Section 4 - The History of Reiki In Reiki the history of the system and how it developed has developed into an "important" part of the system. Some hold to their version of "the history" as rigidly as some hold to the dogma or tenets of their religion. Up until very recently (around 1998) the only information that was known were the teaching stories that Mrs. Takata taught about Mikao Usui's founding the reiki system. Since 1998, a number of western reiki masters, namely Frank Petter, Dave King, Hiroshi Doi, Andrew Bowling, and Rick Rivard have made contacts in Japan and learned of reiki that continued on in Japan apart from the western traditions. The history that they learned from the Japanese was more thorough and contained more factual information. The most common reiki story in the western world comes from Hawayo Takata's teachings. This story is told in most all styles of reiki and by the Reiki Alliance. It should be understood that this story was Takata Sensei's teaching story. Mrs. Takata was a Japanese American woman. She was attempting to convey Japanese cultural ideas, practices and beliefs to Americans with a Christian cultural mindset and background. In addition, this followed a historical period where Japan had been at war with the United States. The traditional story, as told by Mrs. Takata, is that Dr. Usui was teaching in a Christian university called Doshisha University in Kyoto in the mid 1800's. His students began to ask him if he believed that Jesus' could heal as in the bible. When he replied that he did, they asked him to perform such healing so they might believe as well. Dr. Usui did not know how to heal. He began to question church leaders, who also did not know how this was accomplished. So he set out on a quest to learn of these methods. As the story goes, he traveled through Japan, China, studied at the University of Chicago Divinity School and eventually came back to Japan. According to the story, Usui had failed to find this great healing and so Dr. Usui climbed Mt. Kurama for a 21 day meditation and fasting ritual. At the end of the 21 days when Usui was about to leave, he saw a great light approaching him from the distance. He was fearful, but he stayed. The light struck him in the forehead (third eye) . This knocked him unconscious, but upon awakening, he saw millions of small glowing bubbles and the Reiki symbols were shown individually to him. The meaning and application of each Reiki symbol was then apparent to him. Dr. Usui was then supposed to have healed his toe on the way down the mountain, as well as a girl, and then eaten a full meal after a 21 day fast. He began healing beggars in the slums of Kyoto. He found that those that he had healed would return again for treatment of the same illnesses. Usui found that many of these people held their illnesses and disease because they served them as useful. These people preferred to live with their illness because they were cared for by others, and various other reasons. It was then that Usui felt that treatment must include not only the physical, but also the emotional and spiritual. Usui also decided not to do Reiki for free after this, and that some form of energy exchange must occur. It is taught that this system was passed on down to his chosen successor, Mr. Chujiro Hayashi who became the next "Grand Master" of reiki. It is also taught that this mantle of "Grand Mastership" was passed to Mrs. Takata, which was passed onto her grand daughter Mrs. Phyllis Furumoto. It should be noted that Takata Sensei did not ever refer to herself as "Grand Master", this was something that some of Takata Sensei's students did and was perpetuated into a belief and dogma in the early practices of the Reiki Alliance circa 1982-1983. Research and information began trickling out of Japan in the mid to late 1990's. Dave King, founder of Traditional Japanese Reiki (TJR) met and trained with surviving masters of the Hayashi lineage and received copies of his manual as well as other materials. Frank Petter, began teaching a western version of Reiki in Japan and began to learn of other lines that existed there and began to investigate the history. Hiroshi Doi, was a master under Barbara Weber Ray in the west (i.e., Radiance Technique School) and began to correspond with several masters in the west. Petter began writing books on the subject, and both Petter and Doi Sensei have come to the United States and given seminars on techniques that are in the Japanese Schools. These sources have revealed new information regarding Dr. Usui and the discovery of Reiki. Mikao Usui was born August 15th, 1865 in the Yamagata district of Gifu prefecture in a village called Yago. Usui studied Buddhism at the school and temple on Mt. Kurama as a child. It is also thought that he may have studied a Japanese form of Chi Kung and other oriental healing systems. Most stories of the History describe Usui as scholarly, and that he was a bright and hard working student. Usui was a successful businessman. Somewhere around 1914 he went to meditate at Mt. Kurama, and underwent a 21 day period of meditation and fasting. During this 21 day meditation the Reiki Energy entered his crown chakra. He discovered that he had received a great gift of healing. He knew that unlike his Chi Kung exercises which could deplete his own personal energy, this Reiki Energy would heal without draining him. He then spent seven years in the Kyoto. He opened a school in Tokyo, where he trained students in his Usui Shiki Reiki Ryoho. It is thought that he trained about 2000 students to the practitioner levels and sixteen to teacher level. He died on March 9, 1926. Usui