Dr. Usui was born August 15, 1865 in the village of Taniai, Jpapan. He later became a medical doctor. In 1914 when his personal and business life was failing he felt called to travel to Mt. Kurama, a holy mountain, where he enrolled in Isyu Guo, a twenty-one day training course sponsored by the Tendai Buddhist Temple located on the mountain. During his training, which consisted of fasting, meditation, chanting and prayers, he received a vision, at which time the great Reiki energy entered his crown chakra. He found that his healing abilities were greatly enhanced and that he had received a new gift--the ability to give healing to others without depleting his own energy.

Dr. Usui returned to his work and began using his new healing ability to help others. In 1922 he moved to Tokyo and started a healing society which he named Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai (Usui Reiki Healing Society), as well as open a Reiki Clinic. There he taught classes and gave treatements. When Dr. Usui died on March 9, 1926, Mr. J. Ushida toke over as president of the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai. Mr. Ushida was followed by Mr. Iichi Taketomi, Mr. Yoshiharu Watanabe, Mr. Toyoichi Wanami, Ms. Kimiko Koyama and the current successor to Usui Sensie is Mr. Kondo who became president in 1998.

There is no "lineage bearer" or "Grand Master" of the organization started by Usui Sensei, only the sucession of presidents listed above.

The Continued Development Of Reiki

In the 1930's Dr. Chujiro Hayashi, a respected Reiki Master, who learned from Dr. Usui, founded his own Reiki school and clinic in Tokyo, developing a healing guide manual, listing a wide range of illnesses and conditions and the hand positions his research indicated worked best to treat them. These positions are in addition to what has become the traditional Usui Reiki Ryoho handpositions used.

Dr. Hayashi's healing ability was quite well-known in Japan and sought-after. All of his students received their Reiki training in return for working in his clinic. It was to this clinic that Mrs. Takata was directed in 1935.

 

How Reiki Came To The USA

Hawayo Takata was born on December 24, 1900 on the island of Kauai, Hawaii. Her parents were Japanese immigrants, but later returned to Japan. Hawayo married Saichi Takata and they had two daughters. When her sister died in 1935, she returned to Japan. At the time she was suffering from her own health problems (a tumor, gallstones, appendicitis, and asthma), and although unfamiliar with Reiki, she chose to visit Dr. Hayashi's clinic rather than have surgery.

She began receiving Reiki treatments with two Reiki practitioners each day and after four months found that she was completely healed. She wanted to learn Reiki for herself. In the spring of 1936 she received First Degree Reiki from Dr. Hayashi. She then worked with him for a year and received Second Degree Reiki. Mrs. Takata returned to Hawaii in 1937, followed shortly thereafter by Dr. Hayashi and his daughter, who came to help establish Reiki there. In February of 1938 Dr. Hayashi initiated Hawayo Takata as a Reiki Master, one of only thirteen other Reiki Maters trained by Dr. Hayashi.

Mrs. Takata practiced Reiki in Hawaii, becoming a well-known healer. She often initiated members of a client's family so they could give Reiki to the client as well. But it was not until 1970 that Mrs. Takata began initiating Reiki Masters, charging $10,000 for Mastership even though the training took only one weekend. She said that one should never do treatments or provide training for free, but should always charge a fee or get something in return -- this was to develop respect toward Reiki healing.

Before her death on December 11, 1980, she had initiated twenty-two Reiki Masters, who began teaching others. One of her Reiki Masters, Irish Ishikura, began charing a more reasonable fee for training in the mid-1980's. With lower fees the practice of Reiki began to grow quickly and spread all over the world. According to William Rand, there are at least 300,000 Reiki Masters in the world today with well over 2,000,000 practitioners and growing.

Reiki Today In The USA

Today there are many systems of Reiki Healing available. There were many hands-on healing schools in Japan at the time Usui started his school. These other schools were not part of Usui Reiki. There may have been some connection between Reiki and MahiKari and Johrei as these two Japanese religions have healing as their central purpose and also use the Usui master symbol in their practice. Naturally, as with anything in the USA, some folks have even begun inventing their own system of Reiki, as well as changing the traditional Usui Reiki Ryoho to fit their own beliefs.

To receive a more traditional approach to Reiki training, we are fortunate to have the International Center For Reiki Training, founded by William Rand in 1988, providing us with a very solid curriculum to use as Reiki Master/Teachers.

Kisma Reidling's Reiki Master/Teacher training was with ICRT.