What is Reiki Lineage?
This article is written with a range of readers in mind, primarily for my own Jikiden Reiki students, but also with those looking for Reiki training courses, and existing Reiki practitioners and teachers of other approaches to Reiki in mind. Misunderstandings around lineage are commonplace in the Reiki world, both in the UK and internationally. So, what is a Reiki lineage?
In a nutshell- A Reiki teacher lineage is represented as a single vertical list from your Reiki teacher (or if you are a Reiki teacher your name) in the system you teach showing each teacher above you in your line back to the founder Mikao Usui.
To begin this topic, 2 key points are critical to an understanding of lineage.
1. It is only Reiki teachers that should have a Reiki lineage (as they are the ones permitted to teach Reiki). Practitioners/students don’t have a Reiki teaching lineage.
2. Reiki lineage is a direct single line. The person above a Reiki teacher in a lineage is the person with who a teacher took teacher training and was permitted to teach those teaching to others. This single line goes back to the founder of Reiki Mikao Usui.
This can be new information for many Reiki practitioners and indeed Reiki teachers out there. So, let’s look at this first point. Misunderstandings around lineage are seen in many approaches to Reiki. When a person completes Reiki training along with a Reiki certificate, it is not uncommon for a Reiki teacher to inform a student of their new Reiki lineage as a practitioner/student, which tends to be the teacher’s lineage, with the student’s name placed underneath, which you can see from the first point above that it is a lineage for teachers only, so the idea of practitioners having a lineage is incorrect, as they are not a teacher. This misunderstanding can even be seen when a Reiki practitioner lists a lineage on a professional website, again at that level of training they wouldn’t have their lineage. This misunderstanding would have likely started around 40 years ago and has been baked into the teaching of Reiki for many years and followed the spread of Reiki in the West and then around the world, so it’s not surprising it’s such a common misunderstanding. Note: Just because almost everyone does something a certain way doesn’t mean it's correct. Before finding Jikiden Reiki (authentic Japanese Usui Reiki) I was a Reiki teacher (termed master teacher) teaching Usui Reiki and other Reiki approaches, both systems I was previously a teacher in did this, we gave students a lineage with their name on it.
What we do in Jikiden Reiki, following the Usui system of Reiki, (for my students reading this), and a simple suggestion for any Reiki practitioners and teachers of other approaches to Reiki, to be more in keeping with the way of Reiki, so not adding to this misunderstanding, would be:
A student might say ‘My teacher’s Reiki lineage is’ (then list their own teacher’s lineage- without the student’s name on it). As it was in Japan and is today in Jikiden Reiki, teacher permissions are granted gradually so have graduated sub-teaching levels, we in Jikiden Reiki add our teacher level by our name, Shihan, meaning ‘teacher’ so permitted to teach the complete system of Reiki, so both Shoden and Okuden courses (in the western systems of Reiki commonly termed level 1 and 2). So, for my Reiki students for you, it would be presented as:
My teacher’s Reiki lineage is:
Mikao Usui
Chijiro Hayashi
Chiyoko Yamaguchi
Tadao Yamaguchi
Shaun Mckeown (Shihan)
If as a student in the future, you become a Reiki teacher, at that point you take on the teacher lineage of the teacher who permitted you to teach. So now your name would be placed at the bottom of that list of names. Out of respect you might also on a side note, refer to the teacher who taught you Shoden and Okuden in the system you now teach.
The second point I make on Reiki lineage is pretty simple for my students reading this but can be new information and indeed create some questions for anyone reading this whose own Reiki teacher’s lineage does not look how a Reiki teacher's lineage should.
A few must-have characteristics of Reiki lineage are: At the top of your teacher’s (or your lineage if a Reiki teacher yourself) should be Mikao Usui, if not I would question what are you practicing if it’s called Reiki. As if it’s called Reiki it should have the founder of Reiki at the top. In most lineages, he is, however, this is not as clear cut as it can appear as many things called Usui Reiki, which have Usui Sensei’s name at the top of a lineage, are teaching something a great distance away from what Mikao Usui called Reiki. But that’s a different rant for another day.
To keep things simple, let's view this as if you are not a teacher yourself, but a Reiki practitioner reading this, any Reiki teachers reading this will be clever enough to understand what this means for them. Your Reiki teacher’s lineage should look like a vertical line, not like a tree. I say again: A Reiki teacher lineage is a single straight vertical line, the lowest being your teacher's name, with the name directly above your teacher being the Reiki teacher permitted to teach the system of that lineage, who permitted your teacher to teach those Reiki teachings to you, once they completed teacher training. This continues back until you get to the founder of Reiki Mikao Usui. Think of it as your teacher is teaching in the name of the teacher before them and so on in their lineage back to the founder of Reiki.
A deviation to Reiki lineage started about 15 or so years ago, when I say deviation, it was not by accident. We know the few individuals that set out on this idea away from a true Reiki lineage. What these people did was start presenting a Reiki teacher lineage that looks more like a tree. They did this by joining a variety of lineages. In my opinion there only appears one reason to do so, which would be to try to find a way to make their Reiki lineage (and therefore their Reiki courses) look more Japanese and authentic. I think it is interesting these lineages only started appearing around the time Jikiden Reiki, known as authentic Japanese Usui Reiki came onto the Reiki scene. When I first learned Reiki and became a teacher, my teacher lineage was a single straight line. In the second system of Reiki, I became a teacher, which I learned directly from a prominent international Reiki teacher was this type of branch-like lineage.
