Reiki History - Dr. Mikao Usui
The history of Reiki begins with Dr. Mikao Usui who re-discovered it in Japan in the early 1900s after years of concerted effort. 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. It is thought that he entered a Tendai Buddhist school on or near Mount Kurama at the age of four years. He was a talented and hard working student. 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 treatment. He wondered if it were possible to do healing work without depleting one’s own energy.
As he grew up, he traveled to various countries for further education. Was very fond of reading. His curriculum included medicine, psychology, and religion as well as fortune telling. He was a man of great spirits and eventually became a spiritual teacher. Dr. Usui was a very warm, simple and humble person. He was physically healthy and well proportioned, never showed off and always had a smile on his face. He was very courageous in the face of adversity but at the same time, he was also a very cautious man.
Dr. Mikao Usui was not a medical doctor but was called a doctor out of respect. According to the history given by Mrs. Hawayo Takata, Dr. Usui had been the President of a Christian School in Japan had taught in the University of Chicago and held an appointment in Doshisha University in Kyoto. During the past few years (1998 onwards), research has been carried out by various Reiki Masters, which shows that what Mrs. Takata said about different appointments of Dr. Usui was not true.
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. This 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 used his new healing ability to help others, and for the next seven years he worked with the poor people of Kyoto. In April 1922, he moved to Tokyo and started a healing society, which he named Usui Shiki Reiki Rhoyo, which means “The Usui System of Reiki Healing.” He also opened a Reiki clinic in Harajuku, Aoyama, Tokyo. There he not only gave treatment to countless people, but he also taught classes. His clinic soon became too small to handle the number of patients, especially after the earthquake of 1923 in Tokyo. So in February 1925, he built a new one outside Tokyo in Nakano.
After he built his new clinic in Nakano, Tokyo in 1925, his reputation as a healer spread all over Japan. He began to travel so he could teach and treat more people. During his travels across Japan, he directly taught more than 2,000 students and initiated 16 teachers. The Japanese government issued him a Kun San To award for doing honorable work to help others.
He initially created three degrees for his training, which he called Shoden (First Degree or The Entrance), Okuden (Inner Teaching or Deep Inside) and Shinpiden (Mystery Teaching). Several sources indicate that at first Usui Sensei had no formal attunement process. The student received the ability to do Reiki simply by spending time with Usui Sensei, with the student intending to gain the ability and Usui Sensei intending that the student receive it. It was only after the Reiki movement grew, making it impractical for him to teach in such a personal way, that a formal attunement process similar to what we use today was developed.
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.
