The History Of Reiki

     

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The teachings of Reiki Ryoho (Spiritual Healing) began with Mikao Usui becoming enlightened on the holy mountain of Kurama in the spring of 1922. Usui-Sensei was a spiritual man, constantly working to understand the meaning of one’s life and how to achieve contentment. He had many students who followed his teachings before his breakthrough 21 days of fasting and meditation on top of the mountain. His students referred to Usui’s system of spiritual teachings as ‘Usui Do’ (Usui hand-application) and the man himself named his system a ‘Method to Achieve Personal Perfection’. Usui taught his system as a method of self-discovery and development as well as a method for healing.

He healed many people throughout Japan and taught a handful of people his teachings, including three naval officers, one of who was named Dr. Chujiro Hayashi who is credited with bringing the Reiki teachings to the West together with another student of Reiki, Mrs. Hawayo Takata. Mrs. Takata was Hawaiian and traveled to Japan to learn spiritual teachings under the tutelage of Dr. Hayashi. After Usui’s death in 1926, Hayashi continued with the teachings of Usui and renamed his teaching center ‘Hayashi Reiki Kenyu-kai, (Hayashi Reiki Research Centre). He added hand positions for healing that are well integrated into the now traditional Western Reiki Ryoho. Mrs. Takata brought these teachings back to Hawaii in 1937.

Mrs. Takata is said to be the last of Hayashi’s Reiki Master students before Hayashi took his own life in 1940. The history of Western Reiki teachings can all be traced back to Mrs. Takata. There is some controversy regarding Mrs. Takata’s storytelling on the part of communicating the history of Reiki to her students. At the time of her initial teachings of this Japanese healing technique, after World War II, the anti-Japanese sentiment in the West was high. She modified the history of Reiki to suit the times, transforming Usui’s history to be palatable to her Western students. This is where the false information of Mikao Usui’s being a Christian Monk began. She concocted a story about Usui’s worldwide quest for spiritual enlightenment and magical healing techniques based on his desire to understand how Jesus healed and performed miracles. Today, there still exists a great deal of incorrect reference in many Reiki resources to Dr. Mikao Usui, Christian Doctor, who studied theology.

In any case, Mrs. Takata had many students and called herself a ‘Grand Master’. This type of delineation or hierarchy is incongruent with the original teachings of Usui, who was not concerned with any type of dogma or guru-worship with Reiki. Between 1970 and 1980, when Mrs. Takata died, she taught 22 ‘Reiki Masters’ the teachings of Dr. Hayashi, who in turn was teaching his modified Usui Reiki Ryoho. From these ‘Masters’ the Western World has been indoctrinated with Reiki and it is now a spiritual practice and healing method studied by millions of people. In the 1990’s many Westeren Reiki teachers wanted to travel to Japan to uncover the ‘original’ Japanese Reiki techniques and clarify the beginnings of Reiki.

This information continues to be cloudy, as the living Japanese descendents of the ‘original’ Reiki techniques, in true Japanese fashion, did not want to offend their guests by offering conflicting information about Reiki’s history. Much of what is practiced and taught in Japan today actually comes from the more Western Style of Reiki Ryoho.

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