After many years of in-depth (and what some have considered obsessive) Reiki, I have finally managed to uncover irrefutable documentary evidence of a genuine early example of the Reiju process (as used in the pre-Gakkai days.)

And in the true spirit of Reiki, I am honoured to be able to share this gift freely with the Reiki Community.

As has been surmised by several other people, the original process is almost sublime in its simplicity:
For example, it does not involve use of any of the four symbols; there are no 'hui yin' type clenches involved; there is no focus on chakra points (which of course we already knew would not have been used in a Japanese spiritual and therapeutic discipline anyway); there are no procedural order of points to be 'attuned' - actually there are no attunment-points as such - not even as some might expect the 3 'tanden' areas.
The whole body is simply attuned as a unified whole, by hand gesture and other movements in the student's aura.

There is, however, one Jumon/Kotodama mantra used in this profound yet amazingly powerful reiju process - a four-word, six syllable phrase (perhaps symbolic of the six Elements - earth, water, fire, air, void & consciousness - spoken of within Shingon Buddhist philosophy?)

This phrase - as is the case with many Japanese esoteric 'incantations' is presumed to be based on an ancient chant, possibly of Buddhist or Shinto origin (it is difficult to be sure which, as these two traditions have been inseparably entwined throughout Japanese history) - and its power is primarily in the actual sound of the words uttered.
The meaning of the kanji used to write the mantra is of secondary importance.

However in the case of this 'Reiju Shingon' (shingon, in its usage here, refers solely to a mantra - not to Shingon Buddhism ) the kanji used to write the sounds do actually give some clues as to the specific intention of this particular Reiju practice.

The four words of the 'Reiju Shingon' are as follows:

O = Big/ Great [In Japanese it is commonly the case that there are several ways of 'reading' a kanji - the kanji here pronounced as 'O' is the same kanji that is pronounced as 'Dai' in the Reiki Master Symbol]

Daho = to capture, seize, or take

Kiko = Breath/spirit-cultivation
[kiko is the Japanese term for the Chinese practice of Chi Kung (or Qi Gung)
However the Japanese are fond of the 'play on words' and this kanji is often substituted with one, still pronounced kiko, but meaning 'remarkable effect' or 'remarkable results'

Ki = skill [different kanji than that used to write the more familiar ki commonly translated as 'energy']

Essentially the phrase can be read as something like:
"Great method*of skilfully seizing the (remarkable results) of ki-cultivation"

[*although not actually written, the word 'method' is implied here]

The Reiju Ritual:

As to the complete reiju 'ritual' itself, this is in five** (elegantly simple) sections.

[**symbolic of the five Elements - earth, water, fire, air, & void - spoken of within Tendai Buddhist philosophy, perhaps?]

As with most formal Japanese practices, prior to performing the ritual, both student and teacher perform 'rei' - the obligatory act or etiquette - i.e. they bow to each other.

Interestingly, the bow here is not the familiar gassho bow, with hands held in 'prayer position' but the is actually standard greeting bow, with hands held down by ones sides.

This having been performed (slowly and gracefully), reiju itself begins.

As mentioned, it is comprised of five elegantly simple sections. These sections flow seamlessly on from each other - as the Japanese expression puts it: "like the verses of a song"

In this present article I will simply describe one of these five sections.
[I feel it is important for the individual to become totally familiar with, and comfortable in the practice of, one section at a time.]

Description:

The teacher approaches the student (from the students left side).
Focussing his 'energetic attention' on the student's aura, he momentarily reaches into the aura with his left arm (i.e. 'non-dominant' hand), gently letting the Reiki flow throughout the student's field, before withdrawing his arm/hand again.
The teacher repeats this process twice more. Then (and it must be clearly understood, this is not as some seem to believe, to get rid of 'negative energy', but rather to relax and re-energise the hands) the teacher simply flicks his wrist/ shakes his hand vigorously a few times

At this point the teacher performs (i.e. intones) the four-word 'Reiju Shingon' once.

As soon as he finishes saying the last syllable of the mantra, the teacher - with a smooth and measured movement, rotates a full 360 degrees, gathering in the energy.
[This is the core point of each of the five sections - the point at which the actual sharing of reiju - the 'spiritual gift' itself - begins]

Having completed the rotation, and facing the student once more:
the teacher smoothly raises his arms up out in front of him (palms facing downwards, fingers loosely spread, hands making a quivering motion), and on up to a point about level with his own head, then as part of the same smooth continuous action, brings his arms back down in front of the student - fingers still spread, hands quivering - as if brushing down the student's aura.
While doing so, the teacher intones the 'Reiju Shingon', timing it so that the first word of the mantra is intoned protractedly while raising the hands, and the remaining three while 'brushing down'.
Without pausing, this process (raising the arms and 'brushing down' while intoning the mantra) is repeated twice more.

As he completes the movement for the final time, the teacher then lowers his body slightly [bending the knees so as to assume a position similar to the 'horse stance' familiar to martial artists], reaches out in the direction of the student with both hands, and 'projects' the reiju, using a vocal/breathing technique called the 'Tigers breath'
[This latter technique simply involves exhaling whilst making a sound a bit like a tiger: "raa!" This is voiced a total of three times in quick succession].

[This completes this section of the reiju process]

I would really like to encourage all Reiki Masters to practice and familiarize themselves with this section of the process, and I will be presenting the remaining sections in a follow-up article in the very near future.

___________

Note: since discovering this wonderful early form of the Reiju process, I have also come across a second, similar version.
Now, while in the second version there is, for example, a slight difference in the way the hand is moved in relation to the student's aura (at the beginning of the section described above), the primary differences between the two versions are:
1, in the actual number of sections in the ritual (the second version has ten)
2, in the pronunciation of the third word of the 'Reiju Shingon':
While in the version given here the word is pronounced 'ki-ko', in the other version the word is pronounced 'ki-po'.
It is unclear as to which is the older of the two versions (I personally feel it is the former, but an American acquaintance of mine claims it is the latter), however, the difference between the two does seem to be solely due to a matter of regional dialect.

Read a simplified description of both these early versions of the reiju process, HERE

Reiki Pages
GUEST BOOK