The History of Reiki

as passed through the lineage of JoAnn

In the late 1800’s, Dr. Usui was the president of a Christian University in Japan. One day, a student asked him about how Jesus healed people as written in the Bible. To answer this question, Dr. Usui started on a journey that would lead him from the University of Chicago in the United States back to Japan and the teachings of Buddha. This journey would take him 7 years.

At the University of Chicago, Dr. Usui studied the New Testament scriptures to find out how Jesus healed the sick. He could not find the answer. He remembered that Buddha also had the power to heal, so Dr. Usui returned to Japan to study Buddhism.

Dr. Usui found an elderly abbot of a Zen monastery who was also searching for ways to heal the physical body. Dr. Usui was admitted to the monastery so that he could study the Buddhist scriptures. He began by reading all of the Japanese translations of Buddhist teachings and did not find the answer. He learned Chinese so he could read even more Buddhist writings, but he did not find the answer. Finally, he learned Sanskrit, an ancient language, so that he could read original Buddhist writings that had never been translated into another language. In these Sanskrit writings, Dr. Usui found the formula, the symbols, and the description of how Buddha healed people. An unknown disciple had written them down as the Buddha spoke.

Dr. Usui had learned all he could from the written teachings. Following the advice of the abbot, Dr. Usui needed to seek out spiritual knowledge regarding the written word found in Sanskrit. He climbed a mountain in Japan and meditated for 21 days. On the last day, he saw a beam of light from the heavens that came shooting towards him. The light struck him and knocked him over.

Then, in rapid succession, he saw before him, encased in bubbles of light, the symbols he had discovered in the Sanskrit writing. Each symbol passed through his 3rd eye. He knew he had the key to the healing of Buddha and Jesus. No longer feeling hungry or exhausted, Dr. Usui knew something awesome had happened on the mountain. The ancient energy healing technique now known as Reiki had re-entered the modern world through Dr. Usui.

Dr. Usui taught others how to use Reiki, including Dr. Chujiro Hayashi, a Japanese naval physician. Before he died, Dr. Usui chose Dr. Hayashi as the student to be the Master of Reiki and to keep his teachings exactly as he had done.

Dr. Hayashi opened a Reiki clinic in Tokyo. In 1935, a young woman from Hawaii named Hawayo Takata came to his clinic. She was ill and had traveled to Tokyo to have surgery. An orderly in the hospital told her about Dr. Hayashi’s clinic and she decided to try Reiki treatments. The Reiki made her body stronger and she no longer required surgery. Mrs. Takata decided to stay in Tokyo for a year to learn Reiki from Dr. Hayashi. When she returned to Hawaii, Mrs. Takata started a Reiki practice. Before he died, right before World War II, Dr. Hayashi summoned Mrs. Takata to Japan and chose her as the student to be the Master of Reiki and to keep his teachings exactly as he had done.

Mrs. Takata continued to teach and use Reiki in Hawaii. In 1973, she brought Reiki to the continental United States when she began teaching in California. She taught 22 Masters in the United States before she died in 1980. Her granddaughter is now the student chosen to keep Mrs. Takata’s teachings exactly as she had done and is in charge of the Reiki Alliance.

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