THE JOYS - AND OTHERWISE
OF REIKI HISTORY RESEARCH ...
[May, 2015]

Reiki research can be a joy – and a pain.

Frequently in following up on possible leads – often vague and tenuous at best – endless obstacles frustrate the process.

Records which should exist, frequently do not: the documents having been - sometimes accidentally, sometimes intentionally - destroyed. 

Records which do exist, have frequently been misfiled; or may be missing vital details, or, where they have been fully completed, may have been completed inaccurately:

Often, pertinent dates have been entered incorrectly, or names have been misspelled - something especially common in situations which have called for the attempted transliteration of names from Japanese characters into the western alphabet.

And then there are the often-encountered issues of 'Reiki Politics', where records which clearly do exist are held by institutions, groups, or even individuals, who place much worth in elitism and 'power games' - sequestering the records away, denying access to them to all but a chosen few who ...

So, on the fortunate occasions where we would-be “Reiki History Hunters” actually manage to navigate a path through such obstacles, there is usually a pleasing sense of achievement, however small. 

.

Yet, it is ever important to be wary that, in grasping firmly at the apparent results of our endeavours, we are not merely 'grasping at straws'...

For example:

In researching Chujiro and Chie Hayashi, and their daughter Kiyoe:

        NOME (Name):     KIYO HAYASHI
        Pai (Father):          CHUJIRO HAYASHI
        Mãe (Mother):        NOCHI HAYASHI


So, what do you think:

        Kiyo - rather than Kiyoe?
        Nochi - rather than Chie?
       
        I suppose it could just be down to transliteration issues...

        But then again …

       :)