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WHY SO MANY REIKI STYLES

Why So Many Reiki Styles?


by Richard R. Rivard

One of the areas of confusion for people new to Reiki is the number of Reiki styles and
schools available. It seems that since the late 1980's many new schools of Reiki have
sprung up - especially outside of Japan. And the course content is not always the
same. Even for experienced Reiki practitioners this can certainly be mind boggling at
times. But at the very least the styles can be divided into 2 segments; what I call
Western Reiki or Reiki styles developed outside of Japan; and Japanese Reiki including
traditional styles going back to 1926, as well as more current Japanese styles.
If we look at the beginning of Reiki and we can see how such diversity came about.
Origins of Reiki
Originally I thought this process of change within Reiki was just occurring outside of
Japan in the modern day Reiki world. However, as I explored more about Reiki in
Japan I discovered that Reiki had branched out in other forms there, even while founder
Mikao Usui Sensei was still alive.
From my training with Dave King beginning in 1996, I learned that Usui Sensei had
originally been teaching a spiritual system to help others attain a similar enlightening
experience as he had. He simply called his training "My Method" and thus it was
referred to by his students as "Usui-Do".
Usui would rent his dojo (training hall) out to others so they too could present their own
ideas and lectures. In 1923, his senior student Toshihiro Eguchi was presenting his own
modified form of Usui-Do in the dojo. While this was not taught by Usui Sensei, over
time he did approve of the changes Eguchi made. By early 1925 Eguchi's students
began to call this method "Usui Tete".
Outside of Japan, these methods are still available today from people who had the
luxury of meeting and learning from Usui's students. Dave King teaches the Usui Tete
version he learned from a Buddhist nun known as Tenon-in (her temple name) and Chris
Marsh presents the version he learned from Usui's niece, Suzuki-san, also a Buddhist
nun. Dave's version tries to emulate the system as taught inside the dojo in early 1925
and Chris' version includes some Buddhist teachings useful to non Buddhists (it is likely all
Japanese students of Usui's time were raised in Buddhism and Shinto.) The Usui-Do system is
being taught in Toronto Canada by Dave's student Laurie Anne King.
In mid 1925, Usui Sensei's senior students, Eguchi and Dr. Chuujiro Hayashi, began to
explore energy healing concepts and the Usui Tete system began to change. By the
end of the year the Japanese navy was taking an interest in the new classes. 2
admirals (Ushida and Taketomi) along with almost a score of their sub officers showed up
and began attending classes at the Usui dojo. Ushida actually began to take over
(Tenon-in said that Sensei didn't complain as all this interest was helping to pay the bills.) Early in
Copyright 2006 Threshold Resources

Richard R. Rivard, B.Sc.

