Some food for thought

Hello all!

Lately I have been thinking a lot about Reiki History. There are some questions that I wanted to share and maybe get some response from my seniors in the system.

1) In Japan it is often said that you are born Shinto and die a Buddhist. This can be often seen in Hatsumiyamairi which is the 1st shrine visit of a newborn baby (generally at 32 days of age for a boy and 33 days for a girl), and Buddhist funeral rites at death. Today, many Japanese will when asked what their religion is either say none or think about it and then say Buddhist or Shinto (yes there are those that do belong to certain religions, but I am talking about the people as a whole) As many have made comment on, the "initiation" ritual does seem to have heavy Buddhist influence. Could it be that Usui Sensei was in line with this way of thought? Could it be why we see this system as being largely non-religious today?

2)Usui Shiki Ryoho 臼井式療法. As we know, this means "Usui臼井 Style式 Healing療
Method法". Could this mean simply "in the style of Usui", as in something similar too, or styled after? While I was thinking about this, I remembered reading once an article about Ms. Yamaguchi of the Jikiden Reiki. She was quoted in the article as saying that Hayashi Sensei was a Methodist Christian. Could it be that he when teaching Reiki taught it as a system of healing "styled after that of Usui? As a martial artist I can point to a few examples of this happening before. There is a Koryu (old school) style of swordsmanship known as Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu. Here, for those interested is the wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mus%C5%8D_Jikiden_Eishin-ry%C5%AB. What can be seen near the bottom is that four sperate lineages exsist today. Each tracing their line back to the schools formal founder Hasegawa Eishin and slightly beyond. Within these seperate lines, there are set waza (techniques) and kata (patterns/forms) taught. However, often in older martial arts with differing lines we see that some schools either include or exclude certain waza/kata, while still keeping the founder's/formalizer's name intact in the system's name. Even with ryu-ha (schools) where the soke (headmaster) makes changes to the school we will see them adding their onw name to the school's name as in "Kamimoto-Ha Muso Shinden Ryu", or Kamimoto-branch of Muso Shinden Ryu (another sword school). Which is an example of a schools name being left intact, yet clarifying itself by the "branch" name. Now my question is, could this be the case within our system of Reiki? Takata Sensei often takes the blame for changing the system. Could it have been Hayashi Sensei? Maybe he was uncomfortable with some of the waza/kata taught but still held Usui Sensei in high regard. As a Methodist Christian (if true) this might be the case. Maybe this "styled after" version is what he taught to Takata sensei, and she DID pass onto us what she learned from Hayashi Sensei.

3) That brings me to my last question. I am looking for information from anyone who has read John Grey's book "Hand to Hand". I am a student of The International house of Reiki and as a part of my Okuden training it was recommended that we read Frans and Bronwen Stiene's "Your Reiki Treatment". In the Stiene's book, it quotes "Hand to Hand" as saying - "On many occasions while John was her student, Takata said, 'I have simplified the system.'". So, if this is the case, are we back to square one?

Sorry to everyone about the long post. I look forward to reading all answers. Thanks in advance!

Jotaro

your long post held my interest

Thanks for the read very educational

Hiya Jotaro,

AlienProgeny wrote: As many have made comment on, the "initiation" ritual does seem to have heavy Buddhist influence. Could it be that Usui Sensei was in line with this way of thought? Could it be why we see this system as being largely non-religious today?

for sure, folks go heavily into buddhism, imo, that's too far to go. There is (from the little i can see), one or two concepts in the initiation that are buddhist in origin.

I can explain the next bit better if i compare myself to Usui sensei (always wanted to do that, . If i sit at my computer day in, day out, and study al things in all religions, in all spirituality, in all philosophy, and see the same value in so many things, i bet any money that Usui sensei, teavelling to europe, China, US, and being a superb student could also see this, and much more.

In fact, there was one religion formed around his time, which exemplfied this, and that was Omoto Kyo. These folks used different aspects from different religions. and it's my personal beleif that Usui sensei was either a member, or heavily influenced by them. Though no-one please ask me why, cause it's just personal, .

