Where Did Reiki Come From?
The traditional history of Reiki has been passed down from one practitioner to
another over the many years since Dr. Mikao Usui brought Reiki to us.  There
are not many written records from the time of Reiki’s origins and this at times
leads to skepticism.  The best cure for this is to experience Reiki for
oneself…there is rarely a doubt as to the reality of this gift once someone has
been touched by Reiki.

However, it is right and proper for all Reiki practitioners to know the history as it
is held in the traditional form.  There are others who have related various means
by which Reiki or a similar form of healing was brought to us prior to Dr. Usui
and then lost, and while it is not my place to decide if these accounts are
accurate or not, I believe it is in the best interest of both Reiki practitioners and
of moving Reiki into the mainstream as a health care option, to relate Reiki’s
history using what can be reasonably traced through history.

A Brief Reiki History
Mikao Usui was born August 15, 1865 in Taniani, Gifu District and was
apparently a bit of a renaissance man having held many jobs and studied very
broadly.  It is thought that is studied Buddhist, Taoist and Chinese Christianity
Shinto intensively in search for the means by which one could perform spiritual
healing.  After much study Dr. Usui found ancient Sanskrit texts but the
information was so ancient that he could not learn how to use it.  

It was then that Dr. Usui decided to go to Mount Kurama and fast for 21 days.  
He made a pile of 21 stones to mark that passage of time and on the 21st day
after he was about to give up hope, he received Reiki through spiritual
realization (satori).  On the 21st day he saw a light coming at him from the sky
and at first he was afraid and started to turn away.  Then Dr. Usui decided that
he would face the light because that was what he had come there to find.  The
light entered his forehead where the third eye is and then he saw bubbles of
light and they contained the Reiki Symbols that are still used today.  There is a
monument on Mt. Kurama where Dr. Usui had his enlightenment.

During Dr. Usui’s time, there was already extensive knowledge in Eastern
Healing Traditions of the body’s energy systems and many varied forms of
healing with life energy were in use.  The Reiki information that Dr. Usui returned
from Mt. Kurama with would not have been seen as strange or different, it would
have fit in with the current Traditional Oriental Medicine teachings which trace
their origins back to Taoism and Buddhism.  

One of the legends of Dr. Usui is that he practiced Reiki healing in the slums of
Kyoto for many years. He is said to have become angry that many of the
beggars he healed returned to begging instead of getting jobs and that they
became angry with Dr. Usui for healing them because they were then expected
to work for their money.  It is said that Dr. Usui decided from these experiences
that there must be an exchange of value/money/bartering in order for the healing
to be valued. (There is no way to determine whether this is a fact or just a
legend).
The definition of “exchange of value” that has been used in the West has been
rather more narrowly defined than that used traditionally in Japanese Spiritual
and ethical systems. This narrow definition of the story has been used in part to
justify very high charges for Reiki Services and attunements by some
practitioners. I do not believe that this was the intent of Dr. Usui.  

In my understanding, the story is more likely to have been intended to illustrate
that you can neither force healing nor define what it means to others.

How Did Reiki Get to US?
Dr. Usui opened a Reiki school in Tokyo in 1922 and while many were taught
Reiki, he only made 16 Masters before his death on March 9, 1926.  One of the
people Dr Usui trained to the Master level was Dr. Chujiro Hayashi who studied
with Dr. Usui in 1925.  Dr. Hayashi made adaptations to the hand positions and
other reforms to the system.  A great deal of the formal system that is most often
taught in the West today, including the Three Degrees, are directly a result of Dr.
Hayashi’s teachings.  This is the version which has come to be known in the U.S
as Usui Reiki.

Dr. Hayashi was the director of one of at least 40 Reiki clinics that existed in
Japan prior to World War II. He is the person who attuned Mrs. Hawayo Takata.
Mrs. Hawayo Takata, a widow from Hawaii, had come to Japan to inform her
parents of the death of a relative and while in Japan she became very ill. Mrs.
Takata went to Dr. Hayashi's Clinic after hearing a voice tell her that an
operation was not necessary as she waited for surgery.

Mrs. Takata’s condition was healed at the clinic and after some initial resistance
because she was a foreigner (she was from Hawaii) Mrs. Takata was able to get
Dr. Hayashi to give her the Reiki attunements for levels one and two before she
returned to Hawaii.

Dr. Hayashi later visited Mrs. Takata in Hawaii and attuned her to the Master
Level in 1938. Mrs. Takata opened a clinic in Hilo and it is through her that most
Western Practitioners trace their lineage.  

By Mrs. Takata's death in 1980 she had reportedly attuned 22 Reiki Masters.
Since her death many different schools of Reiki variants have evolved and Reiki
is becoming more widely known and used throughout the world.

What Was Dr. Usui's History?
Dr Usui was never a Christian Minister or the President of a Christian School in
Japan. That particular version of the Reiki History was probably created by Mrs.
Takata or one of her associates in order to give Reiki more appeal to people in
the United States.  Shortly before World War II, other common versions of Dr.
Usui's life include stories of his being a Buddhist, a Shinto Mystic, a medical or
naturopathic type doctor and a government official or clerk/book keeper. Dr.
Usui’s memorial stone is at a temple in Tokyo and has an inscription about his
skill as a healer and help during the great Tokyo Earthquake. The details of the
history of Reiki seem destined to remain somewhat uncertain.











Dr. Mikao Usui
The Reiki Healing Circle