Reiki Shihan

www.threshold.ca

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WHY SO MANY REIKI STYLES

1926 Eguchi's new system was based more on the healing of others using high energy
Ki, perhaps an attempt to emulate the incredible ability and energy that Usui radiated
automatically. Ushida called this system "Usui Reiki Ryoho" and while Usui Sensei did
not officially endorse this, it was now a popular system being taught in the dojo. It is
reported that about a score of students completed this shorter style of training in less
than the 3 or 4 months before Sensei's transition in March. These students attained a
level they called Shinpiden (see the table of comparative levels) and could also teach the
system. Later on, an additional level of "Shihan" (teacher) would be added.
The First Reiki Systems
In March of 1926 Usui Sensei passed away and for a time the navy people along with
Dr. Hayashi and Eguchi continued to work together, although the healing and training
moved to Hayashi-sensei's own clinic. Treatments were now given on beds slightly
raised above the floor, with 2 practitioners per patient, and there were no formal hand
positions used. Most of the students formed a society (Gakkai) they called Usui Reiki
Ryoho Gakkai under the leadership of Ushida. However some of the original Shinpiden
had already returned to their own areas to teach independent of the Gakkai, forming
their own schools.
The terms "Reiki" and Reiho were now becoming the short name for the methodology
of applying the high energy Ki attributed to Usui.
According to Japanese Reiki teacher Doi-sensei, one noted teacher outside the URR
Gakkai was Kaiji Tomita who created his Tomita Tete (hand healing) Ryoho based in
Osaka. Tomita gave Reiki seminars for 4 levels; Sho-den, Chu-den, Oku-den, and
Kai-den. Each level required 5 days (2 hours for each day) to be completed, but Kai-den
required 15 days. It is reasonable to assume that this was similar to the approach used
in the Usui dojo for the new Usui Reiki Ryoho teaching.
Meanwhile the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai flourished in Tokyo. Classes were given
somewhat similar to Usui Sensei's style in that they were a lecture format and the initial
level of Shoden was held over 5 days, about 2 to 3 hours a day, while the Hayashi clinic
was suspended. Reiju, a ceremony developed by Eguchi for introducing the Reiki
energy to a student, was given each day of class so that the student could gradually
attain proficiency with it. (See the article on Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai for more detail on this style of
training.). The Gakkai also held weekly meetings which began with a meditation they
called Hatsurei-ho (which means proclamation or announcement) and which included a short
form of Reiju given to all participants. This was part of their formula for increasing the
strength of the members' ability to transmit Reiki energy.
The term "Reiki" was becoming the short name
for the methodology of applying the
high energy Ki attributed to Usui.

Copyright 2006 Threshold Resources

Richard R. Rivard, B.Sc.

Reiki Shihan

www.threshold.ca

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WHY SO MANY REIKI STYLES

Then in 1927 Eguchi-sensei had a falling out and left the society to form his own school
"Eguchi Tenohira Ryoji Kenkyu-kai". Eguchi still taught the original Usui-Do as well as
his Usui Tete. Eguchi and Hayashi were the only 2 students to achieve Shichidan (the
highest level) in the original Usui-Do system, however 5 nuns, including Tenon-in, were
awarded the second highest level of Rokudan (in Usui's time, woman weren't permitted the final
step). A form of Eguchi's teaching is still available in the Ittoen commune in Kyoto today.
The Hayashi System
By 1931, Dr. Hayashi had decided to further change his style of training, focusing more
on the healing side of Reiki. He left the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai and changed his own
school name to "Hayashi Reiki Kenkyukai". Until this point Hayashi had also been
teaching the complete original teachings of Usui Sensei, as well as the modified
approach. He had taught at least 12 students to the original Shichidan level of Usui
Sensei's method plus his Tete or hand healing style. One of these was Tatsumi-san
whom Dave King met in 1995. It is quite possible that this original style still exists quietly
somewhere in Japan.
Now however Dr. Hayashi focused more on his healing system, even abandoning many
of the techniques the URR Gakkai was using. He continued to experiment with ways to
improve the healing of others and he would even apply some of the spiritual tools
involving symbols Usui had taught. For Hayashi, the original spiritual side to the system
now seemed to take a back seat.
Dr. Hayashi continued to make changes to his system and from 1935 to 1940 on his
travels he would visit a village near Osaka and teach. One of his students, Mrs.
Chiyoko Yamaguchi, went on to teach a Buddhist monk in 1997, Rev. Hyakuten
Inamoto of Kyoto, along with 4 others in a simple weekly gathering in the back of her
son's (Tadao) stationery store). Inamoto-sensei began teaching this method along with
other concepts and he now calls his system Komyo Reiki Kai. In 2000, Yamaguchisensei was encouraged by Doi-sensei to teach in the original Hayashi style she had
learned. Her son Tadao immediately took over the school and named it Jikiden Reiki
(the term refers to an old style of training where the teacher would imprint a part of himself on the
student.)

Dr. Hayashi focused more on his healing system...... he would even


apply some of the spiritual tools involving
symbols Usui had taught.

