Reiki Results

Reiki History

Reiki is a healing art that was discovered in the late 1800’s by a Japanese theology professor, Dr. Mikao Usui. There are many accounts of his life works and his development of the healing system known as Reiki. Every master-teacher seems to teach this history differently. Here I have collaborated all information I have gathered from my Reiki Masters, and Japanese historians, to provide, for you, the most accurate history of Reiki.

The Life of Mikao Usui     

Mikao Usui was the originator of what is today known as Reiki. He was born on August 15th, 1865 in the village of Taniai-mura in the Yamagata district of the Gifu prefecture Kyoto.Mikao Usui probably came from a wealthy family, since at that time only children from wealthy families could get as good of an education as he received. He entered the Tendai Buddhist monastery school at an early age and was also a student of different martial arts. His memorial states that he was a talented and hard-working student who liked to read. Hisknowledge of medicine, psychology, fortune-telling and religions from around the world, including Buddhism was vast. He and his wife, Sadako, had a son and daughter.Usui studied and traveled to western countries and China several times. During his life Mikao Usui practiced many different professions, working as a public servant, office worker, industrialist, reporter, politician's secretary, missionary and prison warden. He worked as a private secretary to the politician Shimpei Goto, a theology professor and university dean.

Mikao Usui became a Tendai Buddhist monk in the late 1800’s. He studied ancient texts and Buddhist manuscripts in the hopes of freeing himself and others from the world of suffering. On several occasions he meditated for a period of 21 days. On his memorial it says that one such instance took place at Mount Kurama where he found inspiration for his system of healing - Reiki. It is very likely that he incorporated ideas and knowledge about healing from other systems, both spiritual and physical, like Chinese medicine, other Eastern healing systems like Qi Gong and its Japanese equivalent, Kiko, acupuncture and others.

Mikao Usui found that the healing techniques contained within his spiritual system worked well on various ailments. He began traveling through the cities and countryside in Japan to heal the homeless and destitute. He became in high demand and so in April 1922 he opened his first school/clinic in Harajuku, Tokyo. Usui had a small manual which has been translated into English and was published by the Western Reiki Master living in Japan, Frank Arjava Petter, under the title "The Original Reiki Handbook of Dr. Mikao Usui" (link to Amazon.com). Mikao Usui must have been a highly skilled healer and teacher for his renown to have spread so quickly throughout Japan. This was a time of great change in Japan as it opened up to the West and major changes were taking place both in religion and the government. His teachings became popular among elders who saw them as a return to old ideals and spiritual practices.His school/clinic was formed not just for the spiritual teachings but it was also a way for people to obtain healing. Since people in general at this time in Japan’s history were very poor, healing sessions were very cheap or free. Reiki students seem to have worked with the teacher as a sort of payment (a small monetary fee might also have been involved). The Usui teachings included teaching people how to heal themselves (still a very central point in Reiki of today). Healing would be given to them, and then they were taught how to heal themselves.In 1923, an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale shook Tokyo and Yokohama. Over 140,000 deaths were reported. It was the greatest natural disaster in Japanese history. Mikao Usui and his students responded to the enormous demand for Reiki. His work became even more famous after the earthquake, and in 1925 Usui had become so busy that he had to open a new larger school outside Tokyo in Nakano. At this time, he trained a former captain and doctor in the imperial navy, Dr.Chujiro Hayashi.

As Usui traveled widely, his senior students would continue with his work when he was away from his school/clinic. Dr. Mikao Usui passed away on March 9th, 1926 at the age of 62. He is buried in Saihoji Temple in Suginami-Ku, Tokyo. His students created and erected a large memorial stone next to his grave describing his life and work. Much of the new information about Usui Sensei comes from the translation of this memorial.

It is reported that Usui had taught his system of healing to well over 2000 persons, and initiated 15 – 17 people, as what in the west we refer to as Reiki Masters (no such title existed in Japan at the time). In 1938, Dr. Hayashi (initiated as a master by Usui at his clinic in Nakano) initiated Mrs. Takata, from Hawaii, as a Reiki Master. She went on to initiate 22 Reiki Masters in the west, and today there are over 100,000 Reiki Masters in the world.

After coming to the west, the Usui System of Natural Healing has gradually evolved. In its current state, it is much more organized and structured than the simple, flexible, intuitive method practiced by Dr. Usui.

Reiki is taught in three levels (sometimes a fourth is added as the teaching level). Reiki Workshops (link to workshops page) vary in their teaching styles and techniques, but their objective is to empower students with their healing power to create positive Reiki results for everyone.

