(Note: There has been considerable debate in the Reiki community for many years regarding the factual history of Reiki and it’s founder, Mikao Usui. While a teaching of the history of Reiki is considered a critical part of traditional Reiki instruction, I personally prefer to emphasize the proper practice and exploration of Usui’s method rather than getting preoccupied with the precise dates and locales associated with Reiki’s past. What follows is, according to the most up-to-date information available, the Reiki story as accepted by most Reiki practitioners. This is not to say that there aren’t other versions of the story, or that there isn't the possibility of this account being in error in some way. But it reflects, I think, the important events leading up to our use and understanding of Reiki today.)
(Portions of the material in this chapter are used courtesy of The International Center for Reiki Trai
ning, William Lee Rand, and Essential Reiki, by Diane Stein – Crossing Press, 1995)
Reiki originated in Japan, although there are many theories as to precisely when, where, and who started it. Generally, it is believed to have come from a form of Tantric Buddhism originally practiced in Japan in the 9th century. Some scholars believe that Reiki’s real roots reach back further, to very ancient Tibetan, Auyervedic or Chinese techniques, possibly preceding even the common use of herbs and medicinals in healing.
Reiki’s modern history begins with a Japanese Buddhist scholar named Mikao Usui.
Dr. Mikao Usui, or Usui Sensei as he is called by his students in Japan, is the founder of the Usui System of Reiki. He was born August 15th, 1865 in the village of Yago in the Yamagata district of Gifu prefecture, Japan. It is thought that he entered a Tendai Buddhist school near Mt. Kurama ("horse saddle mountain") at age four. He also studied kiko, the Japanese version of qigong, which is a health and healing discipline based on the development and use of life energy. The young Usui found that these healing methods required the practitioner to build up and then deplete his own life energy when giving treatments. He wondered if it were possible to do healing work without depleting one’s own energy. He went on to study in Japan, China and Europe and ended up spontaneously receiving Reiki during a meditation practice on Mt. Kurama.
Usui Sensei had an avid interest in learning and worked hard at his studies. He traveled to Europe and China to further his education. His curriculum included medicine, psychology, and religion as well as fortune telling, which Asians have long considered to be a worthy skill. It is thought that he was from a wealthy family, as in Japan only the wealthy could afford to send their children to school. Eventually he became the secretary to Pei Gotoushin, head of the department of health and welfare who later became the Mayor of Tokyo. The connections Usui Sensei made at this job helped him to become a successful businessman. Usui Sensei was also a member of the Rei Jyutu Ka, a metaphysical group dedicated to developing psychic abilities.
In 1914 Usui’s personal and business life was failing. As a sensitive spiritualist, Usui Sensei had spent much time meditating at power spots on Mt. Kurama where he had received his early Buddhist training. So he decided to travel to this holy mountain, where he enrolled in Isyu Guo, a twenty-one-day training course sponsored by the Tendai Buddhist Temple located there. We do not know for certain what he was required to do during this training, but it is likely that fasting, meditation, chanting and prayers were part of the practice. In addition, we know there is a small waterfall on Mt. Kurama where even today people go to meditate. This meditation involves standing under the waterfall and allowing the waters to strike and flow over the top of the head, a practice which is said to activate the crown chakra. Japanese Reiki Masters think that Usui Sensei may have used this meditation as part of his practice. In any case, it was during the Isyu Guo training that the great Reiki energy entered his crown chakra. This greatly enhanced his healing abilities and he realized he had received a wonderful new gift - the ability to give healing to others without depleting his own energy.
Through this miraculous rediscovery of an ancient healing practice, Usui had the foundations for what we know today as Reiki. Usui named the practice 'Reiki' meaning 'universal life energy'.
Usui began using Reiki any time he could. He began by healing monks at his monastery, and eventually went on foot, through Japan, teaching and healing as he went. Through continued practice and exploration, Usui gradually refined his methods and became well-known as a healer.
During his mission, he met a retired Japanese naval officer, Chujiro Hayashi. Hayashi was impressed with the power of Reiki and eventually received his master's training from Usui in 1925.
Mikao Usui died in 1930.
Hayashi acted as Usui's successor and trained teams of Reiki healers. Soon thereafter, Hayashi opened a Reiki clinic in Tokyo.
It was to Hayashi's clinic that a woman named Hawayo Takata, the widow of a sugarcane farmer from Hawaii, went for healing in 1935.
Takata had been in bad health for years; respiratory problems, gall bladder disease, etc. She was told by doctors that she desperately needed surgery but that she might not survive it. The night before the operation, she heard a voice telling her, "The operation is not necessary." She heard the same voice with the same message again the next morning, just before the anesthetic was administered. At this point, she literally got off the table and asked the doctor if there was any other way she might receive treatment. The doctor suggested Hayashi's Tokyo Reiki clinic.
Takata stayed at the clinic for 4 months and was completely healed. In 1936 Takata received her Reiki I training from Hayashi and worked with the teams of healers at the clinic. In 1937 she received Reiki II.
After two years, Takata returned to her native Hawaii where she continued to use and teach Reiki.
In 1938, Hayashi and Takata did a Reiki lecture tour together. During this time, Hayashi attuned her as a master and announced her as his successor as Reiki Grand Master. Hayashi gave her specific instructions that when he summoned her back to Japan she was to go immediately.
In 1941, according to Takata, she awoke to see a vision of Hayashi standing at the end of her bed. She knew this was the summons, and left for Japan right away. When she arrived she found Hayashi and all the Japanese Reiki Masters present. Hayashi announced that a great war was to be fought and that Reiki and all who practiced it were in danger. Furthermore, Hayashi revealed that he had been called back to active duty. Rather than take part in the killing of others Hayashi chose death. It is reported that on May 10th, 1941, in the presence of his students, he psychically stopped the beating of his own heart and died. Other reports maintain that Hayashi bid farewell to his students and family and lived the rest of his life in hiding.
As World War II began, the Reiki clinic could no longer remain in operation. Hayashi's widow was forced to close it.
Takata kept Reiki alive in Hawaii. Eventually, she went to the U.S. mainland, Canada, and Europe, spending the rest of her life training hundreds of people in the Usui Reiki system. Takata died December 11th, 1980. But she had spread Reiki through enough of the world to keep it alive after her death.
Since Takata's death, Reiki has undergone many changes and has seen several off-shoots develop. These include Seisheim, Radiance, and Reiki Plus systems. But the Usui system remains the most traditional and pure in terms of holding to the original teachings of Usui, Hayashi, and Takata.
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