Reiki History

Majority of those new to Reiki do not seem to be much interested in reading the history. To practice Reiki, it is though not necessary to know the history, yet, knowing is better than not knowing it.

Dr. Mikao Usui, the Founder

The history of Reiki begins with Dr. Mikao Usui who re-discovered it in Japan in the early 1900s. Dr. Mikao Usui (or Usui Sensei as he is called by his students in Japan) was born on August 15, 1865 in a village called Yago of Yamagata district of Japan. As a sensitive spiritualist, Usui Sensei had spent much time meditating on Mount Kurama. One day somewhere around 1914, Dr. Usui decided to travel to this holy mountain to fast and meditate in solitude for 21 days. At the end of this period, he was enlightened and suddenly felt the great Reiki energy at the top of his head. That is how he received this great gift of Reiki.

He first used Reiki on himself and then tried it on his family. Since it worked very well for various ailments, he decided to share it with the public at large and spread his knowledge. He taught Reiki to over 2000 persons and also trained sixteen Masters. On March 9, 1926, while teaching in Fukuyama, he suffered a stroke and died. His grave is at Saihoji Temple, in Suginami, Tokyo, although some believe that his ashes are located elsewhere. After Usui Sensei died, his students erected a memorial next to his gravestone. According to one version, Dr. Usui is now buried in the Kyoto temple, with the story of his life written on the gravestone. It is said that the Emperor of Japan honored his grave in recongnition of his services in healing.

Dr. Chujiro Hayashi

Dr. Hayashi was one of the sixteen teachers training by Usui Sensei. He was a retired naval officer and a medical doctor, still on reserve status. Dr. Hayashi received his Reiki Master’s training in 1925 and became Dr. Mikao Usui’s successor, the second Reiki Grand Master in the line of tradition. He ran a Reiki clinic in Tokyo until 1940, where unusually severe cases could be treated with Reiki being applied “round the clock”. A patient would frequently receive Reiki from several practitioners at a time. It was to his clinic that Mrs. Hawayo Takata was directed in 1935. It is said that Dr. Chujiro Hayashi was the last Reiki Master trained by Dr. Usui.

In the year 1938, Dr. Hayashi visited Hawaii where he initiated Mrs. Hawayo Takata to Reiki Teacher’s degree and announced that she was one of the thirteen Reiki Masters trained by him. Later Mrs. Hawayo Takata became Dr. Hayashi’s successor and spread Reiki in the West. The effects of the Second World War and the death of Dr. Hayashi on May 10, 1941, put an end to his work. According to another version, correct year of death of Dr. Chujiro is 1940.

Mrs. Hawayo Takata

Mrs. Hawayo Takata was born on December 24, 1900, on the island of Kauai, Hawaii. She got married with Saichi Takata but became a widow at the age of 34 with two small children and returned to Japan. At that time she was suffering from a number of severe illnesses, which were diagnosed as tumor, gallstone, appendicitis and asthma. She was advised to go to Dr. Hayashi’s Reiki Clinic, which she did and began receiving treatments. Mrs. Takata improved progressively and in few months, she won back her health completely. Now she wanted to learn Reiki for herself. In the spring of 1936, she received First Degree Reiki from Dr. Hayashi and then worked with him for a year and received Second Degree Reiki. She returned to Hawaii in 1937, followed shortly thereafter by Dr. Hayashi who went to help establish Reiki there. In February 1938, Dr. Hayashi initiated Hawayo Takata as a Reiki Master. He officially announced and acknowledged this in Hawaii on February 21, 1938 and also stated that she was one of the thirteen Reiki Masters trained by him.

Mrs. Hawayo Takata practiced Reiki in Hawaii, establishing several clinics, one of which was located in Hilo on the big Island. She gave treatments and initiated students up to Reiki II. She became a well-known healer and traveled to the U.S. mainland and other parts of the world teaching Reiki and giving attunements. She was a powerful healer, and attributed her success to the fact she did so much Reiki on each client. It is said that at the age of 80 years she never looked more than 60 years. She would often do multiple treatments, each sometime lasting hours, and she often initiated members of the client’s family so they could give Reiki to the client as well.

Mrs. Takata began initiating Reiki Masters in 1970 and trained 22 Reiki Masters in her life time. On December 11, 1980, Hawayo Takata passed away. The twenty-two Masters in turn taught Reiki to others, and thus Reiki, the wonderful healing system finally reached us. The credit of spreading Reiki to the world goes to Reiki Grand Master/Teacher Mrs. Hawayo Takata. Had she not done it, today none of us would have had Reiki. She must be honored and respected.

New Research

The history of Reiki given in the older books and still being taught by many Reiki teachers is what Mrs. Hawayo Takata had narrated. She had been attuned to Teacher's level in 1938 by Dr. Chujiro Hayashai and succeeded him. At that time she was the only known Reiki Master in USA. So what she said was taken as such but in early nintees, some keen researchers including Frank Arjava Peter, Dave King, Hiroshi Doi, Andrew Bowling, Taggart King, William Lee Rand and Rick Rivard traveled to Japan and contacted many of Dr. Usui’s relatives, students and others to know more about Usui Sensei and his healing system. They found that many things were actually very different to what Mrs. Takata had mentioned. Nevertheless, the credit of rediscovering Reiki stays with Dr. Mikao Usui and spreading it in the West with Mrs. Hawayo Takata.

Reiki Since Mrs. Takata

Mrs. Takata began initiating Reiki Masters in 1970. She charged a fee of $10,000 for Mastership even though the training took only one weekend. She said that one should never do treatments or provide training for free, but should always charge a fee or get something in return. She also said that one must study with just one Reiki teacher and stay with that teacher for the rest of one’s life. In addition, she did not allow her students to take notes or to tape record the classes, as they were not allowed to make any written copies of the Reiki symbols. Everything had to be memorized. It is not certain why she said that or why she taught Reiki that way.

Mrs. Takata trained 22 Masters in her lifetime. It was estimated by someone in the year 2002 that there were more than 200,000 Reiki Masters in the world with well over 1,000,000 practitioners. This number continues to grow with every passing day.