Traditional Japanese Reiki

05 May 2012

Traditional Japanese Reiki

The term Traditional Japanese Reiki is normally used to describe the specific system that formed from Usui’s original teachings and the teachings that did not leave Japan. During the 1990s, Western teachers travelled to Japan in order to find this particular tradition of Reiki, though found nothing. They therefore started to establish Reiki schools, and started to teach Reiki levels 1 and 2 to the Japanese. Around 1993, a German Reiki Master, Frank Arjava Petter, also started to teach to the Master/Teacher level, and as a result, the Japanese started teaching their knowledge of Traditional Reiki. Since then, several traditions of Traditional Japanese Reiki have been established, the main traditions of which are listed below.

Usui Reiki Ryōhō Gakkai in Traditional Chinese Characters, meaning “Usui Reiki Healing Method Learning Society”) is the name of the society of Reiki masters founded by Mikao Usui. His style is assumed to have survived to the present day (assumed as no-one knows exactly how the Gakkai practises nowadays), with Ushida being the one who, upon death, substituted the presidency of the association. This society remained secret for many years and at present, the shihan (master), Masaki Kondoh, is the president of the Gakkai. Though many of their teachings still remain secret, little by little, members of this association— such as Master Hiroshi Doi— have been sharing their knowledge with the rest of the world. In spite of this, it continues to be a hermetic society, nearly impossible to access.
Reidō Reiki Gakkai, meaning “Spiritual Occurrence [and] Spiritual Energy Society”) is the name given to the system that derives from the masters of the Ryōhō Gakkai, and is led by Fuminori Aoki, who added to the teaching of the Gakkai, though differences in teaching are minimal. In this system, the Koriki (meaning “the force of happiness”) symbol that inspired Fuminori Aoki has been adopted.
Kōmyō Reiki Kai, meaning “Enlightened Spiritual Energy Meeting (Association)”) is the name given to the system that takes the name of a school of Japanese Traditional Reiki, and was established by Hyakuten Inamoto, a Reiki teacher with Western Reiki background. It differs from other systems in that it does not originate with the Gakkai, but instead comes from the Hayashi line, through Chiyoko Yamaguchi that remained in Japan.
Jikiden Reiki (meaning “The Direct Teaching [of] Spiritual Energy”) is the name given to the original system that was taught by Dr. Hayashi, and was founded by Mrs. Yamaguchi and her son, Tadao Yamaguchi

The Japanese Reiki hand positions presented in the Usui Reiki Ryōhō Hikkei (Usui Reiki Treatment Handbook) as used and compiled by Usui are considerably more extensive than the hand positions used in Western Reiki

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