The Origins of Reiki
by Don Brennan
Please note that this article was written in 1999. Since that time, more factual information has surfaced. We will be writing a more definiitve version of the history soon, and will place it in this list of articles.
Uncovering the true origins of Reiki has proven to be a difficult task because of the cultural and geographical barriers separating Eastern and Western Reiki. In fact, until recently, most Western Reiki practitioners were unaware of the vibrant heritage of Reiki in Japan. Because of Mrs. Hawayo Takata’s claim to be the only surviving Reiki master, she was accepted to be the authoritative source on the history of Reiki and her teachings were accepted as fact. Little effort was made to research the history any further because it was believed that records were destroyed in the war and that Reiki itself had died in Japan during that period.
In light of new research now being made public, these suppositions seem flawed. Dr. Usui, or Usui Sensei, as he is called in Japan, taught Reiki to more than 2,000 individuals and initiated 16 Master/Teachers (Frank Arjava Petter says we only know the names of 4 individuals for sure, but there may have been as many as 16) before his death in 1926. These masters continued to spread his teachings. Many of us have wondered, for years, if there weren’t some of Usui’s lineage who survived the war. We had no idea there were so many.
The Reiki schools in Japan have never bothered to refute any of the information being taught by Western Reiki schools, simply because they did not want to have anything at all to do with Western Reiki. Some of these attitudes are changing and it is hoped that more information will be forthcoming in the future.
Until there is a complete trust and a sharing of all available information on Usui and his methods of teaching, we are forced to reconstruct the history from a variety of verifiable sources. Even with a full disclosure of information from the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai in Japan, we may still have much reconstruction to do.
Some of our questions can only be answered by Usui himself. For those of you who may find this frustrating, let me say this—even if Usui came to visit us today, there would still be questions unanswered. Our quest for an absolute truth is usually frustrated by our inability to see the larger picture and to embrace a greater complexity. As Niels Bohr, once said, “the opposite of a profound truth, may very well be another profound truth.”
In this spirit, then, let us abandon all hubris, suspend all judgement and examine the information that we do have on the history of Reiki. In processing this information it is important to separate fact from opinion. This is not always easy when some of the facts are simply reports of individuals taught by Usui or Hayashi. Human ego often colors opinion and determines a particular version of history. The collection, interpretation and presentation of this data can be further shaped by a personal need to validate one’s own agenda. So let us rely on substantiated facts and tentatively accept what seems to be substantiated through multiple sources.
Mikao Usui was born in the village of Yago on August 15, 1864. He died of a stroke, at the age of 62, on March 9, 1926. His Memorial was inscribed in 1927 and was written in old Japanese by Mr. Okata, a member of the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakhai, and by Mr. Jusaburo Ushida, who succeeded Dr. Usui as president of the society.
According to Toshitaka Mochizuki, author of Iyashi No Te , Usui was sent to a Tendai Buddhist monastery, on Mt. Kurama, at the age of four. His studies included Kiko, a form of healing through the transference of life force. It is thought that this early experience may have inspired his later quest for a healing system which did not drain one’s own life force. However, Frank Arjava Petter says there are no facts to support these statements.
From his monument, we know that Usui studied hard and had interests in medicine, psychology, fortune telling and theology and that he traveled to Europe and China. According to Shiomi Takai, Usui later worked as a secretary to Pei Gotoushin, a Japanese Minister who later became Mayor of Tokyo. The author also states that Usui held a doctorate in Literature and received a Kun San To, a very high award conferred on those who had performed some honorable service, were well educated and still living in Japan.
It is known, from several sources, that Usui later had some business difficulties which brought him into a period of inner contemplation. In March 1922, Usui went to the Tendai Buddhist Temple on Mt. Kurama. At this time, he began Isyu Guo, a 21 day program of lifestyle discipline. Representatives of the temple have said that no such 21 day retreat was ever offered by the temple, but it was certainly possible that individuals took it upon themselves to use the isolation of this sacred space for just this purpose. Traditionally these programs involve fasting, meditation, chanting and prayer. Many people have been known to stand in meditation beneath the waterfall at Mt. Kurama, allowing the pulse of water to stimulate and activate the crown chakra. A number of Japanese Reiki Masters believe that Usui may have performed this type of meditation. The other possible location for Dr. Usui’s satori is the top of the mountain, which is also indicated in the traditional stories told of Usui’s first encounter with the Reiki energy. We may never know the specifics, but it seems clear that Usui had his experience with Reiki energy through this program of Isyu Guo.
