Traditional History of Reiki
Mrs. Takata's Version

The history, which we find in most of the books written earlier on, was narrated by Mrs. Hawayo Takata. Since at one time, she was the only known Reiki Master in America, her version of the history was accepted as she mentioned it without feeling the need of any research. Mrs. Hawayo Takata's version of Reiki history, also called Traditional History, compiled from different books is given below.

According to her, Dr. Mikao Usui was the principal of a Christian seminary in Kyoto, Japan. One day some of his older pupils asked him why they had heard nothing of the healing methods used by Jesus Christ and whether Dr. Usui would be able to carry out such a healing for them. Since he was unable to answer these questions, Dr. Usui decided to give up his position and study Christianity in a Christian country until he had found the answers.

His journey led him to America, where he attended the University of Chicago and became the doctor of Theology. However, he could not find a satisfactory answer in Christian writings and, not having found one in the Chinese scripts either, he traveled to North India, where he was able to study the Holy writings. Dr. Usui had not only command of Japanese, Chinese and English but also learnt Sanskrit during his quest.

He later returned to Japan, where he discovered the Sanskrit formulas and symbols in the old Buddhist "Sutras", which seemed to hold the answers to his questions. At that time, Dr. Usui was living in a monastery in Kyoto, and after he had spoken to the head, he set off to the Holy Mountain of Kurama, which lay 16 miles away. Here he intended to fast and meditate in solitude for 21 days in the hope of gaining contact with the level of consciousness the Sanskrit symbols had been written on, in order to determine the truth of their contents.

On his arrival at the mountain, he placed 21 stones in front of him and threw away one at the passing of each day, as a kind of calendar. During this time, he read in the Sutras, sang and meditated. Nothing unusual happened until the last day dawned. It was quite dark when he saw a shining light moving towards him with great speed. It became bigger and bigger and finally hit him in the middle of his forehead and he lost consciousness for a time. Dr. Usui thought he was going to die but then he suddenly saw millions and millions of little bubbles of all rainbow colors. A great white light appeared, and he saw the well-known Sanskrit symbols in front of him glowing and shining in gold. As he saw each of the symbols, he was given information on each of them to activate the healing energy. It was the attunement, the re-discovery of an ancient healing method.

Thus was the birth of the Usui system of Reiki.

When he returned to a normal state of consciousness, the sun was standing high in the sky. He felt full of strength and energy and began to climb down the mountain. In this rush, he stubbed his toe. He instinctively sat down and held it with his hands for a few minutes. The bleeding stopped, the pain disappeared and the toe was healed. This was the first miracle.

Since he was hungry, he stopped at an inn, at the wayside and ordered a large Japanese breakfast. The innkeeper warned not to eat such a large meal after fasting so long, but Dr. Usui was able to eat it all without the least of consequences. This was the second miracle.

The granddaughter of the innkeeper had a bad toothache with a swollen jaw, from which she had been suffering for several days. Dr. Usui laid his hands on her swollen face and she immediately felt better. She ran to her grandfather and told him that their guest was no ordinary monk. This healing was the third miracle of the day.

When he returned to his monastery, he was told that the director was in bed with the arthritic pain. He healed the monk and this was the fourth miracle.

Dr. Usui decided to go to the Beggar City in the slums of Kyoto, to treat the beggars and help them lead a better life. He spent seven years in the asylum, treating many illnesses. One day, however, he noticed that same old faces kept returning. When he asked that why they had not begun a new life, he was told that working was very troublesome and that it was better to go on begging. Dr. Usui was deeply shaken and wept. He realized that physical healing alone was not enough and that mind and spirit must also be healed.

Soon afterwards he left the asylum and returned to Kyoto, became a pilgrim, taking Reiki on foot through Japan. He carried a torch and stood in the streets. When asked the reason why by passers-by, he said that he was looking for the people in search of True Light, people who were ill and oppressed and who were longing to be healed. This was the beginning of a new part of his life, which he spent traveling around and teaching Reiki. This way, he came across Dr. Chujiro Hayashi. Dr. Hayashi received his Reiki Master’s training in 1925 and became Dr. Mikao Usui’s successor.

Mrs. Takata lived and healed in Hawaii for several years and then began to train Reiki Masters herself in 1970. On December 11, 1980, she passed away leaving 22 Reiki Masters in USA and Canada. In turn, these Masters trained others and this is how it traveled to different parts of the world and is now effectively used as a healing method, called Traditional Usui System. Later modifications were made in the system by different persons and were put to use, but Dr. Mikao Usui's system remains the basic system.