Mrs. Yamaguchi had studied her first 2 levels with Dr. Hayashi and completed her
training with her uncle, Wasaburo Sugano, a Hayashi Shinpiden student. He had paid
the 50 yen fee for her original training with Hayashi-sensei. At the 2000 URRI
conference in Kyoto, Tadao Yamaguchi explained that in 1938, 50 yen was equivalent
to more than $5000 and would buy a small cottage.

Copyright 2006 Threshold Resources

Richard R. Rivard, B.Sc.

Reiki Shihan

www.threshold.ca

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WHY SO MANY REIKI STYLES

Because Dr. Hayashi travelled to other locations, it is most likely that his Hayashi Reiki
Kenkyukai method still can be found in many parts of Japan.
The URR Gakkai Expands
During this time the URR Gakkai was branching out across Japan, establishing more
than 60 support groups and training centres. They created the level of Shihan above
Shinpiden and permitted only one teacher in a branch, who was responsible for an
entire city or region. Shinpiden level became a support level for the Shihan, from which
a replacement could be drawn when necessary. At some time in the late 1900's the
society simplified their approach to Reiki and they too dropped many of the healing
techniques Eguchi had introduced. However since a Shihan could run their branch their
own way, some retained the old teachings.
From time to time some Shihan would leave the Gakkai in protest over policy or for
other reasons, sometimes taking their complete centre with them. These Shihan might
continue to teach in the older ways and thus as the main Tokyo branch changed, they
were no longer in step. The war seemed to also sever the link between some branches
and the head office. An example was the Hiroshima branch run by Ayako Sasaki. She
had lost touch with the Tokyo group but continued teaching a simple healing method,
calling it Tete. Doi-sensei learned this style from a co-worker, a Sasaki student named
Hiroshi Ohta, a from 1982-84 while Doi was managing a hotel in Hiroshima. Later the
URR Gakkai recognised this as Reiki.
After the war the number of branches was reduced and by 1999 there were only 5
recognized centres throughout Japan, although membership grew back to around 500.
Reiki Leaves Japan - The Takata Systems
In 1935 Mrs. Takata was receiving healing and training at Dr. Hayashi's clinic and by
1938 she had returned to Hawaii to begin teaching her own version of Reiki calling it
"Usui Shiki Ryoho" (note that on some of her certificates she use the term Usui Reiki Ryoho). Over
the next 40 years she continued to change and adapt her system as she found suitable
methods for those she taught and as she gained more and more experience as a
healer. According to Arjava Petter's book "The Hayashi Reiki Manual" in 1952 Mrs.
Hayashi had asked her to take over the Hayashi school in Tokyo but Takata-sensei said
she had changed the system too much to do so. Some of her changes involved adding
in a structure of 12 hand positions for the front and back of the body, and combing the
Shinpiden and Shihan levels into what she called Reiki 3 or Reiki Master. She retained
the flexibility of Dr. Hayashi in allowing some students to progress through the levels
much faster - some times just a week apart. And she retained a fairly high fee structure
to promote a certain respect and appreciation for the training. It should be noted that the
prices she paid in Japan, or their equivalent in clinic time worked, would have been
much higher.
Takata-sensei took her classes to the USA mainland in 1975 and to Canada in 1976,
Copyright 2006 Threshold Resources

Richard R. Rivard, B.Sc.

Reiki Shihan

www.threshold.ca

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WHY SO MANY REIKI STYLES

and soon she was teaching master level for the first time. She taught about 22 people at
this level and after she died, several of them formed a master level support group called
the Reiki Alliance. Over the next 2 decades they would try to standardize Reiki in the
West, and would make changes from time to time as they saw fit. They continued to
charge the fees set up by Takata-sensei but they added in restrictions to space out the
training and required an apprenticeship at master level.
... in 1952 Mrs. Hayashi had asked her to take over the Hayashi
school in Tokyo but Takata-sensei said she had
changed the system too much to do so.