The life of Dr. Chujiro Hayashi     

Dr. Hayashi was a retired naval officer who received the Reiki Master initiation from Dr. Usui in 1925 at the age of 47.Up to this point, the Usui system of healing consisted of the energy itself, 3 symbols used to direct the energy, the Usui hand positions, the attunement process (reiju’s) and the Reiki principles. After being asked to do so by Usui Sensei, Dr. Hayashi went on to develop the Usui system of healing. He opened a Reiki clinic in Tokyo and kept detailed records of the treatments given. He used this information to create the Hayashi Healing Guide that included detailed hand positions for specific illnesses and conditions. He simplified the attunement process and is likely the one to have added the master symbol, thus increasing the effectiveness of the attunements.

The life of Hayawa Takata     

Hawayo Takata was born at dawn on December 24th, 1900, on the island of Kauai, Hawaii. Her parents were Japanese immigrants and her father worked in the sugar cane fields. She married the bookkeeper of the plantation where her father was employed. Her husband’s name was Saichi Takata and they had two daughters. In October of 1930, Saichi died at the age of thirty-four, leaving Mrs. Takata to raise their two children. In order to provide for her family, she had to work very hard with little rest. After five years she developed severe abdominal pain as well as a lung condition and had a nervous breakdown.Soon after this, one of her sisters died and it was Hawayo’s responsibility to travel to Japan where her parents had moved to deliver the news. She also felt she could receive help for her health in Japan. After informing her parents of her sister’s death, she went to the hospital where it was found that she had a tumor, gallstones, and emphysema. She rested for several weeks to prepare for an operation.On the operating table, just before the surgery was to begin, Hawayo heard a voice. The voice said, "The operation is not necessary. The operation is not necessary." She had never heard a voice speak to her like this before. She wondered what it meant. The voice repeated the message a third time even louder. She knew she was wide awake and had not imagined the voice. It was so unusual, yet so compelling, that she decided to ask the doctor. She got off the operating table, wrapped a sheet around herself and asked to speak to the doctor. When the doctor came, she asked if he knew of any other way that her problems could be helped. The doctor knew of Dr. Hayashi's Reiki clinic and told Hawayo about it. This was something she wanted to try.At the Reiki clinic, she began receiving treatments. She had never heard of Reiki before and did not know what it was. Using their Reiki hands, the practitioners could sense what was wrong with Mrs. Takata. Their diagnosis very closely matched that of the doctor’s at the hospital. This impressed her and gave her confidence in what they were doing.Mrs. Takata received daily treatments and got progressively better. After four months, she was completely healed. Impressed with the results, she wanted to learn Reiki. However, it was explained that Reiki was Japanese and that it was intended to stay in Japan. It could not be taught to an outsider.Mrs. Takata talked to the surgeon at the hospital and convinced him to ask Dr. Hayashi to allow her to learn Reiki. Since Dr. Hayashi wanted to teach Reiki to another woman besides his wife, and since Mrs. Takata was so persistent, he decided that she should be the one. In the spring of 1936, Mrs. Takata received a First Degree Reiki initiation. She worked with Dr. Hayashi for one year and then received a Second Degree Reiki initiation.Mrs. Takata returned to Hawaii in 1937. She was soon followed by Dr. Hayashi and his daughter, who came to help establish Reiki in Hawaii. In the winter of 1938, Dr. Hayashi initiated Hawayo Takata as a Reiki Master. She was the thirteenth and last Reiki Master Dr. Hayashi initiated.Between 1970 and her transition on December 11, 1980, Mrs. Takata initiated 22 Reiki Masters. Below is a list of the Reiki Masters she initiated. This is the list she gave to her sister before she passed through transition.

George Araki

Barbara McCullough

Beth Grey

Ursula Baylow

Paul Mitchell

Iris Ishikura

Fran Brown

Barbara Weber

Ray Ethel Lombardi

Wanja Twan

Virginia Samdahl

Phyllis Lei Furumoto

Dorothy Baba

Mary McFaden

John Gray

Rick Bockner

Bethel Phaigh

Harry Kuboi

Patricia Ewing

Shinobu Saito

Kay Yamashita (Takata's Sister)

Barbara Brown

The original 22 master-teachers have also taught others. In the years since Mrs. Takata experienced transition, Reiki has spread rapidly in the West. It is now practiced throughout North and South America, Europe, New Zealand, Australia and other parts of the world. There are now over100,000 Reiki Masters with as many as 3,000,000 people having been initiated into Reiki throughout the world.