Usui perceived a profound difference in his natural healing abilities. In April of 1922, Usui went to Tokyo and founded his school named the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai, which means Usui Reiki Healing Method Society. Other sources refer to this society as the Usui Shiki Reiki Ryoho, which means Usui System of Reiki Healing. Usui acted as the first president of the institution. After his death in 1926, he was succeeded by Mr. Jusaburo Ushida, followed by: Mr. Iichi Taketomi; Mr.Yoshiharu Watanabe; Mr. Toyoichi Wanami; Mrs. Kimiko Koyama. Mrs. Koyama, at the age of 92 years, resigned on January 17, 1998 and has been succeeded by Mr. Masaki Kondoh. The titles “Grandmaster” or “Lineage Bearer” have never been used by the Reiki Society, consequently neither title was passed on to Mr. Chujiro Hayashi. Usui’s only successor, was Mr. Ushida in 1926. Hayashi had no more authority than any of the other respected masters taught by Usui. Nor was he in a position to choose the next president of the Reiki Society.
At the same time, in 1922, Usui opened a Reiki clinic in Harajuku, Aoyama, Tokyo, where he gave countless treatments and hosted workshops to spread his knowledge of Reiki. According to Toshitaka Mochizuki, Usui created three degrees for Reiki training. By the 1940’s, the system seems to have expanded to six degrees, according to Reiki certificates of Fumio Ogawa, a current member of the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai. The society has substantiated the fact that Usui taught only four symbols—basically the same symbols taught in western Reiki.
In 1923, Tokyo experienced a catclysmic earth quake which took the lives of over 140,000 people. Usui worked very hard to help the great numbers of people who were casualties of this mass destruction. There were thousands of people whose homes were destroyed in this earthquake. The story about Usui working with beggars seems to have evolved from this, as his life became mythologized with biblical imagery in the West.
To meet the ongoing needs of so many people, Usui built a larger clinic in Nakano, Tokyo, in 1924. As his fame spread quickly, he began to travel across Japan to bring this healing system to even more people. On March 9, 1926, while teaching in Fukuyama, he suffered a stroke and died at the age of 62.
Stories and Theories:
There are many people who still adhere to the stories of Usui’s Christian attachments. Usui could not have studied at the University of Chicago, even under an assumed name, because the Divinity School did not exist at that time. Records at the Christian Doshisha University have no mention of him as a student, teacher or principal. Certainly his monument would have mentioned a Christian influence in his life or on his path to Reiki if there was any such influence. And only recently, have we learned that it would not have been permitted for Dr. Usui’s ashes to have been interred at this sacred Buddhist sanctuary if he had been Christian. It seems clear that these stories were created to make Reiki more acceptable in Christian countries.
There may be some other religious influences in the history of Reiki. When Usui started his school, there were already quite a few hands-on healing schools in existence. Many were considered spiritual societies. There are also several Japanese religions whose essential focus is in healing work. There were about 20 different Shinto-based hands-on healing groups in Japan before World War Two. There is some conjecture that Usui learned his healing system from Mr. Morihei Tanaka, the founder of Taireidou. Shiomi Takai says that in 1926 the Reiki society started a new spiritual society. It is known that Toshiro Eguchi, one of the 16 masters trained by Usui, started his own group Tenohira-Ryouchi-Kenkyuka (The Association for The Study of Palm Treatments). Eguchi taught Reiki to thousands of students before World War Two. It is possible that many influences were introduced to Reiki before it ever came to the West. With so many lines of Reiki all over Japan, it will be interesting to see if there are any significant differences. And it will be exciting to share all that has been learned by the Eastern and Western strains of Reiki that seem destined to join together and work together to spread Reiki around the world.
copyright all rights reserved 1999 Don Brennan
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