an Abreviated History of REIKI
THE ORIGINS OF REIKI - Mikao Usui, Sensei, the founder of Reiki, was born in 1865, near Kyoto, Japan. He married Sadako Suzuki (of Samurai lineage) and together they had two children. He was a very spiritual man who took his daily religious and meditation exercises very seriously. In 1921 his deep devotion, vast personal searching, life experiences and a particular Satori, culminated into insights and energy transference that we now call Reiki. Master Usui died in 1926.
Reiki is a Japanese word, made up of two Japanese kanji – Rei and Ki - meaning, roughly translated, universal and energy. The word Reiki is often translated as “Universal Life Force Energy” or “spiritual ray of life”.
During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in Japan, the ancient art of hands-on-healing, so much a part of shamanistic practice in all parts of the world for thousands of years, was enjoying a Renaissance. There were many different types of healing touch being practiced by various teachers affiliated with assorted spiritual traditions. As Reiki spread, other teachers of other healing modalities shared their knowledge and we now know that the Reiki was not a rigid or static method but evolved, gradually, with each teacher. The Reiki teachings were transmitted orally and in written form, from generation to generation, passing from Japan to North America and Europe and then throughout the world. Many stories, myths and legends about Usui and about the origins of Reiki have appeared - some honourable and some quite preposterous.
In the last 30 years, various Western Reiki teachers created their own personal variations of the system of Reiki, and thus there are now many different Reiki “offshoots” with names of their own. It is estimated that there are more than 50,000 Reiki masters and one million Reiki practitioners in the world today.
The search for the “truth” about Reiki and it’s history is fascinating and leads one down many pathways. In the late 90’s a number of very dedicated Reiki Masters were determined to uncover the origins of Reiki and details of the life of Master Usui and his intentions for the work. We owe these pioneers a debt of gratitude. We believe that the contemporary teachings should be as close as possible to the original teachings and ways.
As a devout, practicing Tendai Buddhist, Usui-Sensei would have had a deep understanding of the wisdom and teachings of the Buddha - teachings that were the result of his own direct investigations, not "supernatural" revelations. Infact, we read in Curtis Lang and Jane Sherry’s history of Reiki that what he taught was not to be taken "on faith" - his students were to examine for themselves, based on their own experience, whether Reiki was able to transform suffering into well-being.
There are no exact documents of Master Usui’s original system as he taught it, or they have not been made available to the general public by those who claim they do have pertinent writings (Master Usui’s teachings have been kept in the dozen odd Japanese societies known as the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai, where the teachers and practitioners do not discuss the details of the society with non-members and where membership in the society is closed to foreigners). Due to the nature of Japanese society, information and knowledge is often kept within it's own confines and never shared, even for the common good... almost...
One of Master Usury's senior students, Toshihiro Eguchi, knew Usui-Sensei’s methods in its original form and taught this as well as his own system of touch healing to a student, Yuji Onuki, who decided to travel the world in order to pass on what he had learned in 1971. Several of this teacher’s students went to Japan and searched for Reiki history and taught Japanese students - Reiki had come full circle, geographically!
In the mid 1990’s, when a German Reiki teacher, Frank Arjava Petter, was living in Japan teaching English and Reiki (learned in Europe) with his Japanese wife, he had no idea that Reiki in Japan actually had continued to exist and continue. One of Mr. Petter’s students, however, broke silence and explained how others in Japan knew Reiki from before and after surviving World War II, but that it had evolved into a rather different form. (This student went against the norm of vigilance and silent watchfulness!)
Mr. Petter was exceptionally fortunate to meet a teacher who lent him a copy of an Usui notebook that had supposedly been given to one of his students. Arjava found that the past Reiki practices were quite different from those taught in the West, but that the Reiki energy was the same. The only difference was in the methods by which the energy was applied.
Chris Marsh (an British student of martial arts and the Japanese language, a Tendai Buddhist and frequent traveller to Japan) was serendipitously introduced to a Buddhist nun, over 100 years old, who had been a student of Master Usui in the 1920’s and possible a niece of Master Usury's wife! Chris was told by her that she and others were not happy with what had become of Reiki throughout the world. She taught him what she had learned from Master Usui himself - again quite different than Western Reiki.
Back in England Chris shared his new Reiki knowledge with another Reiki Master searching for solid history and details, Andrew Bowling.
In following years, Andy and Chris were judiciously and slowly introduced to more of Master Usui's still surviving students (from 96 to 111 years old). Some notes and notebooks and manuals were allowed to be looked at. From these small steps a lot of sharing in the West took place amongst many who were seeking the “truth”, culminating in the first Usui Reiki Ryoho International workshop, in Vancouver, organised by Vancouver’s Rick Rivard, Tom Rigler, Andrew Bowling and others in North America. Hiroshi Doi-Sensei, a member of the Usui Reiki Society in Tokyo came to Vancouver and spoke about the Society's version of the History of Reiki presented a modified version of Usui Reiki empowerment procedure called Reiju.
So, bit by bit, the the existence of the closed societies, the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai and details of the practices and Reiki history have been released to the rest of the world in a very controlled and limited manner.
In 1925 Usui-Sensei, Dr. Hayashi (a retired Naval officer, a close friend and senior student) and his students created a manual listing body parts and illnesses with corresponding hand positions for those who did not wish to work intuitively as Master Usui was known to do.
He died in 1926 of a stroke and following his death, Dr. Hayashi continued Reiki on his own, separate from the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai.
