There are a number of different stories about the birth and history of Reiki and of the history of its founder Mikao Usui of Japan. Many Reiki Masters have termed Usui Sensei to be the person who "re-discovered" Reiki in the early 1900s. Some have said that what Usui 're-discovered" was a body of knowledge that was known and practiced thousands of years before him. Certainly, some other cultures have approaches that resemble Reiki to some degree and may be similar though not the same. However that may be, more complete knowledge of Reiki history and technique since Usui practiced and taught in Japan has been gained over the past 20 years as a result of research into its history that has been carried out by Arjava Petter, William Rand, Bronwen and Frans Stein, and others.

It was initially taught in the west that Founder Usui had been the director of a Christian school in Japan. More recent information about Mikao Usui reflects a different history. His students indicate that he was a Buddhist born into a traditional samurai family. He studied the highest levels in the martial arts and in a Tendai Monastery. Usui then became what would be the equivalent of a lay priest in his spiritual discipline. He conducted extensive study of health and healing disciplines based upon the development and use of life force energy. He became a well-known healer and spiritual teacher and is said to have practiced a form of Tendai Buddhist meditation that lasted for 21 days. He is further said to have engaged in this meditation on a sacred mountain named Mount Kurama, also known as Kuramayama located near Kyoto, Japan.

According to Buddhist history, the temple at Mount Kurama was founded in 770AD by Gantei in honor of the "Protector of the Northern Quarter of Buddhist Heaven" and 'Spirit of the Sun'. Temple literature for the public tells us that the "Great King of the Conquerors of Evil" and the "Spirit of the Earth" descended upon Kuramayama more than 6 million years ago. There are also references to Senju-kannon, the "Spirit of the Moon". Together, these three become a trinity known as Sonten, the "Supreme Deity", and the "Living Soul", also called the "Glorious Light." In addition to the Temple, shrines and museum, there are giant cedar trees, a path of roots, and in our experience, an abundance of life forms including beautiful butterflies, moths and dragonflies. The museum and literature there give us much of the history of the mountain's connection to spirituality and of its plant-life and wildlife. In any event, it was on Kuramayama where Mikao Usui is said to have entered Tendai Meditation for 21 days and to have received the enlightenment that led to his re-discovery of Reiki as it is now called in the Western Hemisphere.

Much of Usui Sensei's subsequent teaching is said to have been with Buddhist and Shinto followers, and he is described to have been often accompanied by Buddhist monks and nuns. He founded an organization and clinic for the practice of Reiki or as it was then called, the Usui System of Drugless Healing. Usui Sensei taught Reiki in three levels or degrees. These were called Shoden or First Teaching, Okuden or Inner Teaching, and Shinpiden or Mystery Teaching He initiated 16 people to the Shinpiden level. An earthquake rocked Tokyo in the early 1920's and Usui brought Reiki to the survivors. Prior to his death in 1926, Usui worked as a private secretary to a high ranking Japanese official and taught Reiki to some of Japan's military. One of those was Dr. Chujiro Hayashi, the teacher of Hawayo Takata. A resident of Hawaii, she had been successfully treated with Reiki for lung and abdominal problems at Dr. Hayashi's clinic in Japan after which she studied with him. He initiated her as a Reiki Master and helped her to establish Reiki in Hawaii during 1938 where she became known as an effective and powerful healer. She began training and initiating Reiki Master's in this country sometime around the 1970's and is said to have initiated 22 individuals to that level. Her fee for training Reiki Masters was $10,000, and she apparently insisted that those she trained use her same methods of teaching and charge the same fees. One of her students seems to have felt that Reiki would be more readily available if it were more affordable and began to make changes. Reiki has since become accessible throughout much of the western world.

There has been a great deal of change in Reiki since Mrs. Takata brought it to Hawaii. Independent Reiki Masters and schools have become more common. As we noted earlier, more knowledge of Reiki history and technique was gained as a result of research into Reiki's history carried out by Arjava Petter, William Rand, and others. It has been discovered that the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai started by Mikao Usui in Japan still exists. Reiki has continued to flourish and grow as a popular form of "complimentary medicine" in this country and throughout the world. There are many different schools of Reiki thought at this time as many people have adapted it with other ideas and techniques than those taught by Usui, Hayashi and Takata. It is a different time in the United States as well in that the interest in "alternative" or "complimentary medicine," has gown to such a degree that the federal government has created a national center to study various forms of healing. Reiki is one of those being studied. Hands-on healing has become more accepted in this country and in others and consumers have learned there are many roads to wellness. We encourage you to consider giving yourself a gift and making it a part of your life.