Usui Shiki Ryoho Reiki arrived in Hawaii from Japan through the efforts of a Japanese-American Reiki Master named Hawayo Takata. In 1937, Hawayo Takata moved from Hawaii to the mainland of the United States. Before her death in 1980, she initiated twenty-two Masters from among her many Reiki students. From these twenty-two individuals, Reiki has branched out far and wide across the globe.

The Story of Hawayo Takata

It is fortunate that Hawayo Takata was interested in learning how Reiki worked, or Reiki may have never made its way from Japan to the West. Hawayo Takata played a major role in helping spread Reiki to all corners of the globe. Following is a retelling of the story of how Hawayo Takata became interested in the workings of Reiki.

Hawayo Takata was very ill and was scheduled to undergo surgery to improve her health. As she prepared for surgery, she heard a voice telling her that surgery was not necessary and that there was another way to be cured. She asked around the surgical hospital where she was admitted what other remedies were available to her and someone told her about Reiki. She left the hospital and sought out Dr. Chujiro Hayashi's Reiki clinic in Japan.

Hawayo Takata soon found herself lying upon a table to receive her first full-body Reiki treatment as an alternative to having surgery. When one of the practitioners placed his hands on her, she could feel the vibrational flow and heat from the Reiki pouring out from the practitioner's palms. She believed there must have been some mechanism that was activating the impulses she was experiencing. She looked up the sleeve of his garment to investigate but saw that nothing was there. She marveled that such an outpouring of energy was happening without the use of a device of some kind. She experienced profound healing from Reiki and made it her life path to learn more about Reiki.