Anyone who visits the memorial stone at Mikao Usui's grave in Tōkyō encounters a sentence that puzzles many Western Reiki practitioners: that one should follow the instructions of the Meiji Tennō. An emperor? In a spiritual practice? What does politics have to do with Reiki?
The answer reaches deep into Japanese history — and it shows how easily Reiki can be misunderstood when it is torn out of its cultural context.
An emperor as a divine being 天皇
The Meiji Tennō 明治天皇 ruled Japan from 1868 until his death in 1912. In this period Japan transformed from a feudal society into a modern industrial nation. The samurai lost their status. Old structures collapsed. New ones arose. It was a time of immense upheaval — and at its center, an emperor whom his people regarded as of divine origin.
This conception was deeply rooted in Japanese society until the end of the Second World War. The Tennō was not simply a ruler. He was a mediator between the divine and the human world. To follow his instructions was not a political duty — it was a spiritual act.
For a samurai like Mikao Usui, born into this tradition, loyalty to the Tennō was self-evident. It was part of his identity. When the Meiji Restoration formally abolished the samurai class in 1868, many samurai paradoxically saw themselves as the most loyal protectors of the Tennō more than ever — even though it is historically documented that other samurai rebelled against him.
What the memorial stone says 碑文
On the memorial stone by Usui's grave at the Saihōji temple in Tōkyō, space is limited. The inscription therefore uses certain historical key words behind which much more stands than is visible at first glance.
In the Japanese original text, the phrase "follow the instructions of the Meiji Tennō" comes before the Gassho meditation and the life principles. That means: before Usui describes the daily practice of the Gokai, he refers to the imperial instructions as the foundation of his path. It is not a casual mention — it is a deliberate framing.
In the West this passage has given the impression that the life principles were composed by the Meiji Tennō himself. That is not true. But the connection between the two texts is real — and it is more revealing than most people suspect.
The Imperial Edict of 1890 勅語
On 30 October 1890 the Meiji Tennō personally addressed his people. This imperial edict — in Japanese Chokugo 勅語 — formulated twelve points of virtuous conduct. It was not a suggestion. It was the voice of the divine ruler speaking to his people.
After the death of the Meiji Tennō in 1912 the phrase Meiji Tennō no Ikun 明治天皇の遺訓 — "the instructions of the late Meiji Tennō" — became a fixed expression. Every educated Japanese person of that time knew immediately what was meant: the Edict of 1890. Since Usui had heard and internalized this edict during his lifetime, it is no surprise that it appears on his memorial stone.
The imperial edict contains twelve concrete instructions — but none of Mikao Usui's five life principles as they are described on the memorial stone and in the calligraphy. The Gokai are Usui's own work. There are, however, clear overlaps in the underlying attitude.
Here are the twelve points of the imperial edict, translated from classical Japanese:
The edict in the Japanese original 原文
The imperial edict is composed in classical Japanese — a form of language that is hard to read even for many modern Japanese readers. Here is the full original text:
このような道は、代々にわたる私の先祖達の残した教訓であって、子孫である全国民が遵守すべき事柄で、これを昔から今まで守り続けても誤りが無く、国内同様国外で行っても道理に外れるものではないので、私（天皇）はあなたがた国民と一緒に、これを忘れないように心に刻み、完成された人格を共有したいと切に願っている。
Confusion and conflation 混乱
Striking is the first point of the edict: "Love and honor your parents." This sentence appears in some Western translations of Usui's life principles — together with the sentence "Earn your bread honestly." Neither of these formulations, however, can be found either in the five principles on the memorial stone or in the calligraphy that Usui himself wrote.
What happened? It seems that at some point someone mixed the imperial instructions and Mikao Usui's life principles together. Individual sentences were taken from the edict, others from the Gokai — and the result circulated as "extended life principles." The original sources fell out of sight in the process.
One could also speculate that there are other, still unknown sources of the life principles. As long as these are not present in the Japanese original, however, this remains speculation. What we know with certainty: the five principles on the memorial stone and the twelve points of the edict are two different texts — sharing a common underlying attitude, but with different content and different origins.
Countless versions of the "Reiki life principles" circulate in the West. Some contain elements of the imperial edict, some do not. Anyone who wants to practice the Gokai in their authentic form should orient themselves to the Japanese original — not to translations of the third or fourth hand.
The Meiji Tennō and the imperial poems 御製
In some Western Reiki traditions it is recommended to engage with the poems of the Meiji Tennō — his so-called Gyosei 御製. The Tennō composed tens of thousands of such short poems. They are expressions of personal feeling — observations of nature, reflections, moods.
Some Reiki practitioners see in these poems a spiritual practice on the same level as the Gokai. Others argue that they were purely personal expressions of feeling, with no connection to either Reiki or the imperial instructions.
Both views have their merit. What is certain: the Meiji Tennō himself had no connection to Reiki. His significance for the Reiki tradition lies solely in the fact that Mikao Usui — as a samurai and loyal subject — had internalized the imperial edict as the ethical foundation of his life. The mention on the memorial stone is a bow to this foundation. No more, no less.
What this means for the practice 実践
The mention of the Meiji Tennō on Usui's memorial stone is not a call to political loyalty. It is a reference to the ethical frame in which Usui lived and worked. The edict calls for self-perfection, benevolence, and service to the community — values that fit seamlessly with Usui's own five principles.
Anyone who wants to understand Reiki in depth does well to know this cultural background. Not in order to follow the Meiji Tennō — but to grasp the ground from which this practice grew. Reiki did not arise in a vacuum. It arose in a culture that understood self-discipline, devotion, and spiritual unfolding as one.
And this is exactly what Shingon Reiki carries forward today: a practice that joins tradition and personal experience. One that is not torn out of its context, but is rooted within it. The five life principles — Gokai — stand on their own. But anyone who knows the ground from which they come understands their power even more deeply.
Discover the Gokai
Within Shingon Reiki the life principles are not affirmation — they are contemplation, energy work, and daily practice in one.
Who was Mikao Usui? What is Shingon Reiki?