Gendai Reiki Ho: The Spirit of Usui Sensei and the Truth about Traditional Reiki

When was this book written?

Let me answer this question using the words of Doi sensei, which you can read in this publication.

“In 2007, a Gendai Reiki Ho workshop was organized by the Gendai Reiki Network Australia (GRNA) in Sydney, Australia. Even though there are many lines of Reiki in existence, they all pursue the truth of Usui Reiki Ryoho by practicing the spiritual teachings of Usui Sensei as provided by Gendai Reiki Ho.

I first wrote this book for the Australia workshop, although it was eventually not published for some reason. I later received several publishing offers, but it was not until 2015, when a workshop to explore the origins of Traditional Reiki was held in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, near Madrid, that it was finally published.”… Hiroshi Doi

I translated this publication into English and proofread it with Terry Berne and Isabel Hearn, native writers and translators. There was also a collaboration between the Australian friends of GRNA. However, as Doi sensei explains, we did not have the chance to publish it until the proposal of Reikiavik Ediciones in 2015 to translate it into Spanish. Claudio Robe Oyaneder, master of Gendai Reiki Ho in Chile, provided us with the Spanish translation he had done based on my English translation. With the editor of Reikiavik Ediciones, Javier Diaz Murillo, I adjusted the Spanish text based on the original Japanese text. 

During this time, I have been trying to figure out what to do with the English version, as I did not have any means to distribute the books in English while residing in Spain. However, as years passed, books could be distributed in any part of the world thanks to the Internet, so I decided to present this book globally.

As an investigator, Doi sensei has been correcting data for years, so I have been updating the content constantly and improving the edition, providing more notes on the terms, history, traditions, and culture for non-Japanese readers. 

The Centenary of Usui Reiki Ryoho in Osaka this year, where I participated as one of the organizers, was decisive in determining not to delay this book’s publication. On the 100th anniversary, people of all lines of Reiki participated, and I felt the strong desire of many Western Reiki practitioners to get to know more about the true origins of Reiki.

I also transcribed and translated the workshop on Traditional Reiki in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, 2015, in English and Spanish. The Spanish translation was converted into the book Traditional Reiki: History and Essence of Japanese Dento Reiki of Mikao Usui (Reikiavik Ediciones,2020). It is an excellent book for getting to know the traditional Reiki of the Mikao Usui. However, Gendai Reiki Ho: The Spirit of Usui Sensei and the Truth about Traditional Reiki is a better-written book because the author himself wrote the book and is better organized. 

Its content is precious in the case of the Traditional Reiki book, which is based on the workshop Doi sensei gave in San Loranzo de El Escorial, Spain. It was the first and last workshop Hiroshi Doi gave, revealing the Traditional Reiki of the time of Usui Sensei until the beginning of post-World War II. However, editing a spoken conference is not like a text written for a publication.

Despite that, to perfect the knowledge of Usui Reiki Ryoho, the best thing to do is to read both to complement each other, so after publishing Gendai Reiki Ho: The Spirit of Usui Sensei and the Truth about Traditional Reiki, I will start finishing up the book Traditional Reiki improving and updating its content.

I intend the books I translate and edit to be helpful for a deeper understanding of the Usui Reiki Ryoho and Japanese culture and people.

Mary Jo Barber is my editor and corrector for this updated and improved version.

Thank you for reading. Gassho.