The History of Reiki: Mikao Usui and the Story Behind the Practice

Every Reiki practice today traces back to one man in Japan a century ago. Knowing where Reiki came from gives your practice roots. Here is the story of Mikao Usui and how a Japanese energy practice became something taught all over the world.

Who was Mikao Usui?

Mikao Usui was born in Japan in 1865. He was a curious, well-read man who studied many subjects across his life, including history, medicine, and spiritual practice. Reiki students often call him Usui Sensei, meaning teacher, out of respect for the system he founded.

The awakening on Mount Kurama

The most well-known part of the story takes place on Mount Kurama, near Kyoto. Usui is said to have undertaken a long period of meditation and fasting there in the early 1920s. During that retreat, he described receiving the insight and the ability that became the foundation of Reiki. Whatever happened on that mountain, he came down with a practice he wanted to share.

From a Tokyo clinic to a system

In 1922, Usui opened a practice in Tokyo and founded a society to teach his method, the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai. He taught many students and refined how the practice was passed on, including the attunements that open a student to the energy. One of his students, Chujiro Hayashi, a former naval officer, went on to run his own clinic and helped organize the hand positions and teaching style many practitioners still use.

How Reiki reached the West

Reiki might have stayed in Japan if not for Hawayo Takata, a Japanese American woman from Hawaii. In the 1930s she traveled to Japan, received treatment at Hayashi's clinic, and eventually trained as a practitioner and teacher. She brought Reiki back to Hawaii and spent decades teaching it. The many Reiki lineages practiced across the world today branch out from her students.

The lineage today

When you learn Reiki, you join a line of teachers and students that reaches back to Usui himself. That lineage is part of why the attunement matters so much. It is a tradition handed from one person to the next, teacher to student, for more than a hundred years.

Carry that tradition forward. Explore our guided Reiki courses and attunements at prismaticacademy.com, and learn the practice from a teacher in the living Usui lineage.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who founded Reiki?

Mikao Usui, a Japanese teacher born in 1865, developed the Reiki system in the early 1920s and founded a society in Tokyo in 1922.

How did Reiki come to the West?

Hawayo Takata, a Japanese American from Hawaii, trained in Japan in the 1930s and brought Reiki to the West, where most modern lineages trace back to her students.

What is a Reiki lineage?

A lineage is the unbroken line of teachers and students passing the practice down through attunements, reaching back to Mikao Usui.