History of Reiki

Dr. Usui has been credited as the founder of Reiki, however Reiki has been around for centuries. Dr. Usui Re-discovered Reiki in the early 1800’s. Usui was experiences many diﬃculties in his life both personal and professional. He became very ill with Cholera during an epidemic in Tokyo. This led him to enrolled in a 21 day training course at the Buddhist temple of Tendai school located near Mt. Kurama that focused daily on fasting, mediation, chanting and prayer. As a part of his spiritual journey or awakening Usui went up Mt. Kurama where he collected 21 stones and began his mediation and studies discarding one stone with each passing day. As legend would have it, there is a near by waterfall where people would stand under to mediate. This practice is believed to open one’s Crown Chakra. It was during this meditation that Reiki Energy entered Usui’s Crown Chakra and he became aware of his ability to use this Life Force Energy to heal himself and others with immediate results. Included in his discovery of the hand positions and the symbols he would later use.

At the end of his 21 day retreat Usui had set an Intention to be open to seeing clearly the messages he had been receiving. A bright light ﬂashed above him beaming through his forehead. Usui saw the the ancient symbols he had been studying. As Usui made his decent down the mountain, he injured his foot and instinctively placed his hands on his foot observing that the pain lessened and the bleeding stopped. As he reached as small town where he had stop for his ﬁrst meal in 21 days he was able to help a girl who had feed him, reliving her pain.

When he returned to the monastery he was able to heal one of his teachers with his arthritis pain. Usui then decided to spend his time performing Reiki on beggars with the hopes of them becoming productive members of society, but to no avail. So he retreated back into meditation where he was reminded that healing the body, mind and spirit as a whole was essential. It was during this time of mediation that Usui received The Five Principals of Reiki.

Wanting to share his gift with others in 1922 he established a center where Reiki was taught and given away to the public. He called his system of healing Shin-Shin Kai-Zen Usui Reiki Ryo-Ho (The Usui Reiki Treatment Method of Improvement of Body & Mind) later calling it Usui Reiki Ryoho or ( Usui Reiki Healing Method). In 1923 an earthquake hit Tokyo and the cities were ﬂooded with injured and sick people. Usui began performing Reiki on as many people he could. He began training other people in his methods to meet the demands. It was during his training of others that began developing his methods of a more formal Attunement process. The ﬁrst degree called Shoden, was divided up into four levels. Later Madam Takata would combine all four levels into one, for the 1st Attunement. He continued to develop the other levels of Attunement, with the next level called Okuden ( Inner teaching) which had two levels. The next degree was called Shinpiden or ( Mastery Teaching) now called Master Level. During this time Usui only used three symbols, the Master symbol was not used at this time. Usui had so much success that people lined up to receive Reiki energy. The center he had opened could no longer accommodate the large number of people, so he open another center. Dr. Usui taught over 2000 students and initiated 20 teachers of Reiki.

Chujiro Hayashi was a physician who Usui asked to open his own Reiki clinic to expand and developed Reiki Ryoho. Hayashi kept details records of all illnesses treated. He made notes of which Reiki hand positions worked best to treat various conditions and wrote the Reiki Ryoho Shinshin ( Guidelines for Reiki Healing Method), later to be used to teach students. Hayashi developed a new teaching method that taught both Shoden and Okuden (Reiki I and II). He later travel to Hawaii in 1937 where he was asked to become an informant for the Japanese military which he refused. Having been consider a disgrace to his family Hayashi died on May 11, 1940 in a ritual suicide.

In October 1930 Madem Takata had been hospitalized and diagnosed with a tumor, gallstones, appendicitis and asthma. She was told to prepare for surgery. Instead she chose to visit Hayashi’s clinic. She found that the clinics diagnosis was very close to what doctors had told her. She began receiving Reiki treatments. She wanted to learn Reiki to treat herself and share it with others. Hayashi began training her. She worked at his clinic and within one year received the Shinpiden level (Reiki Master). Madam Takata was one of thirteen Reiki Master trained by Hayashi.

In the 70’s Madam Takata began initiating Reiki Masters for a fee of $10,000 for a weekend training. This went against the Usui belief that Reiki should be oﬀered for free to anyone who needed it, even that is should be taught for free. Usui believe that Reiki energy was just that energy which when tapped into properly can heal a person on all levels. It shouldn’t be kept secret or only for those who only had the means to pay for it. Perhaps Madam Takata charged for her treatments was a way of creating a feeling of respect for Reiki. She believed that treatments and training should never be given away for free. Madam Takata did not provide any written instructions or allow students to take notes. Students were not allowed to copy the Reiki symbols, Reiki was an oral tradition that had to be memorized. She simpliﬁed the hand positions calling it the ‘foundation treatment’, which was made up of eight hand positions. This of course was not the way Usui or Hayashi taught or practiced Reiki. Before her death on December 11th 1980 she had initiated 22 Reiki Masters. Today Reiki taught in the west in a combination of Japanese and American traditions. Madam Takata is credited for bringing Reiki to the west and helping it grow. Since then this ancient knowledge and healing has become more open to the public.

It was Dr. Usui who thought Reiki is free energy that everyone should be taught and be able to tap into. Giving us the ability to heal ourselves and teach others; how to use this energy as well.