Harvest Moon

Mikao Usui, Chujiro Hayashi and Hawayo Takata

On the origins of Usui Reiki Ryoho

Reiki is a healing art which originated in Japan in the early 1900s. It includes the channeling of life energy (Ki) through hands on healing associated with the use of specific symbols. The origins of Reiki are surrounded by myth and little is known with certainty. We know that Mikao Usui, possibly a theologian who also seems to have had Buddhist training, was the one who received it while meditating in Mount Kurama, located northwest from the city of Kioto. It is believed that Usui passed it on to more than 2000 people in his lifetime. He died in 1927.

Amongst those he taught was Chujiro Hayashi, a retired navy officer who became Shihan (Reiki teacher or master) in 1925. He also opened a clinic in Tokyo where Reiki was practiced. In 1937 Hayashi travelled to Hawaii where he stayed as Mrs Hawayo Takata’s guest for several months. During that period he seems to have given several lectures on Reiki. He also taught and attuned Mrs Takata, awarding her a Shihan certificate before leaving Hawaii in 1938. In 1940 Hayashi died and his wife continued his work teaching and practicing Reiki in Japan until her death.  After World War II Japanese healing techniques were suppressed in Japan and Reiki seems to have been kept secretly in very small circles.

Mrs Takata, an American-Japanese who lived in Hawaii, was the one who introduced Reiki to the West. She was healed by Hayashi and spent a year in apprenticeship in his clinic in Tokyo. After returning to Hawaii and being awarded a Master certificate by Hayashi she started her own clinic. She did not leave detailed records of her practice or teachings. It would appear though that she embellished the origins of Reiki to make it more interesting to westerners. It is said that she taught many people but trained only 22 masters. The latter were responsible for the dissemination of Reiki in the West, especially from the 1980s onwards, after Takata’s death.

In Takata’s own words: “Here is the great space which surrounds us – the Universe. There is endless and enormous energy. It is universal… its ultimate source is the Creator… it can stem from the sun, or moon, or stars… It is a limitless force. It is the source of energy that makes the plants grow… the birds fly. When a human being has pain, problems, he or she can draw from it. It is an ethereal source, a wave length of great power which can revitalize, restore harmony.” (Fran Brown, Mrs Takata Opens Minds to Reiki, San Mateo, The Times, may 17, 1975).

Sources:

Tadao Yamaguchi, Light on the origins of Reiki… Detroit, Lotus press, 2007.

Marianne Streich, The Story of Dr Chujiro Hayashi, Reiki News Magazine, Fall 2009.

___. How Hawayo Takata Practiced and Taught Reiki. Reiki News Magazine, Spring 2007.