarity in decision, the ability not to scatter your energy.
Tō 闘 — the third level — creates harmony. Not in the sense of "everything is fine," but in the sense of resonance: your own energy comes into accord with your surroundings. Whoever practices Tō begins to feel how everything is connected — your own energy, the energy of the space, the energy of the people around you. This is not theory. It is a perception that arises through the practice.
The middle levels — perception beyond the senses 者皆陣
From the fourth level — Sha 者 — the focus shifts from outer power to inner perception. Sha develops self-regulation: the ability to consciously steer your own energetic state. This is the precondition for everything that follows. The higher capacities — intuition, empathy, distance perception — require a mind quiet enough to register subtle signals.
Kai 皆 — the fifth level — opens intuitive perception. In the ninja tradition, Kai was described as the ability to sense danger before it becomes visible. In the spiritual context it is intuition in the deepest sense: a perception that does not work through the five senses, but through the energy field. Whoever practices Kai begins to know things before they think them.
Jin 陣 — the sixth level — extends perception to others. Sensing thoughts and feelings — not as telepathy in the science-fiction sense, but as a sharpened empathy that can read the energy field of the person across from you. For Reiki practice, Jin is especially relevant: whoever has deepened Jin senses what another human being needs before they say it.
The last three levels — mastery 列在前
Levels seven to nine are master levels. Their concrete content is not spoken about openly in the tradition — not out of secrecy, but because they can only be understood in direct experience. Words about "penetrating space and time" or "enlightenment" sound either trivial or fantastic — neither does justice to the matter.
What can be said: Retsu 列 works with what extends beyond physical space. Zai 在 connects the practitioner to the forces of nature — not metaphorically, but as direct energetic experience. And Zen 前 — the ninth level — is where the entire path leads: complete clarity, the integration of all previous levels into a single state.
Mark has walked this path over decades — as direct successor of Taguchi Sensei in Taguchi-Ryu Ninjutsu, and as researcher and practitioner of the Shingon tradition. His doctoral research at the University of Heidelberg documented the historical roots of Kuji Kiri academically. His practice has kept it alive. In Shingon Reiki, the Kuji Kiri Master Path is accessible — not as the secret knowledge of a closed society, but as an open path for everyone willing to walk it.
Kuji Kiri and Shingon Reiki — one shared path 一つの道
In Shingon Reiki, Kuji Kiri and Reiki are not separate disciplines. They are two aspects of the same path. The Reiki practice — meditation, hands-on work, symbols, mantras — forms the foundation. Kuji Kiri deepens this foundation and extends it into dimensions that western Reiki does not contain.
The connection is historical: both practices have their roots in esoteric Buddhism, Shugendō, and shamanic Daoism. Both work with mudras, mantras, and visualisations — the Sanmitsu practice of Shingon. And both lead to the same goal: the unfolding of full human potential — spiritually, energetically, and in concrete daily life.
The Kuji Kiri Master Path is open to anyone willing to take the first step. No prior knowledge is needed — only the willingness to enter a path that goes deeper than what shows on the surface. And the first sign — 臨 Rin — is already waiting.