emoto

Emoto is a Japanese surname. Masaru Emoto (1943–2014) was a Japanese author and entrepreneur who popularized claims about water’s response to human thought and environmental stimuli. He asserted that water exposed to loving words, prayers, or music could form beautiful ice crystals when frozen, whereas exposure to negative stimuli would produce distorted crystals. He documented these claims in books including The Hidden Messages in Water (2004) and Messages from Water (1999). His experiments typically involved exposing water to phrases, placing it in a freezer, and photographing the resulting ice crystals with a light microscope.

The scientific reception of Emoto’s work was largely critical. While it attracted attention in popular media and alternative wellness circles, mainstream scientists criticized the work for lacking rigorous experimental design, proper controls, and reproducibility. Critics noted subjectivity in selecting and interpreting crystal photographs and argued that no independent replication had substantiated the claimed effects. Concerns about methodological biases and the absence of blind or controlled procedures further undermined claims of a causal link between human intention and water structure.

Legacy of Emoto’s ideas is mixed. His work contributed to popular interest in water as a subject of wonder and to broader discussions about science communication and pseudoscience. It remains controversial and is frequently cited in debates about reproducibility and the boundaries between science and pseudoscience. Emoto died in 2014 in Tokyo at age 71.