The Usui Reiki Ryoho Hikkei is a Japanese manual associated with the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai. Its title is often translated as the Reiki Treatment Companion or the Reiki Healing Method Manual. It is described as a roughly 68-page compilation said to have been given to first-level (Shoden) students, containing an introductory explanation, a question-and-answer section presented in the voice of Mikao Usui, a treatment guide known as the Ryōhō Shishin, and selections of gyosei — waka poetry written by the Meiji Emperor.
It is one of the most important documents for understanding Japanese Reiki. It is also one of the most frequently misrepresented. The English text that circulates online as "the Hikkei" is usually James Deacon's translation of the Q&A section alone. It is a secondary translation of a later compilation, not a facsimile of an authenticated original manuscript, and not a book written by Usui in his own hand.
That does not make it worthless. It makes it a source that has to be read with its history in view.
What the Hikkei is
The manual belongs to the Gakkai's internal teaching tradition. According to the account preserved by James Deacon and repeated in other Reiki histories, it was compiled in the 1970s by Kimiko Koyama, the society's sixth president in the count that begins with Usui. It was said to have been given to Shoden students as a companion to their practice.
Its four components serve different purposes:
- An introductory explanation of the method and its purpose.
- A Q&A section in which Usui answers common questions about Reiki.
- The Ryōhō Shishin, a practice guide organised by body region, with suggested hand placements.
- Gyosei, the Meiji Emperor's poetry, chanted as part of practice.
The Q&A is the part most often quoted in English. It covers why Usui made the teaching public, what Usui Reiki Ryoho is, how it relates to hypnosis and other healing methods, whether belief is necessary, what it can treat, how it works, whether it uses medicine, whether medical knowledge is needed, what doctors and the government thought, who can receive initiation, self-treatment, what Okuden involves, and whether there is a level beyond Okuden.
Who compiled it and when
The compilation date is usually given as the 1970s, under Koyama. That is more than four decades after Usui's death. The manual draws on earlier Gakkai documents and oral teaching, but it is a later editorial product. Its Q&A is written as if Usui is speaking. That literary device is common in religious and instructional literature, and it does not necessarily mean the editors believed they were producing a verbatim transcript. It does mean that a sentence beginning "I" in the English translation is not automatically a quotation from Usui.
The Gakkai also used a separate manual, the Reiki Ryoho no Shiori (Guide to Reiki Ryoho), associated with Koyama and Toyoichi Wanami. The Shiori covers the society's history and administration, the precepts, and techniques such as byōsen and nentatsu hō. The Hikkei and the Shiori are related but distinct. Confusing them is common in Western summaries.
What the Q&A says
The Q&A presents a coherent philosophy. Its central claims are:
- Usui received the method through rigorous spiritual practice, not through study or the development of psychic powers.
- Reiki is both a spiritual and a physical healing method.
- It is not hypnosis, kiai jutsu, religious healing or psychotherapy under another name.
- Belief is not required for treatment to work; children and unconscious people can receive it.
- The method can address what the text calls all disorders, as well as habits and psychological patterns.
- It does not use medicines or equipment; it uses the eyes, breath, hands, tapping and stroking.
- Medical knowledge is not required, because the method is spiritual rather than medical.
- Anyone with moral sense can receive initiation, and Shoden students can treat others.
- Okuden includes hatsurei ho, patting and pressing, distance treatment and methods for habits.
- Shinpiden exists beyond Okuden.
Some of these claims are historical, some are theological, and some are empirical. The manual’s universal language of healing reflects its religious and promotional context. It is not clinical evidence that a modern practitioner can treat every condition. The NCCIH overview notes that Reiki has not been clearly shown to be effective for any health-related purpose. A reader can value the Hikkei as a primary expression of the tradition's self-understanding without treating its medical claims as established fact.
The Q&A also includes a passage about a 1922 parliamentary question on unlicensed spiritual healing. It is presented as evidence that the government did not classify touch therapy as medical practice. Historians would want to check the original Diet record before relying on the detail; the English text is a translated recollection, not a citation with a page number.
The translation problem
The English Q&A most people encounter is James Deacon's translation, published on the AETW site and as a PDF. Deacon is explicit about his source and his limits. He describes the Hikkei as a 68-page manual "said to be given to Level 1 (Shoden) students," compiled in the 1970s by Koyama, and he presents his work as a translation of the Q&A section. His copyright notice permits sharing the complete document but not altering it.