himself founded a Reiki Society. Mikao Usui was the first President of the organization which he called Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai. Usui died in 1926. There have been six presidents of the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai since Usui's death. None of them were Dr. Hayashi. None of them called themselves "Grand master" or lineage bearer. Usui was succeeded in order by Mr. Ushida, Mr. Takatome. Mr. Wantanabe, Mr. Wanami, Mrs.Koyama, and the current President Mr. Kondo. Additional information was revealed regarding Chujiro Hayashi. Dr. Chujiro Hayashi was made a Reiki Master in 1925 and was a student of Usui. Dr. Hayashi was a retired officer from the Japanese Navy. He opened a Reiki clinic which was more along the lines of a medical model. Dr. Hayashi made some modifications in the system and most likely developed the 12 standard hand positions from in use in the west today. These hand positions allowed Reiki to be given by several practitioners at once. This group healing technique was used in his clinic and it was believed this maximized the flow of Reiki to the patient, and sped up the treatment time. In Hayashi's clinic, Students would work in his clinic treating the sick for a period of time in exchange for learning Reiki I. Those who were talented and dedicated healers were taught Reiki II, in exchange for a longer period of service and training. The most dedicated were taught Reiki III. One of Hayashi's Masters was a Japanese American woman, living abroad in Hawaii, Mrs. Hawayo Takata. Hayashi was a respected master, who was the one who continued working and running in Usui's clinic following Usui Sensei's passing. It is reported that Mr. Hayashi left the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai due to a disagreement. Mrs. Hawayo Takata was born in 1900 on the island of Kauai in Hawaii. Her parents were Japanese immigrants. She married and had two daughters. Her husband died in 1930. Approximately 5 years later, she developed severe abdominal pains, lung problems and subsequent nervous conditions. She returned to Japan to visit family, and to receive medical treatment. According to Mrs. Takata, she was found to have a tumor and an appendicitis. While on the operating table, she reported that she heard a voice tell her that the operation was not necessary. She asked the doctor if there was another way her problems could be healed. The doctor told her about Dr. Hayashi's reiki clinic, and she decided to go there. She received treatments at Dr. Hayashi's clinic. Ms. Takata wanted to learn reiki and requested that Dr. Hayashi teach her. He eventually agreed to teaching her. In 1936, Mrs. Takata received her first degree in Reiki. At the end of a year of training she received her Reiki II. She went back to Hawaii and began to practice Reiki. In 1938, while Dr. Hayashi was visiting Hawaii, he initiated Takata as a Reiki Master. She was the thirteenth master initiated by Dr. Hayashi. Her certificate, notarized on February 21, 1938 gave her the status of a Reiki Master and authorized her to teach the system. Mrs. Takata initiated 22 masters. Most of these 22 masters are alive and still practicing and teaching Reiki today. At some point the Reiki system taught to Takata from Hayashi changed. Many of the meditative and spiritual practices (that are now being rediscovered as they are released from Japan) were missing. It is unclear as to why this was done. It is unknown if she was not taught them by Hayashi, or if they were dropped because Westerners could not understand them. In any case, there were not passed along to the vast majority of practitioners in the west. Perhaps this is why so many people attempted to add spiritual practices from Tibet and other places in an attempt to "fill in the gaps" that they perceived were missing. Reiki in this Hayashi - Takata Tradition is most commonly known as "Usui Shiki Ryoho". After the death of Mrs. Takata, Reiki in America split into two main schools. They were the Radiance Technique (aka "Real Reiki") founded by Barbara Weber Ray, and the Reiki Alliance founded by Phyllis Lei Furumoto (Takata's grand daughter) and the remaining Masters of Mrs. Takata. Mrs. Furumoto began to claim as time went on, that she was now the "Grand master and Lineage Bearer" of Reiki, and recently that she held the "spiritual lineage". The Alliance and its members acknowledge Phyllis Furumoto as the current "Grand master" and "lineage bearer" of Reiki. While Mrs. Furumoto is certainly the current head of the Reiki Alliance, and of the lineage of Usui-Hayashi-Takata, which brought Reiki into the United States and much of the world, there clearly exists no Grand master designation that Usui passed onto anyone. Reiki has evolved substantially since the time of Takata's death in the western world. Reiki has spread throughout the United States and Europe, and India. Many masters have added or taken away some techniques and modified the teachings. Some have added Tibetan Techniques, Chi Kung, Wicca, New Symbols and whole new styles have been created. There are now styles such as Raku Kei Reiki, Vajra Reiki, Essene Reiki, Karuna Reiki Ô, Seichim Reiki, Tera MaiÔ Reiki, as well as several non-traditional Usui Variants. The vast majority of practitioners are Independent Reiki Masters. So there you now have the history of reiki. Try to remember, as you read this, that none of it matters one iota. The reiki history, was Usui's journey and realization, of *what is*. His journey is our journey. He experienced Satori, and from his experience of *what is*, set out this system as a pointer to the truth. The history is now.