These lineages are misleading to students at best. A Reiki lineage is not a record of all the variety of Reiki-related training a teacher has had or a collection of all the techniques you have learned. It is supposed to be a single track of the teachers, who granted the teacher below them in the lineage permission to be a Reiki teacher and share the teachings they taught them, honoring the system of Reiki as taught by the teacher above.
In these tree-like lineages, you tend to see a common Western lineage (by that I mean with Mrs. Takata in it, as is commonly the case, so going: Mikao Usui, Chihiro Hayashi, Mrs. Takata, and so on, which is fine. But then we see these Japanese branches, which imply someone further up the line was trained, then took teacher training in that system and was granted teacher level along with being permitted to teach that system from traditional Japanese Reiki teachers. We know this is not the case with those who started this idea. Let’s be clear if a teacher has not taken teacher training and been granted permission by the teacher above them in a lineage to teach those teachings in their name then that whole line in a lineage should not be there.
As an example, if any teacher has Chiyoko Yamaguchi in a lineage, that is not teaching Jikiden Reiki, so not an authorized Jikiden Reiki teacher by the Jikiden Reiki Institute in Japan (what I teach) then her name and that whole line on a lineage should not be on a lineage at all. In this case that the person claiming she granted teacher level and permission to teach what she taught (outside Jikiden Reiki) would not be correct, even if a teacher did take some training in Jikiden Reiki as a practitioner.
For a start even if such a teacher, had been trained in those teachings (but not a teacher) in Jikiden Reiki, then without permission (directly against what they would have agreed), used a Jikiden Reiki lineage, an initial problem would be the Reiju (termed attunement in western approaches) would not be the original way, as they would not have been taught it themselves until teacher training, which they wouldn’t have taken, that’s a problem in itself, as the method they are using would be different.
Another version of this is a Japanese lineage, where a rare situation where someone learned practitioner levels of training Shoden and Okuden from an authentic Japanese Teacher. We know this is accurate, but we also know they were not taught to be teachers in those teachings and not given permission to teach, so again the whole line shouldn’t be there. In my mind, these two examples open up questions about honesty and integrity with those initial teachers who started this idea, especially when knowing this was against the wishes of the teacher above them. A consequence of this situation is those well-meaning Reiki teachers, a few steps down that lineage would be unaware of this, so believe they are teaching with integrity in the name of the teachers before them in that lineage. Commonly that lineage drew the teacher towards those teachings, looking for authenticity in the first place. Note: we know of a couple of Western people who have been accepted into the Gakki (original Usui Reiki society) in Japan, so their teacher’s lineage would be authentic Japanese, but they would not be practicing/teaching Reiki outside of the group, as members practice within it. So you would not see these lineages appearing in public.
Note: As this article is public, for those Reiki teachers who are reading this, who might have a tree-type lineage, or Japanese-looking lineage, who with the best intentions did not know this and want to teach with integrity, I would say, the common solution is simply to delete the Japanese strands of your lineage that cannot be verified and inform any Reiki teachers (masters) you have created, of your amended Reiki teacher lineage. I say this as I am yet to find one of these tree-type lineages that hold up. That’s exactly what I did. I know some that have respect for them for doing so. If your interest is in authentic Japanese Usui Reiki, I would say have a look at Jikiden Reiki and see if that might be a direction for you, maybe becoming an authorized teacher in the future, that was my route.
For those looking for Reiki training, what can we determine from a teacher's Reiki lineage? Well, if Mrs. Takata is in it, it could be classed as Western Reiki (she would be the 3rd person in the lineage). We know some parts of Reiki were omitted and some changes were made at that point. We also know that teachers after that point were permitted to adjust the training. So, things that are not Reiki and misunderstandings creep in from there. If a Western lineage is long the potential for more adjustments to the training, or the pollution of the training (pick a word that works for you) could be higher. Most western Reiki lineages are 8-15 teachers long, however, a slightly shorter lineage is not always a guarantee that things were not changed as much as a longer one, just the chances are higher. Jikiden Reiki teachers have an unusually short teacher lineage, in mine, I am the 5th person in my lineage. A key characteristic we see with Jikiden Reiki is that there is no Western influence and as teachers, we are not permitted to change the training. So, these 3 things together ensure accuracy and ensure authenticity in what we are teaching. Ultimately if you like what you have been taught, great. My focus is on people not being misled and promoting authentic Japanese Usui Reiki, so I will have a certain view on this topic. I hope you have found this article of interest and I wish you the best with your study of Reiki. For those interested in authentic Japanese Usui Reiki training courses (Jikiden Reiki) you can find out more about courses here Jikiden Reiki courses.
I am mainly known nowadays for my work with Reiki, as a specialist in authentic Japanese Reiki. I am an experienced, Reiki teacher and practitioner with a proven track record of results. I offer Jikiden Reiki training courses, promoting authentic Japanese Reiki teachings. I am based in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, in the UK. I have a background in coaching and training in the areas of exercise coaching, holistic lifestyle, fitness, and performance coaching. I also have a BSc.(Hons) degree in Sport and Exercise Science, for more information visit: www.shaunmckeown.com
The information contained above is provided for information purposes only. The contents of this article are not intended to amount to advice and you should not rely on any of the contents of this article. Professional advice should be obtained before taking or refraining from taking any action as a result of the contents of this article. Shaun Mckeown, disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of this article.