Reiki Jin Kei Do

The school's account of the lineage

A history page compiled by a listed Master of the school describes Reiki as beginning with Mikao Usui in early twentieth-century Kyoto and gives the line of Reiki Jin Kei Do as Usui, Chujiro Hayashi, a Zen monk called Takeuchi Sensei, Seiji Takamori (1907-1992) and Ranga Premaratna of Australia. On that page, Takamori spent about 20 years in India, Nepal and Tibet and studied with monks who practiced a Buddho System of Healing, later called EnerSense. Premaratna is said to have been taught by Takamori in 1990 and to have named the lineage Reiki Jin Kei Do in 1997.

A teacher's article from 2021 presents the system as holding the esoteric Buddhist teachings from which he argues modern Reiki developed. The article says it was once called the eastern lineage of Reiki and Usui Shin Kai, and that Buddho is the meditation Usui practiced on Mt Kurama. The same article states that Usui's sources are unknown. No claim of Ascended Master involvement appeared in the school pages opened for this record, so none is reported here.

Scholarly and critical views

A scholarly entry on Japanese Usui Reiki Ryoho gives Usui's birth as 1865 and says his society opened in Tokyo in April 1922 and that he died in March 1926. It notes Buddhist parallels in the reiju ritual and the symbols, describes a link to the Tendai complex at Enryakuji as speculative, and does not mention Shingon. A companion entry on Western Reiki traces the Western line through Hayashi to Hawayo Takata, who began teaching in Hawaii in the 1930s, and lists Reiki Jin Kei Do among the Buddhist-oriented styles that appeared after the Reiki Alliance formed in 1982.

An undated community page on Reiki history states that the Takamori account has no verification beyond the lineage head's word and that researchers in Japan have not found Takeuchi as a student or acquaintance of Hayashi. These are the page's statements, not a scholarly finding. The sources reviewed neither confirm nor refute the lineage chain, and no independent documentation of Takamori or Takeuchi was found.

The name and its gloss

The school's history page glosses the name as Reiki in the Way of Compassion and Wisdom and does not break down the individual Japanese characters. A teacher's book on the system carries the subtitle The Way of Compassion and Wisdom. The name is written Reiki Jin Kei Do or Reiki Jin-Kei-Do, and the same lineage has been called the eastern lineage of Reiki and Usui Shin Kai in a teacher's article. The school also uses the names Buddho and EnerSense for an associated meditation system.

Terms used in training

The school speaks of empowerments, a term close to the attunement and reiju used elsewhere in Reiki, and of a Reiki Master and Master-Teacher. It names its levels First Degree, Second Degree, Master Practitioner and Mastership on one page, and Levels 1, 2, 2 Advanced and 3A, 3B and 3C on another. The 3A page states that the division into 3A, 3B and 3C is artificial rather than a recognized level, and a scholarly entry on Western Reiki also notes the split of Master training into 3a, 3b and 3c.

Confusable lineages

Reiki Jin Kei Do is a Western-era lineage and differs from Usui Reiki Ryoho, the Japanese society founded by Usui, and from Western Reiki descended from Takata. The Machipedia pages Reiki, Usui Reiki and Western Reiki cover those families, and Karuna Reiki is a separate lineage with its own page. Scholarly sources say styles differ in symbols, initiation practices, fees, number of levels and wording of the five precepts.

Training pathway

On the school's training page, Level 1 is two days, online or in person, with empowerments and instruction in self-treatment and treatment, and Level 2 is two days with a second set of empowerments and work on sending Reiki across distance. Level 3 is split into Part A, a stand-alone extension of Level 2, Part B, on teaching Levels 1 and 2, and Part C, on teaching Level 3. The page does not state prerequisites or an external accreditation body.

The three Master parts

Level 3A is described as a personal course that deepens the practitioner's own practice through advanced meditation, mindfulness and subtle energy awareness, includes an empowerment, and does not change how the practitioner treats others. Level 3B is described as a two-day intensive that prepares practitioners to give Level 1 and 2 empowerments and ends with certification as a Reiki Master. Level 3C is described as Master-Teacher training that requires 3B and, according to the 3A page, is held back until competence in teaching Levels 1 and 2 is shown.

Stated differences from other Reiki

The school's history page says Jin Kei Do adds more individualized empowerments, substantial teaching of mindfulness meditation and Qigong, daily meditation and a stated focus on compassion. A teacher states that it contains Buddho, Chi Nadi and hands-on methods that he says are not in the traditional Reiki canon. A critical community page says its chakra-based techniques were not taught by Takata or Hayashi. Related practices on Machipedia include Meditation and Energy Healing.

Aims stated by the school

The school's history page calls Reiki a very simple technique to aid the process of healing and says many believe it leads to self-transformation, with an emphasis on compassion and opening the heart. The training page describes the program as built around meditation, compassion and wisdom, and Level 3A is framed as a personal practice course. A teacher's article describes the system as a path of inner development and not just a collection of techniques.

What the sources do not claim

The pages opened for this record present these aims as beliefs of the school and its students. They do not report outcome data, and the aims have not been tested in the research described below. No claim that the practice treats a named medical condition is reported here, and the school pages do not make one in the sections opened.

Trials of this lineage

No independent trial of Reiki Jin Kei Do was found. The searches run were a PubMed search for the phrases Reiki Jin Kei Do and Jin Kei Do, which returned only unrelated records, and a general web search for a trial or study naming the lineage, which returned none that could be opened from a reliable free source. The school pages opened do not cite any trial of the lineage.

General Reiki reviews as context only

The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health states that Reiki has not been clearly shown to be effective for any health-related purpose, that most studies are low quality with inconsistent results, and that there is no scientific evidence for the energy field it is thought to involve. A 2022 systematic review of 14 placebo-controlled trials of hands-on Reiki rated the certainty of evidence from low to high depending on the symptom, noted small samples and varied practitioner training, and called its overall findings inconclusive. These reviews cover Reiki in general and do not identify the lineage taught, so their results do not transfer to Reiki Jin Kei Do.

Reported harms and care boundaries

The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health states that Reiki has not been shown to have harmful effects, and the 2022 review reported no adverse effects. Neither source evaluates Reiki Jin Kei Do or the meditation and Qigong components the school adds. Reiki is a complementary practice and not a substitute for medical care, so it should not delay or replace necessary diagnosis or treatment.

Training standards and information gaps

The sources reviewed describe certification as given by the school itself, and no statutory regulation or external training standard for the lineage was found. The school history page and the teacher article opened contain no medical disclaimer, and no source reported harms specific to the lineage. The lineage claims described above remain unverified by independent sources.