Reiki has always existed, but the formation of the Reiki method as it is known to us today is due to one person – Dr. Mikao Usui.
According to one Reiki tradition, Dr. Usui was a professor and a dean of a Christian university in Kyoto, Japan. When his disciples asked him about the miraculous healing power with which Jesus and his disciples performed miracles, he decided to research the subject himself and set out on a journey to a sacred mountain called Mountain Koriyama.
Usui decided to fast and meditate for 21 days. Towards the 21st day, he noticed a very strong light approaching him and hitting the center of his forehead. At first, he thought it might kill him but then he noticed millions of bubbles in the colors of the rainbow that turned into glowing white light bubbles and he noticed that each bubble was containing a three-dimension symbol in Sanskrit inscribed in gold.
After experiencing this revelation, he ran excitedly down the mountain. Out of excitement, he injured his toe. Out of instinct, he placed his hands on the injured toe. Usui felt his hands warm and the wound healed.
Then, after not eating for 21 days, he went to an inn where he ate as usual and nothing happened to him even though regular eating is dangerous after such a long fast. The waitress who served him his meal was suffering from a toothache at that time, Usui put his hands on her face and the pain disappeared.
When he returned to the convent, he saw that the abbot had fallen ill in his absence. After a number of treatments, the abbot was cured. He has since continued with his Reiki treatments and he witnessed that people have been cured of their illnesses.
Over time, he met a man named Chujiro Hayashi who became Usui’s successor and received his first master’s degree. After a while, a woman named Hawayo Takata came to him because she was suffering from a tumor, gallstones, and inflammation in the appendix. Before the operation, she heard a voice from her late husband telling her that the operation was not necessary. She checked with the doctor to see if there was another way, and he recommended that she go to the Hayashi’s Reiki clinic.
Mrs. Takata did as he advised and after 4 months of receiving Reiki healing sessions for all her illnesses, she was healed. At that time the study of Reiki was the domain of men only, but Mrs. Takata insisted on learning the healing practice that saved her life. Hawayo Takata became a Reiki master, returned to Hawaii, and established clinics there and so the Reiki method spread throughout the world.