Mikao Usui's life - the documented evidence
The Life of the Founder of Reiki
As a Reiki Teacher, I have read many books about Reiki and listened to many different accounts of the life of Mikao Usui, the founder of the system we know today as Reiki. I have always been fascinated by how much the stories differ and how difficult it can be to separate historical fact from oral tradition.
The Reiki history taught in the West came through Hawayo Takata, who played a crucial role in bringing Reiki from Japan to the West. Mrs Takata was born in 1900 in Hawaii to Japanese immigrants and began her Reiki journey in 1936 and was initiated as a Reiki Master by Hayashi in 1938. She took Reiki to the West teaching in Hawaii and the USA. Over the years many authors have questioned the story she told. Some have claimed that she fabricated certain facts to make Reiki palatable in the west, saying that Usui was a Christian and that he had spent time in America,
One Australian author, Elizabeth M. Latham went so far as to questioned whether Usui had lived at all gvien the little historical documentation available to verify his existence. She suggested Usui was a a pseudonym for another historical character Tokio Yokoi.
Much of this discussion has been put to rest recently with new evidence surfacing about his life. Of particular importance is the discovery in 2024 of Usuis handwritten CV.
Pictured above Sirpa with the temple Priest in Taniai standing infront of the Torii dontated by Mikao Usui and his brother. May 2026
Usui's birthplace
Mikao Usui was born on 15 August 1865 in Taniai, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. A large torii gate at Amataka Shrine bears the names of Usui and his brothers, who donated the stone torii in April 1923. For many years, this was said to be the only historical evidence that Usui lived at all.
Usui's handwritten CV
In 2024, researcher Min Wang discovered documents relating to Usui in Taiwan's digital national archives, including a handwritten curriculum vitae written by Usui himself. These documents provide a fascinating insight into the man behind Reiki and have been explored in light of the oral traditions by Reiki researcher Justin B. Stein.
The recently discovered handwritten CV gives us a much broader picture of Usui's life before Reiki. It shows that he was a lifelong learner whose studies included literature, philosophy, psychology, law and languages, including psychology under Dr Motora Yūjirō. He obtained a teaching licence, worked in education and government, established and supervised schools, and held a variety of other positions. Importantly, his CV also records that he spent time in the United States, studying psychology and philosophy between 1895 and 1896 and later working at the customs office in San Francisco from 1897 to 1898. The documents also confirm his work in Taiwan in 1904 as part of the Temporary Taiwan Old Customs Research Committee. His appointment to the Taiwan committee was signed by Gotō Shinpei, providing documentary evidence supporting a part of Usui's history that had previously been known mainly through oral tradition.
This provides a picture of Usui as an educated, widely travelled and professionally experienced man before he developed and taught Reiki.
The Reiki Ryoho Hikkei
There is still much we don't know with certainty about Usui's discovery and development of Reiki. The traditional account tells us that he undertook 21 days of fasting, meditation and spiritual practice on Mount Kurama, near Kyoto. This is corroborated by Mikao Usui's own words, recorded in a small handbook, the Reiki Ryoho Hikkei, given out by the Gakkai.
It is a series of questions and answers about Reiki, and in one, Usui explains the origins of the system. This translation is by Hyakuten Inamoto:
Q.) Why and how does Usui Reiki Ryoho work?
A.) I have not been taught this art of healing by anyone under the heavens, nor have I studied in order to obtain this mysterious ability to heal. I accidentally realized that I was given this mysterious healing ability when I felt the great power and was inspired by the mystery during a period of fasting. Therefore, even as the founder, I find it difficult to give a sure explanation. Scientists and intellectuals have been eagerly researching and consider it difficult to confirm with modern science, yet the time will surely come when science can prove it.
Usui's Memorial Stone
The other key piece of information we have about his life comes from the memorial erected by Usui's students a year after his death at Saihōji Temple in Tokyo. The inscription remains one of the most important historical sources about Usui because it was written by people who had personally known and studied with him.
It tells of how, on 1 September 1923, the Great Kantō Earthquake devastated Tokyo and surrounding areas. Usui went out each morning to help people affected by the earthquake and fires. His reputation grew, and people travelled from around Japan to learn from him.
The memorial records that Usui taught more than 2,000 students during his lifetime. This definition of a teacher is part of the inscription:
"Those who accumulate disciplined study to attain inner truth (Toku) and offer a path of salvation to others (Koh) are great teachers. Mikao Usui was one such teacher who taught the universal energy of Reiki."
______________________________________
Sirpa Gunn is the founder of Soul Tree, a Reiki Master Teacher, Yoga Alliance 500-hour experienced teacher and Yoga Alliance CPD provider based in New Zealand.
