A NOTE ON
THE REIKI KANJI
Most
of us are aware of the word 'Reiki' as
it is generally written in Japanese kanji:
Rei |
|
Ki |
However,
many people do not realise that Usui Sensei would
never have actually written the word 'Reiki' using
this particular 'kanji-pair'.
Why
not?
Simply
because these two kanji did not actually exist in this
form during Usui Sensei's lifetime.
They
only came into being in the 1940's - when the Japanese government,
in an attempt to modernise the kanji writing system, simplified
the shapes of a great many kanji - thus making them easier
to learn and quicker to write.
In
Usui Sensei's lifetime, the word 'Reiki', in kanji form,
was written thus:
Rei |
|
Ki |