was a Japanese businessman, author and
pseudoscientist
Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable claim ...
who claimed that human consciousness could affect the
molecular structure of water. His 2004 book ''
The Hidden Messages in Water'' was a
New York Times best seller.
His conjecture evolved over the years, and his early work revolved around
pseudoscientific hypotheses that water could react to positive thoughts and words and that polluted water could be cleaned through
prayer
Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified ...
and positive visualization.
From 1999, Emoto published several volumes of a work entitled ''
Messages from Water'', containing photographs of
ice crystals
Ice crystals are solid ice exhibiting atomic ordering on various length scales and include hexagonal columns, hexagonal plates, dendritic crystals, and diamond dust.
Formation
The hugely symmetric shapes are due to depositional growth, n ...
and accompanying experiments such as that of the ‘rice in water’ 30 day experiment.
Biography
Emoto was born in
Yokohama
is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...
,
Japan, and graduated from
Yokohama Municipal University after taking courses in
International Relations
International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such a ...
. He worked in the Nagoya Office (Central Japan Office) of the
Yomiuri Shimbun
The (lit. ''Reading-selling Newspaper'' or ''Selling by Reading Newspaper'') is a Japanese newspaper published in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, and other major Japanese cities. It is one of the five major newspapers in Japan; the other four are ...
, then founded the International Health Medical company in 1986. In 1989, he received exclusive rights to market the Magnetic Resonance Analyzer, a device patented by Ronald Weinstock (USP 5,592,086), which was alleged to be able to detect the magnetic field around a human hair, for example, and diagnose almost any disease. He renamed it the "Vibration-o-Meter," became an operator himself, and started a business dealing in
vibrations
Vibration is a mechanical phenomenon whereby oscillations occur about an equilibrium point. The word comes from Latin ''vibrationem'' ("shaking, brandishing"). The oscillations may be periodic, such as the motion of a pendulum—or random, such ...
.
He was President Emeritus of the International Water For Life Foundation, a
non-profit organization
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
based in
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...
in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
.
In 1992, he became a Doctor of Alternative Medicine at the
Open International University for Alternative Medicine in India,
a
diploma mill
A diploma mill (also known as a degree mill) is a company or organization that claims to be a higher education institution but provides illegitimate academic degrees and diplomas for a fee. The degrees can be fabricated (made-up), falsified (fake ...
which targeted
quacks to sell its degrees and was later shut down.
Ideas
Emoto claimed that water was a "blueprint for our reality" and that emotional "energies" and "vibrations" could change its physical structure.
His water crystal experiments consisted of exposing water in glasses to various words, pictures, or music, then freezing it and examining the ice crystals'
aesthetic properties with microscopic photography.
He claimed that water exposed to positive speech and thoughts created visually "pleasing" ice crystals, and that negative intentions yielded "ugly" ice formations.
Emoto held that different water sources produced different ice structures. For example, he held that water from a mountain stream, when frozen, showed structures of beautifully shaped geometric designs; but that water from polluted sources created distorted, randomly formed ice structures. He held that these changes could be eliminated by exposing water to
ultraviolet light
Ultraviolet (UV) is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelength from 10 nanometer, nm (with a corresponding frequency around 30 Hertz, PHz) to 400 nm (750 Hertz, THz), shorter than that of visible light, but longer than ...
or certain
electromagnetic waves.
In 2008, Emoto published his findings in the ''
Journal of Scientific Exploration
The Society for Scientific Exploration, or SSE, is a group committed to studying fringe science. The opinions of the organization in regard to what are the proper limits of scientific exploration are often at odds with those of mainstream science. ...
'', a journal of the
Society for Scientific Exploration
The Society for Scientific Exploration, or SSE, is a group committed to studying fringe science. The opinions of the organization in regard to what are the proper limits of scientific exploration are often at odds with those of mainstream science. ...
that has been criticized for catering to
fringe science
Fringe science refers to ideas whose attributes include being highly speculative or relying on premises already refuted. Fringe science theories are often advanced by persons who have no traditional academic science background, or by researchers ...
