Reiki as a method of treatment was developed by Mikao Usui, ( 1865 - 1930 ) a buddhist monk and mystic.
He was born the 15th of August 1865 in Yago, situated in the region of Gifu in Japan. One belive he went to a Tenda buddhist school
at the age of 4, as he came from a wealthy family who could afford to educate their children.
His curriculum contained subjects as medicine, psychology and religion.
He started his career as an secretary, working for Shinpei Gotos ( later mayor of Tokyo ) minister in charge of health and wellfear.
These connections helped Usui Sensei to become a successful businessman.
Usui Sensei was also a member of Rei Jyutu Ka,a metaphysical group who tries to develope psychic capacity.
During this period, he also studied Kiko, the Japanese version of Qi Gong. Usus realized you are forced to build up your own
energy of life, in order to transfere this energy to someone else during healing sessions.
The year 1914 was a bad year for Usuis business. He used a lot of time to meditate at power spots on the Mt.Kurama, known as a holy mountain
for Tendai buddhism. Its headquarters even today, is situated on Mt.Hiei, not far from Kurama.
Kurama was not their usual place for meditation, but it is likely to believe that the spesific meditation where he got his energy kicks, rather has
something to do with his practice in Martial Arts.
He signed up for 21 days of meditation retreat, Isyu Guo, involving fast,meditation, chanting and prayer organized by the tempel of Tendai close by.
On Mt.Kurama you find a water fall where people stand next to during meditating, in order to open their top/crown chakra and receive the energy of life.
It was during Isyu Guo's supervision that Usui got his connection with the universal and healing energy of life.
Imagine that the fast, the loneliness, the physical strain on the body and focus on meditation, opened up for spiritual experiences.
After such a experience, you never be the same again and you look upon life and death in a different way. It altered his life.
The ideals of Reiki was very important for Mikao Usui, and in 1925 he initiated Chuiuju Hayashi, a former naval officer and doctor.
He was taught the symbols within Reiki and to perform seremonies for other people. Reiki, practised today with different steps of initiation, is different from how Usui practiced it.
Hayashi was a Methodist and more interested in the clinical results of Reiki than the spiritual aspect. In this way a lot of the philosophy in reiki
was never known to the West.
Chuiujo Hayashi
Hayashi was 47 years old when initiated in Reiki. He continued to develope the Usui system for healing and opened a Reiki clinic in Tokyo where he
wrote out detailed registry of all given treatments.
He used this information to create the main positions for the hand, also a three steps teaching module for Reiki together with the initiation process.
Hawayo Takata
Reiki was presented in 1938 to the West by mrs Hawayo Takata. Hawayo was born the 24th of December 1900 on the island Kauai in Hawaii by Japanese
immigrants. Her father worked the fields of a suger plantation.
She worked very hard during her childhood. Later, she married the accountant at the plantation where she worked. His name was Saichi Takata, and they had two daugthers
together. In October of 1930, Saichi dies, only 34 years old. In order to provide for her family, she had to work very hard, and had little rest. After some
years, she developed serious belly pain, bad function lungs and in the end had a nervous breakdown.
To make matters worse, her sister died. Her parents had moved home to Japan, so she had to go back to Japan to tell them the bad news.
She travveled by steamboat, accompanied by her sister-in-law.
During her stay in Japan, she became seriously ill and had to go to a hospital. The belly pain turned out to be caused by a tumour. After waiting for weeks,
she finaly was going into surgery. In the hospital she heard an inner voice telling her twice : " You don't need this surgery."
She never had a experience like this before and was unsure if she dared trusting what the voice told her.
Then the voice or her conscience talk a third time, very loud. Because this was so unusual and compelling, she asked to talk to her doctor.
When the doctor finaly arrived, she asked if there was another way to deal with her illness. The doctor was familiar with dr. Hayashis Reiki clinic and mentioned
it for mrs Takata. She went there at once and started the Reiki treatment. Two healers was working on her every day. She had never heard about Reiki before
and didn't know what to expect.
When giving her healing, they felt her problem areas. Their diagnosis be exactly similar to what the doctor in the hospital had found.
It impressed her so much that she felt completly safe and taken care of. The heat from their hands was so powerful that she believed they used some form of
instruments.
She looked around, and found nothing. Noticing their long sleeves of the kimono, she tought she had found where they hid the instruments. She examined the sleeves, but found nothing.
Dr Hayashis then told her about Reiki and how it works. Mrs Takata got treatment every day, and became better and better. In four months she was completly healed.
Impressed by the result, she wanted to learn Reiki herself. She was told Reiki was Japanese and should remain Japanese. At this time, only men was trained in the art of Reiki.
Mrs Takata talked with the surgeon in the public hospital, and persuaded him to ask Dr Hayashi to grant her permision to learn Reiki.
As Mrs Takata was so persistent, he gave in for her request. During spring 1936, mrs Takata was initiated level one in Reiki.
She worked with Dr Hayashi in his Reiki clinic for a year, and later on got to level two.
In 1937 Mrs Takata returned to Hawaii. SHe offered Dr Hayashi and his daugther to establish a Reiki clinic in Hawaii. Winter 1938 Hawayo Takata was initiated a grandmaster. She
was the thirteenth and final grandmaster of Reiki initiated by Dr Hayasho. Between 1970 and 1980 she initiated 22 grandmasters of Reiki.
