About Jikiden Reiki

What is Reiki?

Reiki is the art of hands on healing in which the therapist places their hands on the receiver’s body. As the therapist receives Reiki energy from the Universe, he or she transmits the energy to the receiver and awakens their natural the innate capacity to heal.

Reiki is a powerful alternative medicine that can help to support both physical and mental health. The original term for this is Shin Shin Kaizen Usui Reiki Ryoho (心身改善臼井氣療法) or “Usui Reiki Therapy for Improving Body and Mind.”

The History of Reiki

The practice of Reiki began in 1922 in Japan, when Dr. Mikao Usui（臼井甕男1865-1926) discovered that he was able to heal himself through the power of universal energy. He made it his life’s work to share this practice with others and established the Usui Reiki Institute.

Reiki grew in popularity as a natural healing art. Before World War II, Reiki was practice by over one million people in Japan and was even used by the Japanese Navy. However, after the war, Reiki was associated with the military’s war efforts and fell into disfavour. In the post-war environment, the Reiki Institute ceased their activities and closed its doors to the public, and gradually faded from the public eye.

Before the war, a Japanese-American woman named Takata travelled to Japan to learn Reiki and bring it back to the West. After the war, she also closed her practice, but was encouraged to teach again after a long 30-year hiatus. Her teachings led to the rise of the Western style of Reiki, which became increasingly popular. However, due to the passage of time, some critical elements of the original Reiki practice had been lost or changed, which reduced its healing potency.

Chiyoko Yamaguchi

Although Reiki had gone underground in Japan, a trained Reiki practitioner named Chiyoko Yamaguchi had continued to practice the original form of Reiki in her home. Chiyoko Yamaguchi was a Japanese woman who had learned Reiki from Usui sensei’s direct disciple – Chujiro Hayashi – in 1938 at the age of 17.

After her initiation, she practiced Reiki quietly within her household. In fact, reiki was the only healing remedy used in her home. She taught this healing art to her son, Tadao Yamaguchi.

As Reiki began to gain in popularity globally in the 1990’s, it was discovered that Chiyoko Yamaguchi had kept the traditional reiki lineage alive in Japan. Once she was discovered, many people within the Reiki community asked her to teach what she had learned from Hayashi. When she realized that Western reiki had diverged from its ancestral roots, she agreed to teach in order to preserve the purity of this healing art.

The Rise Of Jikiden Reiki

In 1999, Chiyoko started teaching with her son Tadao Yamaguchi under the name Jikiden Reiki(直傳靈氣). ”Jikiden” means “direct teaching” to indicate that her style of Reiki had been directly passed to her from Usui Sensei, the originator of the practice.

Chiyoko passed away in 2003, and the lineage of the Institute and the original Reiki tradition is being carried forward by her son Tadao Yamaguchi, who is my teacher.