Gendai Reiki, or Gendai Reiki Ho as it is known in Japan, is the style of Reiki developed by Hiroshi Doi. It contains aspects of both Western and Traditional Japanese Reiki blended together perfectly for the ultimate in Reiki training.

Hiroshi Doi

Hiroshi Doi, the founder of the Gendai Reiki School is perhaps best known in the West for his book Modern Reiki Method for Healing which describes the foundations of the Gendai Reiki System in detail. I highly recommend this book (reviewed on our Book Review Page) not only for Gendai Reiki Practitioners, but for anyone else with a passionate interest in Reiki as well. Reading is difficult as there was little or no real editing done when translating it from the original Japanese, but with a little bit of effort you can get the gist of it… which is more than enough to put you on the right path.

Doi Sensei, as he is called by his students, is also a member of the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai, which is the Reiki Association founded by Dr. Usui. The Gakkai, is an extremely secretive organization and the current president, a retired university professor named Masaki Kondoh, has no intention of allowing that to change. The Gakkai protects a wealth of information about Reiki and Dr. Usui, some of which has been allowed to be included in Gendai Reiki and as time passes Doi Sensei gets permission to pass on other tidbits from their records. This aspect of Gendai Reiki makes it quite unique as there is no other information being supplied by the Gakkai as they are not at all satisfied with the way Reiki is being spread and taught in the West.

Besides Reiki Energies and information being supplied directly from the Gakkai, Hiroshi Doi was among the first here in Japan to be trained in Western Style Reiki (Reiki from Mrs. Takata’s lineage). Aspects of this training are also found in the Gendai Reiki School and quite nicely adds to Gendai Reiki the Western Reiki teaching style, which supplies a great deal of information in a relatively short time (as opposed to the traditional approach which takes many years to wrestle from one’s teacher).

Gendai Reiki

In comparison to other styles of Reiki I feel Gendai Reiki places a greater emphasis on energy work. Their monthly gatherings, known as koryukai, which I attended for a few years, and still drop by on occasion to keep in touch, places all of its practical components on exercises like Hatsurei Ho and Solar Energy Training which are intended to strengthen the Reiki energy channels and give practice in identifying and accentuating the Reiki energies.

Gendai Reiki also contains aspects of Buddhism and Shinto which are not found in Western Reiki as well as a strong shamanic influence (which is mostly as derived from the Shinto aspect). My overall impression is that it is mostly a traditional Japanese style of Reiki, with the Western elements being presented in a uniquely Japanese way.

Reiki was originally developed as Dr. Usui’s personal path to spiritual growth, which he freely shared with others out of the goodness of his heart, not with the intention of mass producing a new healing system. It was not developed nor intended as a ‘teaching’, but as a personal approach… which Dr. Usui later unselfishly shared with anyone interested.

Likewise, Gendai Reiki was not developed as a system to be mass produced, and originally there were only three or four people that Doi Sensei shared this personal approach with (they all still frequent his koryukai in Ashiya, Japan). As they began to spread the word, more and more people showed interest, and now it is one of the leading (and most authentic and powerful) styles of Reiki available. All Gendai Reiki students who have studied with Doi Sensei are forever grateful for his decision to share what for many, might have been kept private.

Being a personal approach, Gendai Reiki is dynamic and organic… it is forever growing and expanding as Doi Sensei discovers new and exciting techniques and as new information is made public from the Gakkai. I would highly recommend that anyone interested in learning this fascinating system come to Japan and study with Doi Sensei himself, or wait for one of his (quite frequent) trips abroad… you’ll be forever glad that you did! I don’t recommend studying Gendai Reiki with anyone other than Doi Sensei… it is his personal system and is best learned directly from him… if you study with anyone else there is no guarantee as to what you are learning… unless, of course, you study with me! 🙄

For further explanation or discussion, your thoughts are most welcome and highly encouraged, please feel free to comment below!!!