AlienProgeny wrote:
2)Usui Shiki Ryoho 臼井式療法. As we know, this means "Usui臼井 Style式 Healing療
Method法". Could this mean simply "in the style of Usui", as in something similar too, or styled after? While I was thinking about this, I remembered reading once an article about Ms. Yamaguchi of the Jikiden Reiki. She was quoted in the article as saying that Hayashi Sensei was a Methodist Christian. Could it be that he when teaching Reiki taught it as a system of healing "styled after that of Usui? As a martial artist I can point to a few examples of this happening before. There is a Koryu (old school) style of swordsmanship known as Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu. Here, for those interested is the wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mus%C5%8D_Jikiden_Eishin-ry%C5%AB. What can be seen near the bottom is that four sperate lineages exsist today. Each tracing their line back to the schools formal founder Hasegawa Eishin and slightly beyond. Within these seperate lines, there are set waza (techniques) and kata (patterns/forms) taught. However, often in older martial arts with differing lines we see that some schools either include or exclude certain waza/kata, while still keeping the founder's/formalizer's name intact in the system's name. Even with ryu-ha (schools) where the soke (headmaster) makes changes to the school we will see them adding their onw name to the school's name as in "Kamimoto-Ha Muso Shinden Ryu", or Kamimoto-branch of Muso Shinden Ryu (another sword school). Which is an example of a schools name being left intact, yet clarifying itself by the "branch" name. Now my question is, could this be the case within our system of Reiki? Takata Sensei often takes the blame for changing the system. Could it have been Hayashi Sensei? Maybe he was uncomfortable with some of the waza/kata taught but still held Usui Sensei in high regard. As a Methodist Christian (if true) this might be the case. Maybe this "styled after" version is what he taught to Takata sensei, and she DID pass onto us what she learned from Hayashi Sensei.

I enjoyed reading this Jotaro, and especially the professional attitude toward Takata sensei, .

Just a couple things, . It was Takata sensei who wrote 'Usui Shiki Ryoho. Not Hayashi sensei.

On the official certificate that he signed for Takata's mastership, it was wrote ' Usui system of Reiki healing' and ' Usui Reiki system of drugless healing' and ' Dr. Usui's Reiki system of healing'.

That certificate, i've been studying it since Feb 2009, it's a kinda 'hobby' hehe. There's many interesting things about it, some which i might (or may not) post here about at some point. what i get from thw above that's on Takata's certificate, is a very definite indication that Hayashi sensei taught Usui sensei's system.

It's maybe interesting to know, that Fran Brown, a master student of Takata sensei always taught as close as possible to the way Takata sensei taught her. Never changing anything. Fran went to Japan to meet Chiyoko Yamaguchi. They compared notes on training, including initiations. Chiyoko said that Fran was the only person in the west teaching what Hayashi taught (Fran told Robert Fueston). This means that Chiyoko was actually saying that what Takata sensei had taught was what Hayashi taught. which is what Takata sensie always said anyho.

Warmest wishes
Wayne

AlienProgeny wrote:
3) That brings me to my last question. I am looking for information from anyone who has read John Grey's book "Hand to Hand". I am a student of The International house of Reiki and as a part of my Okuden training it was recommended that we read Frans and Bronwen Stiene's "Your Reiki Treatment". In the Stiene's book, it quotes "Hand to Hand" as saying - "On many occasions while John was her student, Takata said, 'I have simplified the system.'". So, if this is the case, are we back to square one?

Hello Jotaro

You can ask John about this directly, using the contact form on his web site http://learnreiki.org/contact.htm


EZRI

Milarepa wrote:
for sure, folks go heavily into buddhism, imo, that's too far to go. There is (from the little i can see), one or two concepts in the initiation that are buddhist in origin.

Hello Wayne

You said something about this in the topic on Esoteric Buddhist Practices, did you see my question there, I asked which initiations you meant and were they from a particular school of Reiki?

Milarepa wrote:
Just a couple things, . It was Takata sensei who wrote 'Usui Shiki Ryoho. Not Hayashi sensei.

On the official certificate that he signed for Takata's mastership, it was wrote ' Usui system of Reiki healing' and ' Usui Reiki system of drugless healing' and ' Dr. Usui's Reiki system of healing'.