Some of Takata's masters and some of the Alliance members decided to go their own
way, changing things like fee structure and class composition, such as adding in new
techniques and the use of crystals. The new variations caught on and soon more new
Reiki styles were opening, adding in Western symbols and techniques, and modifying
class structure and attunement methods.
Barbara Weber Ray went her own way when other Takata masters preferred to set
Phyllis Furumoto up as lineage bearer of the Takata line (she is Takata's granddaughter).
When one of Ray's students - Mieko Mitsui - returned from Japan in 1985 with
knowledge of the URR Gakkai, Ray changed the name of her system to The Radiance
Technique and she now had 7 levels to her training and additional symbols
Another of Takata's students - Iris Ishikura - decided to reduce the price of classes and
the teacher level now was well within the reach of many people. Her student Arthur
Robertson was responsible for many changes to Western Reiki as he created Raku
Kei. 2 of these changes involved adding the Taoist microcosmic orbit process to the
Reiki attunement, and the additional of new symbols originally received by other
Americans. Other systems like David Jarrell's Reiki Plus began to spring up - some
similar to Takata Reiki while others added techniques borrowed from other healing
modalities.
Traditional Reiki Reaches the West
Aside from the additional symbols, Western Reiki was now following the same path that
Japan had experienced in the early years of Reiki - that of continued variation.
In 1996 Dave King began to teach more Traditional Japanese Reiki concepts he had
learned while travelling in Japan in the 1990s. Dave and colleague Melissa Riggall had
originally trained in the Usui-Do and Usui Tete spiritual styles and the Tete styles of
Eguchi and Hayashi. Dave first made the Usui-Do classes available in Edmonton
Canada and then set up an Usui style dojo in Toronto - probably the first anywhere in
over 70 years. As mentioned before, this is now carried on in Toronto by Laurie Anne
King while Dave teaches the Usui Tete style.
Copyright 2006 Threshold Resources

Richard R. Rivard, B.Sc.

Reiki Shihan

www.threshold.ca

Uisftipme!Sftpvsdft!
WHY SO MANY REIKI STYLES

It is important to note that these are not Reiki healing styles, and do not compete with
Reiki or Usui Reiki Ryoho. However they are very effective methods of personal growth
as originally presented by Mikao Usui Sensei.
Finally, in 1999, Hiroshi Doi of Japan - a URR Gakkai member - and a German named
Frank Arjava Petter (who lived and taught Reiki in Japan) began to travel to other parts of the
world sharing original Japanese ideas. Some were complex while others where quite
simple and intuitive. Doi-sensei also shared some of the original spiritual components
retained within the URR Gakkai Reiki as he was hosted by me and several others at 5
annual Reiki conferences we called URR International or URRI for short. His Gendai
Reiki Ho or Modern Reiki Method style was eagerly received by hundreds of Western
Reiki Masters at the URRI seminars and private class held in Japan. Gendai Reiki is
actually a blend of modern and traditional Japanese Reiki methods and ideals, as well
as Western Reiki.
... in 1999, Hiroshi Doi of Japan and ... Frank Arjava Petter
began to travel to other parts of the world
sharing original Japanese ideas.

Soon others from Japan began to share their styles of Reiki in the West and the choices
in training grew. Some are Komyo Reiki, Human & Trust Kenkyo-sho and Jikiden Reiki.
Takata-sensei's style of Reiki became known as Usui Reiki by many although it is not
like the original method that Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai taught. However it may have
been more appropriate for Westerners to learn as it had a more structured approach to
Reiki, and like Hayashi Reiki, it was focused mainly on assisting healing with the self
and others.
Other Western styles began to adapt and included older Japanese concepts and
techniques in their training material, thus allowing students to choose from traditional
and modern approaches to Reiki. My Threshold Reiki is one such style.
Reiki Evolving Again
The 1990s saw an explosion in new systems, many with shifted Reiki energy and new
symbols. Kathleen Milner's Tera-Mai system included new energies, like Patrick
Ziegler's Seichim, and symbols received by her and her students. William Rand, who
already had his Centre for Reiki Training style of Reiki, borrowed 9 of these symbols to
create a master level training eventually called Karuna Reiki. The additional of new
symbol energies into Reiki systems began to grow more and more as Spirit seemed to
be nudging individuals to awaken their own personal energies.
For a list of some of the Western schools of Reiki go to Adonea's Reiki pages at
http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/9434/branches1.html and
http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/9434/branches2.html
Copyright 2006 Threshold Resources

Richard R. Rivard, B.Sc.

