Usui Shiki Ryoho Reiki History

Summary of the History from Usui Shiki Ryoho in the Spiritual Lineage of Mikao Usui, Chujiro Hayashi, Hawayo Takata and Phyllis Lei Furumoto.

Mikao Usui lived in Japan during the last three decades of the 1800s and into the turn of the century. He was motivated by questions from his students who asked if he believed in the stories of Jesus. He was deeply touched by their questions, so after some thought, he left his position in the school and began a search that would take him to many countries of the world.

In searching for the answer to “How did Jesus heal?” he found that many of the great religious and spiritual teachers had healed by laying on of hands. As this included the Buddha, he returned to Japan to begin the inner search by studying the Buddhist teachings.

After more years of studying and 21 days of meditation with fasting, he was gifted with an experience of Reiki, during which there was a moment when he was willing to surrender his life. Following this experience he discovered that he was able to heal himself and others thanks to this energy he called Reiki.
The next years found him exploring the appropriate way to use this connection to Reiki and a way to pass this experience on to others.

One of his students was a retired Japanese naval officer, Chujiro Hayashi. After some time, he established a clinic where people could come to receive Reiki treatments.

Hawayo Takata was to have an operation but during the days preceding the operation she heard a voice saying, “This operation, not necessary.” So she asked the surgeon: “Is there another way?”. This question led her to visiting the Hayashi Clinic and receive her first Reiki treatment.

After many weeks of treatment, she was recovering her health and then wished to learn Reiki. After offering everything she had including her time, Chujiro Hayashi accepted her as a student. She spent almost a year in Japan, working in the clinic every day.

In about 1934, she returned to Hawaii where she immediately began her Reiki practice. This practice continued until her death in December, 1980.

Phyllis Lei Furumoto

Phyllis Furumoto began her work with Reiki and her grandmother in 1979.

She had a short time in which to become committed to the practice and to gain strength in her own relationship with the practice. This work went on after the death of Hawayo Takata. In the last thirty years, Phyllis has nourished the global Reiki Community as the practice of Reiki has spread around the world (as Mikao Usui wished) and become a household word (as Hawayo Takata wished). Her travels and teachings of the nature of the Practice allowed students from all cultures to better understand and integrate the practice as it flows through this spiritual lineage into the hands of all students.