The Usui
Reiki Ryoho Gakkai
Copyright
© 2002/3 James Deacon
While
some sources maintain that the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai (Usui Reiki
Healing Method Learning Society) was founded by Usui-Sensei himself
in 1922, it is generally accepted that the Gakkai was actually
founded by Rear Admiral Juusaburo Gyuda
(Ushida) and other students around 1926/7.
It is also said that they posthumously honoured Usui-Sensei by
naming him as the first kaicho (president / chairman) of
the society, Ushida himself being classed as the second.
Prior to the Japanese entering W.W.II, Hayashi-Sensei had
committed suicide, and with Takata-Sensei returning home once
more to Hawaii, all contact between Japanese Reiki practitioners
and the West was, it seems, lost.
[Well almost
all - fourteen years after Hayashi-sensei's death, Takata-Sensei made a
return visit to Japan and met with his wife,Chie, who was also a Reiki
master.]
Certainly,
in later years, it seems to have been the general consensus amongst
Usui Shiki Ryoho practitioners that the practice of Reiki had
eventually died out in Japan, and that, (up to 1976 when she began initiating
masters) Takata-sensei was the only living Reiki Master on the planet.
However,
as journalist and "Radiance Technique" Reiki
practitioner Mieko Mitsui was to discover on returning to Japan
in 1985 to research the origins of Reiki, this was not
the case.
Not only was Reiki alive and well, but so, it seemed, was the
Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai.
[Though
it has been suggested that the current Gakkai (if in fact it exists
at all) might actually be a recently 'restablished' society -
in much the same way that, in the West, long-defunct esoteric
orders have been re-established by those with no direct connection
to the originals]
The
current president of the Gakkai is said to be a Mr. Masayoshi
(or Masaki) Kondo.
Between Ushida (who held the office from 1926 to his death in
1935) and Kondo (1999 to date) there have apparently been four
other presidents:
Kanichi Taketomi; Yoshiharu Watanabe; Hoichi Wanami; and Kimiko
Koyama.
At
one time there were supposedly more than 80 branches of the Gakkai,
though at present there are only 5, with a combined membership
in the region of 500 people, only 12 of which are of Shinpiden
level.
According to Hiroshi Doi [who claims to be a member of the Gakkai]
at the Gakkai's headquarters in Tokyo, weekly meetings referred
to as shuyo kai are held, during which the students chant
the gokai (the Reiki Precepts), practice the Hatsurei-ho
and sing Gyosei - poetry penned by the Emperor Meiji.
[These poems are in a style known as waka, ('Japanese
Song') - short poems with lines containing fixed numbers of syllables.
The familiar Zen haikyu are a form of waka]
CLICK HERE
Reiki Ryoho no Shiori
Members
of the Gakkai are apparently given a Reiki manual entitled: Reiki Ryoho
No Shiori or: 'Guide to Reiki Ryoho'. This is a booklet compiled
by two Gakkai presidents: Koyama & Wanami .
Amongst other things, the Reiki Ryoho No Shiori
briefly covers the history & purpose of the Gakkai, and sets out
its administrative system. It outlines the characteristics of Reiki
Ryoho, it discusses the Five Principles, deals with the how to strengthen Reiki, & includes a number
of techniques such as: koketsu ho, byosen, nentatsu ho, etc.
Reiki Ryoho Hikkei
Another
document, the Reiki Ryoho Hikkei (Reiki Treatment Companion) -
a 68 page manual - is given to Level 1 (Shoden) Gakkai students
The 'Hikkei comprises of an introductory explanation & Reiki
Q & A section (- supposedly in Usui Sensei's own words), a
healing guide (Ryoho Shishin), & Gyosei.
The 'Hikkei' was compiled in the 1970's by Kimiko Koyama.
Current membership of the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai is, so we are
told, intentionally limited, and is by invitation only...
