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Reiki is a hands-on healing method classified as complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) that helps the body relax and heal itself, according to its practitioners. Sessions involve practitioners channeling energy to the client to assist this process. The consensus within the Reiki community is that Mikao Usui discovered the method while he was on Mount Kurama in 1922. There is ample research on the efficacy of Reiki in healthcare, but very few researchers have investigated its characteristics related to religiosity and rituals.

Thus, the purpose of this thesis is to examine Reiki as a secular sacred phenomenon and how it can be understood as such. This thesis also discusses how rituals in Reiki can be understood using other research on rituals. There is also a comparative analysis of Reiki rituals, focusing on three of them and how they differ between four Reiki Masters where three have studied with the same Reiki Master Teacher. The rituals are gassho, a meditation ritual; kenyoku-ho, a cleansing ritual; and, finally, reiji-ho, a direction ritual.

The search for academic sources has been a major obstacle to overcome. Firstly, there is very little research on Reiki as a spiritual phenomenon or Reiki as a ritualistic phenomenon; most etic studies have focused on effects or possible benefits. Sources from within the Reiki community (emic sources) tend to make statements without clear evidence. Furthermore, some etic sources use emic sources to support their statements.