. He co-conducted and co-authored the work with Takashige Kizu of Emoto's own IHM General Institute, and
Dean Radin and Nancy Lund of the
Institute of Noetic Sciences
The Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) is an American non-profit parapsychological research institute. It was co-founded in 1973 by former astronaut Edgar Mitchell,Pfeffer, Elizabeth''Stars aligned: Astronaut's mission seeks to answer life's bi ...
, which is on
Stephen Barrett's Quackwatch
Quackwatch is a United States-based website, self-described as a "network of people" founded by Stephen Barrett, which aims to "combat health-related frauds, myths, fads, fallacies, and misconduct" and to focus on "quackery-related information th ...
list of questionable organizations.
Reception
Commentators have criticized Emoto for insufficient
experimental control
A scientific control is an experiment or observation designed to minimize the effects of variables other than the independent variable (i.e. confounding variables). This increases the reliability of the results, often through a comparison betw ...
s and for not sharing enough details of his experiments with the scientific community.
He has also been criticized for designing his experiments in ways that permit manipulation or human error.
Biochemist and Director of Microscopy at
University College Cork
University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh) is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork.
The university was founded in 1845 as one ...
William Reville wrote, "It is very unlikely that there is any reality behind Emoto's claims."
Reville noted the lack of scientific publication and pointed out that anyone who could demonstrate such phenomena would become immediately famous and probably wealthy.
Writing about Emoto's ideas in the ''
Skeptical Inquirer
''Skeptical Inquirer'' is a bimonthly American general-audience magazine published by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) with the subtitle: ''The Magazine for Science and Reason''.
Mission statement and goals
Daniel Loxton, writing in 2 ...
'', physician
Harriet A. Hall
Harriet A. Hall (born July 2, 1945) is a U.S. retired family physician, former U.S. Air Force flight surgeon and skeptic who writes about alternative medicine and quackery for ''Skeptic'' and ''Skeptical Inquirer''. She writes under the name T ...
concluded that it was "hard to see how anyone could mistake it for science".
In 2003,
James Randi
James Randi (born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge; August 7, 1928 – October 20, 2020) was a Canadian-American stage magician, author and scientific skepticism, scientific skeptic who extensively challenged paranormal and pseudoscientific cla ...
published an invitation on his website, offering Emoto to take the
One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge
The One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge was an offer by the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) to pay out one million U.S. dollars to anyone who could demonstrate a supernatural or paranormal ability under agreed-upon scientific testing ...
, in which Emoto could have received US$1,000,000 if he had been able to reproduce the experiment under test conditions agreed to by both parties. Randi did not receive a response.
Emoto's book ''
The Hidden Messages in Water'' was a
''New York Times'' best seller.
Writing in ''
The New York Times Book Review
''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...
,'' literary critic
Dwight Garner described it as "spectacularly eccentric", and said its success was "one of those 'head-scratchers' that makes me question the sanity of the reading public."
''
Publishers Weekly
''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...
'' described Emoto's later work, ''The Shape of Love'', as "mostly incoherent and unsatisfying".
Emoto's ideas appeared in the movies ''
Kamen Rider: The First'' and ''
What the Bleep Do We Know!?''.
Publications
Books
*
** English edition:
*
** English edition:
*
** English edition:
*
*
** English edition:
*
* ''
The True Power of Water (Book): Healing and Discovering Ourselves'';
Beyond Words Pub, 2005. .
* ''
The Hidden Messages in Water''; Beyond Words Pub, 2004.
See also
*
Water memory
Water memory is the purported ability of water to retain a memory of substances previously dissolved in it even after an arbitrary number of serial dilutions. It has been claimed to be a mechanism by which homeopathic remedies work, even when th ...
*
Polywater
Polywater was a hypothesized polymerized form of water that was the subject of much scientific controversy during the late 1960s. By 1969 the popular press had taken notice and sparked fears of a "polywater gap" in the US.
Increased press attent ...
*
''Water'' (2006 film)
*
Pseudoscience
Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable clai ...
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Emoto, Masaru
1943 births
2014 deaths
People from Yokohama
Japanese writers
Japanese activists
New Age writers
Pseudoscientific physicists
Parapsychologists
Quantum mysticism