Traditions

Today many branches of Reiki exist, though there exist two major traditions, respectively called Traditional Japanese Reiki and Western Reiki.

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 (臼井靈氣療法學會 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 (靈道靈氣學會, 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 (光明レイキ會, 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 (稲本　百天), 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 (山口　千代子) that remained in Japan.

    * Jikiden Reiki (直傳靈氣, 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 (山口 忠夫).
The Japanese Reiki hand positions presented in the Usui Reiki Ryōhō Hikkei (臼井靈氣療法必携, Usui Reiki Treatment Handbook) as used and compiled by Usui are considerably more extensive than the hand positions used in Western Reiki.


Western Reiki

Western Reiki (西洋レイキ, Seiyō reiki) is a system that can be accredited to Hawayo Takata. The principal difference between the traditions is the use of set hand patterns for internal treatments instead of Reiji-hō, the intuitive skill of "knowing where to place the hands." This style of Reiki places more emphasis on the healing of ailments, and ascension to higher levels of attunement is more formalised.
After being trained by Hayashi, Takata went back to Hawaii, taking Reiki with her. After setting up clinics there, Reiki then spread to the rest of the Western world. As a result of the second world war, Takata decided to modify the Traditional Japanese Reiki system in order to make it more understandable and credible to the mentality of the West.

    * Usui Reiki Shiki Ryōhō (臼井靈氣式療法, commonly translated as meaning "Usui's Spiritual Energy Style of Therapy", but a more literal translation is "Usui's Spiritual Energy Style of Medical Treatment" (Ryōhō (療法) meaning medical treatment)) is the name given to the Western system of Reiki, and is a system that has tried to stay near enough the same as the original practises of Hawayo Takata. It is taught today by, for instance, the Reiki Alliance, led by Phyllis Lei Furumoto, Takata's granddaughter. In this system, as with most Western systems of Reiki, there are three levels, respectively called the First Degree, Second Degree, and Master/Teacher Degree, which uses Takata's versions of the four original symbols passed to her by Hayashi. Usui Reiki Shiki Ryōhō is also the norm requested qualification (along with Reiki lineage) when seeking insurance to practise Reiki on the general public in the United Kingdom.

    * Usui/Tibetan Reiki is the name given to the system that was developed by Arthur Robertson and later popularised by William Lee Rand and Diane Stein. This system is derived from Usui Reiki as taught by Takata and includes techniques from the Usui Reiki Ryōhō Gakkai, such as Byōsen-hō (病専法, Scanning Method), Gyōshi-hō (凝視法, Healing Eyes Method), and Kenyoku-hō (件抑制法, Dry Bathing Method). There have been a few additions to this system in comparison with Usui Shiki Ryōhō by Rand, such as a modified attunement method that incorporates the Violet Breath, the use of the Tibetan Master and kundalini fire symbols along with the four traditional Usui symbols, the hui yin position (located in the perineum), and also the microcosmic orbit. Along with introducing the above, Usui/Tibetan Reiki can sometimes incorporate psychic surgery. Unlike Usui Reiki Shiki Ryōhō, it has four levels, commonly called First Degree, Second Degree, Advanced Reiki Training (commonly 3A or ART), and Master/Teacher (commonly 3B).

    * Gendai Reiki Hō (現代靈氣法, meaning "Modern Spiritual Energy Method") is a system that incorporates elements of both Japanese and Western Reiki, and was established by Hiroshi Doi. Doi was first trained in Western Reiki by Mieko Mitsui, a Master of the "Radiance Technique." In 1993, he was granted membership to Usui Reiki Ryōhō Gakkai.