Reiki Shihan

www.threshold.ca

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WHY SO MANY REIKI STYLES

When is Reiki, NOT Reiki?


One very confusing trend we are seeing is that of new styles of healing making use of
the term "Reiki" as if it was a replacement word for "healing energy." These are usually
styles of energy that an individual has received through direct connection with Spirit,
but have no energy lineage to the energy of Mikao Usui - the energy we call "Reiki."
This is not to say that these energies are not powerful - they certainly can be and just
like any other healing energy they can be effective with a wide range of people. They
have always been around, usually without a name and usually wielded by a natural
healer, shaman, wicca, etc. (see my article called Reiki and Highest Ki for my
understanding of these energies).
However, they confuse many if they profess to be an energy of the "Reiki" family.
There have been several new energies that may be taught by Reiki teachers, but do not
pretend to be versions of Reiki. Some of these are Seichim, Magnified Healing, Urevia,
etc. Each is a valid and very good energy system and these may interest you if Reiki
does not. (see my article called Alternative Healing Energies, most that do not pretend
to be Reiki.)
Personally I have worked with, and experienced some of these, as well as the naturally
called on energy of several healers, and even learned how to do this myself in 1978.
However, sometimes these energies may lack a grounding or earth component and the
healer needs to add this part in. Reiki and a few others seem to have this grounding
automatically built in.
A more recent form of this confusion has occurred by one author advertising that you
can call in your own "Reiki" energy (as he says Mikao Usui did) by just reading the
author's book. However, it is useful to understand that Usui Sensei experienced his
own powerful healing energy as a side effect of his many years of spiritual training, and
while he was in the process of a 3 week spiritual fast on a well known mountain power
spot.
I have worked with some people who were able to duplicate Reiki once they have felt it
(it's like people who can repeat music after hearing it once), but they had at least
experienced original Reiki energy first. And in each case, these people have found their
Reiki substantially increased after receiving a Reiki attunement. I've also worked with
natural healers wielding their own healing energies, who upon receiving a Reiki
attunement claim that their energy is much stronger now, or much higher in vibration, or
always present (not having to be called on), etc. It's certainly an interesting
phenomenon.
If you are looking for a valid Reiki experience or training, ask to see the teacher's
energy lineage back to Mikao Usui. (see my web page called My Training
History/Lineage for an example of several Reiki energy lineages.)

Copyright 2006 Threshold Resources

Richard R. Rivard, B.Sc.

Reiki Shihan

www.threshold.ca

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WHY SO MANY REIKI STYLES

The Bottom Line


If you are still confused, please do not despair. The nice thing about the Reiki method
is that regardless of the style, the heart of Reiki is truly easy and quick to acquire, and it
can be applied using very simple methods. So I would recommend that you simply
choose an initial instructor who feels OK to you and is not too far to travel to.
Afterwards, you can explore and experiment with Reiki on friends and family. When you
are ready to continue your training, you can then decide if there is a more appropriate
style and teacher available to you. You might even try distant training.
In my experience there really is no one style that is better than the next. It is simply a
personal preference and it will depend on whether you enjoy a complex or simple
approach, with or without formal structure, and with or without elements of the traditional
or modern methods. Perhaps over time you will find yourself doing as I have and
exploring a variety of styles out of simple curiosity.

Copyright 2006 Threshold Resources

Richard R. Rivard, B.Sc.

Reiki Shihan

www.threshold.ca

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