Reiki is pronounced correctly in Japanese. It is not pronounced “Ray-Key” as we do in the West. “Lay Key” is the correct spelling. That is correct. When the romaji characters that make up the English alphabet were assigned to Japanese nouns, a mistake resulted in the “Ray-Key” pronunciation. To represent the “L” sound in Japanese, an “R” was wrongly assigned. This oversight was never rectified. As a result, the Japanese word that should be pronounced: “Lay Key” is nevertheless spelled Reiki. As a result, it is pronounced “Ray-Key” in the West.