He was born August 15, 1865 near Nagoya, Japan.  As an adult, he sought enlightenment and a sustainable inner peace no matter the surrounding circumstances. He explored this extensively through meditation. A Buddhist, Mikao Usui disovered Reiki following a period of deep meditation in 1922. This experience so powerful, it inspired him to open a Reiki clinic where he continued to evolve his own version of the natural healing system for treating ailments, calling it ‘Usui Ryoho Reiki’.

In 1923, The Great Kanto earthquake took an estimated 100,000 lives and injured over a million more, he brought his healing ability of Reiki to the streets of Japan. Usui Sensei taught several masters before he passed away in 1926, including Chujiro Hayashi, a naval officer and medical doctor.

Chujiro Hayashi trained many Reiki Masters including Hawayo Takata, who was one of his patients originally. She was healed completely from a variety of conditions that were deemed as life threatening. From this experience, she asked if she could learn Reiki. With Chujiro Hayashi’s approval to do so, it is Hawayo Takata that brought Reiki to the United States in 1938, specifically to Hawaii just before the start of world war 2. It is important to note the history of this time period, with relations between Japan and the U.S. Reiki researchers and authors have shed light on how this influenced Reiki practice and teaching.

Before her passing in 1980, Hawayo Takata attuned 22 students who had different trainings in other holistic practices which they incorporated with Reiki. Today, there are hundreds of Reiki styles practiced throughout the world. These include a blending or non-blending of traditional Japanese elements with metaphysical techniques and practices.