That is a secondary translation of a secondary compilation. Three layers separate the English reader from any original:
- The oral teaching of Usui and his students.
- The Gakkai's later compilation of that material into a manual.
- The translator's rendering into English.
Each layer involves interpretation. Deacon's translation is careful and annotated, but it is not a critical edition with the Japanese text facing the English. The Japanese original is not available in a public scholarly edition with manuscript variants. Anyone who quotes the English Q&A as "what Usui said" is collapsing those layers.
The AETW Hikkei page is the best available starting point for the English text. It should be read alongside the Gakkai history and the ICRT history, which give context for the manual's place in the tradition.
Hikkei and the Western manuals
Western Reiki manuals often include a section on "the Hikkei" or quote lines from it. Some present it as Usui's own manual; others describe it as a Gakkai compilation. The difference matters for how much authority a quote carries.
A useful rule of thumb:
- If a text says "the Hikkei says," ask which section and which translation.
- If a text says "Usui wrote," ask for the Japanese source and the manuscript.
- If a text presents the Q&A as a verbatim transcript, treat that as an interpretation rather than a documented fact.
The Hikkei is valuable because it preserves a Japanese framing of Reiki that the Western lineage largely lost: the emphasis on kokoro (heart-spirit), the Meiji precepts, the integration of spiritual and physical healing, and the description of Okuden as a set of practices rather than just symbols. It is not valuable as a magic proof text.
What the Hikkei adds to Reiki history
The manual helps explain several things that are otherwise puzzling.
Why Reiki is both spiritual and therapeutic. The Q&A does not separate the two. Healing the body and correcting the mind are part of one project. That framing is closer to Japanese practice than the modern Western split between "energy healing" and "spiritual development."
Why belief is not required. The text explicitly says the method is not suggestion or psychotherapy and that it works regardless of faith. That is a theological claim about the nature of Reiki, not a clinical trial result, but it explains why Reiki teachers often present the practice as accessible to everyone.
Why Okuden is more than symbols. The Q&A describes Okuden as including hatsurei ho, patting and pressing, distance treatment and habit work. In many Western classes, Okuden is reduced to three symbols and a distance technique. The Hikkei preserves a broader curriculum.
Why Shinpiden is a grade, not a brand. The text simply says there is a Shinpiden level beyond Okuden. It does not describe a commercial master class or a grandmaster title. Those are later Western developments.
How to read it well
Read the Hikkei as a window into the Gakkai's world, not as a transcript of Usui's voice. Ask:
- What is the genre of this text? It is a devotional and instructional manual, not a biography or a clinical report.
- Who compiled it, and when? Koyama's generation, in the 1970s.
- What is the translator's method? Deacon's renderings are readable and annotated, but they are not a critical edition.
- What claims are historical, and what claims are theological? The founding story is a tradition claim; the medical claims are promotional and not clinically established.
- What is missing? The full manual, including the Ryōhō Shishin and the gyosei, is not available in a complete English edition.
Those questions do not spoil the text. They make it more interesting, because they show a living tradition negotiating its own memory.
Frequently asked questions
Did Mikao Usui write the Hikkei?
The English Q&A is not evidence that Usui authored the manual. It is commonly attributed, on Deacon's account ("we are told"), to a Gakkai compilation under Kimiko Koyama in the 1970s. Its Q&A is written in Usui's voice, but that is a literary convention, and neither the compiler nor the date is independently authenticated.
What does "Hikkei" mean?
It is usually translated as "treatment companion" or "manual." The full title, Usui Reiki Ryoho Hikkei, means the Usui Reiki healing method companion.
Is the English PDF the whole Hikkei?
No. James Deacon's PDF translates the Q&A section. The full manual also includes an introduction, the Ryōhō Shishin healing guide and Meiji poetry.
Can I trust the medical claims in the Hikkei?
They are the tradition's claims, not established medical facts. The manual’s universal language belongs to its historical setting; it does not establish a clinical scope for a modern Reiki practitioner. Read it as part of the tradition's self-description.
Is the Hikkei the same as the Reiki Ryoho no Shiori?
No. The Shiori is a separate Gakkai manual covering history, administration, precepts and techniques. The two are often confused in Western summaries.
Where can I read it?
James Deacon's translation of the Q&A is available at aetw.org. No complete scholarly English edition of the whole manual is currently available.
Related topic: History and traditions, Reiki in the West, Types of Reiki, Founder, origins and traditions, Reiki's development in Japan.