So where do you thing Takata got the words Usui Shiki Ryoho, if not from Dr. Hayashi? These phrases on the notarized certificate are just ways of trying to explain the meaning of Usui Shiki Ryoho in English


EZRI

Hiya Ezri,

EzriReiki wrote:

You said something about this in the topic on Esoteric Buddhist Practices, did you see my question there, I asked which initiations you meant and were they from a particular school of Reiki?

did i not respond to your questions there? that's not like me to not respond to a question.

I was'nt talking about a specific initiation, or school. We know that initiations can vary. There is some common themes throughout most of them, and as they're common, it points to a source, and i was referring to this.

EzriReiki wrote:

Milarepa wrote:
Just a couple things, . It was Takata sensei who wrote 'Usui Shiki Ryoho. Not Hayashi sensei.

On the official certificate that he signed for Takata's mastership, it was wrote ' Usui system of Reiki healing' and ' Usui Reiki system of drugless healing' and ' Dr. Usui's Reiki system of healing'.

So where do you thing Takata got the words Usui Shiki Ryoho, if not from Dr. Hayashi?

I never implied she didn't get them from Hayahsi sensei. I made factual observations, .

Since you ask though. She may well have got that from Hayashi sensei, though since she was brought up with a Japanese background, she might have knew the word 'Shiki' herself, i dunno.

EzriReiki wrote:
These phrases on the notarized certificate are just ways of trying to explain the meaning of Usui Shiki Ryoho in English

So it says 'system' on the certificate, and it says 'Shiki' in Takata sensei's certificates to her students.

I know 'Shiki' can mean system in certain cases. I'd this conversation a few weeks ago actually (i've been looking at the certificate for over a year now, for certain reasons, ), in 'Usui Shiki Ryoho' it's more of a suffix to 'Usui'. And as a suffix, it's primary meaning is 'style', 'type' or 'form'.

So, with Takata sensei's Master certificate mentioning 'system' 3 times, yet the use of the suffix being in line with 'style', is my only new point. Though still is relevant to Jotaro's topic points.

warmest wishes
Wayne

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for your feedback so far. I am not raising these questions to cause any trouble, but to introduce a new angle on the questions that have been discussed before.

On the official certificate that he signed for Takata's mastership, it was wrote ' Usui system of Reiki healing' and ' Usui Reiki system of drugless healing' and ' Dr. Usui's Reiki system of healing'.

That certificate, i've been studying it since Feb 2009, it's a kinda 'hobby' hehe. There's many interesting things about it, some which i might (or may not) post here about at some point. what i get from thw above that's on Takata's certificate, is a very definite indication that Hayashi sensei taught Usui sensei's system.

Yep, I know. It was your earlier post on the topic that actually got me started on thinking about this (thanks by the way ). And I do hope that someday you will share more of your research on this (when you're ready of course). But, when I read it, I get the impression that maybe it's wording is as EzriReiki said

These phrases on the notarized certificate are just ways of trying to explain the meaning of Usui Shiki Ryoho in English

Makes me wonder though, why takata would have still used the Usui Shiki Ryoho name when she didn't seem to use Japanese for the technique names.

Of course you might be right however. The language of the certificate is quite good. Hayashi Sensei was plainly a capible English user (I put "user" instead of "speaker" due to the fact that several of my own family members can write English very well but have difficulty using English in conversation, and since we are discussing a written certificate here....).
I would agree with you 100% on your noting that the same values are present in most religions and philosophy. The "Golden Rule" is a good example of this, as well as many others. I am not trying to assign any religion to Usui or to Reiki. Hybrid-Religions were extremely popular during the Meiji, many Japanese were highly interested in "Western" things. It is my own opinion that Usui had multiple influences in the development of the system. According to his memorial, we know that he was a well studied fellow.

I am also not trying to imply that Takata Sensei did change things. Thanks to Ezri, I will send out an e-mail to Mr. Gray as soon as I get a chance.

Jotaro

Great insights Wayne Thank you!

Jotaro

AlienProgeny wrote:Hi Everyone,

Thanks for your feedback so far. I am not raising these questions to cause any trouble, but to introduce a new angle on the questions that have been discussed before.

There's no trouble Jotaro! Ezri knows immensely more about Takata sensei than i do, .

New angles are what this forum is for buddy!