Dr. Hayashi created the first Reiki centre, where people could pay to receive healing. By 1939 he had initiated thirteen Reiki teachers. He passed away just before he woud be recalled into the navy and become active in World War II.
Mrs. Hawayo Takata was born on December 24, 1900 on the Island of Kauai, Hawaii, the daughter of Japanese immigrant workers. While in Japan visiting her parents in 1935, Mrs. Takata needed serious medical attention for appendicitis, gallstones and a tumour. Just before the surgery, she heard a voice saying “There is another way - surgery is not necessary.” When she queried the surgeon and the nurse they both had not said a word nor had heard any voices. But Mrs. Takata was adamant, and just as he was to start the operation he answered her that yes, indeed there was another way. His wife worked at a Tokyo clinic where healing was done and he referred her to Hayashi’s Reiki clinic, and after several months she was healed and sold on the treatment of REIKI! She stayed on in Japan, lived with the Hayashi’s and obtained instruction from Dr. Hayashi while working in his clinic for a year - Reiki Level One and Two.
In 1937, Mrs. Takata brought the system of Reiki back home to Hawaii, where she started a clinic. The following year, Dr. Hayashi and his daughter, also a Reiki Master, came over to help her and gave their blessing to the first Reiki clinic outside of Japan. Mrs. Takata was initiated as a Reiki Master by Dr. Hayashi during this visit.
Mrs. Takata continued to practised Reiki on the Hawaiian Islands after WW II. She taught that Reiki had not survived WW II as her contact with the Hayashi’s had ceased. Mrs. Takata believed that she was the only surviving practitioner after World War II, which we now know not to be so. Reiki survived very unobtrusively in Japan and due to a number of Western Reiki practitioners who have spent such great time, perseverence and effort to find how Reiki continued to sillently evolve in Japan.
Mrs. Takata’s story of Reiki, are now seen in the context of the early years of her practice in the existing Hawaiian culture. Tensions had increased dramatically after Pearl Harbor. The Japanese were not appreciated. Quackery, as some perceived Reiki, was not tolerated and a criminal offence. And anything Japanese and Buddhist was doomed as weird, foreign and to be avoided. One of her students, Helen Haberly, recorded the stories and little histories that Mrs. Takata told her many students and thankfully, as we look back, we can see that they are truely just “stories” and in fact, the book begins with “Once upon a time, ... Mrs. Takata’s “loose” interpretation would have served her and Reiki well in those very difficult times.
She later began to teach the level One and Two classes. By 1975 she began to teach practitioners to become Reiki teachers (by invitation). She travelled to the American mainland and Canada and eventually initiated 22 Reiki Masters in all by the time of her death in 1980. Of these masters, five were from the Slocan Valley in BC!
Intense debate over the true nature of Reiki, how to continue teaching Reiki and who would take her place, began immediately following her passing. A group of mainly Mrs. Takata’s original 22 Reiki teachers formed the Reiki Alliance and called the work Usui Shiki Ryoho. Mrs. Takata’s granddaughter, Phyllis Lee Furumoto, was the head of the Reiki Alliance, and took the title “Grandmaster” and continued on as close as possible to the previous ways. Iris Ishikura, Barbara Ray (Webber) Ph.D. and other Reiki Masters initiated by Mrs. Takata, spread the Reiki teachings during the 1980s and made lasting changes. They also reduced the tuition fees for Mastership training and consequently the rigid previous price structure for classes crumbled and thus many more Reiki Masters appeared on the scene. This led to the development of yet more off-shoot practices, as new Reiki Masters added their own concepts, tools and idiosyncrasies to the traditional way (close to that of her teacher Dr. Hayashi) that Mrs. Takata had taught.
Study of the chakra system became a widespread inclusion and with the rise of New Age spiritual practices, Reiki practitioners began to work consciously with and include Spirit Guides, Ascended Master Teachings, Arch Angels and Nature Divas. Some also incorporated crystals, channelling, past life healing, shamanism, crystal bowls and various other modalities into their Reiki classes and now one can understand why the Japanese were less than happy with Western Reiki. Symbols started to circulate on the internet and long-distance classes were taught with distance attunements and by correspondence! Students felt free to study with more than one teacher – and more than one lineage. Competition for the cheapest and shortest classes led to another level of loss of quality and depth.
This altering and adjusting or evolvement of Reiki has brought with it a greater responsibility to keep Reiki focussed and in line with it's original intentions and serious integrity. As students and practitioners of Reiki it is up to us to practice what is perhaps the most important spiritual discipline -- discernment. We must use our reason, our intuition and our inner spiritual guidance to understand the true nature of Reiki and to verify this truth.
As Reiki practitioners we naturally exercise tolerance for those who practice a different form of Reiki and who belong to a different lineage. As a Hindu yogi master once said, “When you have found a path up the mountain, and you can see the summit from far below, it is tempting to call out to those struggling to ascend on either side of you, and to tell them ... ‘Look, I have found the way.’ It is only when one reaches the summit itself that one has the all-encompassing view of the mountain itself, and then one realises that there are many paths to the summit, each with its own charms and its own pitfalls.”
FROM USUI-SENSEI’S TOMBSTONE:
Translation by Frans and Bronwen Stiene, Reiki Masters, Australia
The Secret Method Of Inviting Blessings
The Spiritual Medicine of Many Illnesses
For today only,
Do not anger,
Do not worry.
With appreciation,
Endeavour your work.
Be kind to all people.
In the morning and at night,
Think this, chant this.
by Merrie Bakker at www.pacificholistic.com
