From Japanese Christianity to Universal Reiki

Jonker, Jojan | Paperback / softback | 04-07-2024 | 9789403752037

Reiki is allegedly founded by Mikao Usui in 1922. However, not much verifiable facts are known about his developing of Reiki. Usui remains veiled in enigma. But then, in 2023, “The Samurai Reiki Master” by Elizabeth Latham was published in which she makes a compelling case suggesting that Tokio Yokoi may have been the true progenitor of Reiki. Jonker now answers raised questions such as whether Yokoi acquired the requisite knowledge to develop Reiki, and whether there are discernible traces of Yokoi’s influence within various Usui narratives as told by the Reiki styles Usui Shiki Ryoho, Gendai Reiki, and Jikiden Reiki. Jonker provides the answer to both inquiries as an affirmative one, which raises the next question what the relationship between Yokoi and Usui may have been. Jonker postulates a hypothesis as to how people projected Yokoi’s life onto Usui’s life leading to Yokoi falling into oblivion.