AlienProgeny wrote:Hi Everyone,
Thanks for your feedback so far. I am not raising these questions to cause any trouble, but to introduce a new angle on the questions that have been discussed before.
Jotaro

Please never feel that your question will raise trouble
We are respectful with no condesending thoughts about others
who seek or share their experiences here.

As a Reiki teacher I was taught the basic history of Usui,
futher into my practice as I was seeking to learn more about
Reiki I checked out Reiki sites/forum. The History info was
different according to who was posting. As a new person to
Reiki it was very confusing. I did talk with my RMT about the
new info I was gathering. I teach the basic history of Reiki
and also inform my students that research is on going giving
them recent articles and directing them to James Deacon's site.

wil you just STOP making good posts! It's making me give you contribution points, and i'm starting to feel inferior about my own,

Afterthought:

Takata sensei said in her audio in 1979 about 'Usui Reiki Ryoho'. she immediately then said "That is in Japanese, which means the Usui Reiki system of natural healing."

We can see here, Takata sensei did herself interject the word 'style' into the system name, but didn't use 'Shiki' beforehand.

Interesting you mention that Wayne. I listened to a CD of that talk yesterday on my way to a reiki share. She does indeed say that right at the start.

Jotaro

Taakata sensei also mentions something a bit more through.. one sec...

And during his reign Dr. Hayashi never changed the system. It is even until today, and even my students, and my followers, learned this art of healing at the Usui Reiki Ryoho and in English, the suffix[?] is Japanese, but it is the Usui System in the Art of Healing.

Transcript source: http://www.reiki.org/FAQ/MrsTakataTalks.html

Hahah, yep, that's the one! I bought the CD and transcript about 6 months ago. This was my second listen through. There is a lot of wonderful info there to think about.

But once again, I have to play the devil's advocate. As I mentioned before in a different thread, I use to train with a martial arts organization, the Bujinkan. Hatsumi Masaaki, the head of the Bujinkan and soke (grandmaster) for many years use to publicly make the claim that he was "Takamatsu Sensei's only student" and "Only I attended his funeral" and "I am the only one Takamatsu taught this to" and "I teach exactly as Takamatsu taght me" or his ever famous claim "I am the only living ninja, all true ninjutsu comes trough me" and so on. Over the years, many with an interest in the history of the martial arts taught within the Bujinkan started to investigate and realized that the statements by Hatsumi were far from true. Takamatsu had many, many students. A good deal of them had students of their own and taught thing entirely different.

Many of the claims made by Hatsumi are more than a little similar to claims made by Takata. I of course am not saying that the situation is exactly the same mind you. And Hatsumi is not alone in terms of misrepresenting his martial art history, there are many arts that do the same thing. I am also not trying to imply that just because Hatsumi did it, that Takata automatically did as well. I am interested in this discussion from an academic interest. The history of Reiki is interesting, but does nothing for us in regards to Reiki's effectiveness as a system of wellness. As practitioners however, especially if we are teachers, we should be working towards an understanding as to the origins of the system.

Also, if you haven't done so yet, check out my post in your facebook post in regards to Takata Sensei

Jotaro

AlienProgeny wrote:Hahah, yep, that's the one! I bought the CD and transcript about 6 months ago. This was my second listen through. There is a lot of wonderful info there to think about.

But once again, I have to play the devil's advocate. As I mentioned before in a different thread, I use to train with a martial arts organization, the Bujinkan. Hatsumi Masaaki, the head of the Bujinkan and soke (grandmaster) for many years use to publicly make the claim that he was "Takamatsu Sensei's only student" and "Only I attended his funeral" and "I am the only one Takamatsu taught this to" and "I teach exactly as Takamatsu taght me" or his ever famous claim "I am the only living ninja, all true ninjutsu comes trough me" and so on. Over the years, many with an interest in the history of the martial arts taught within the Bujinkan started to investigate and realized that the statements by Hatsumi were far from true. Takamatsu had many, many students. A good deal of them had students of their own and taught thing entirely different.

Many of the claims made by Hatsumi are more than a little similar to claims made by Takata. I of course am not saying that the situation is exactly the same mind you. And Hatsumi is not alone in terms of misrepresenting his martial art history, there are many arts that do the same thing. I am also not trying to imply that just because Hatsumi did it, that Takata automatically did as well. I am interested in this discussion from an academic interest. The history of Reiki is interesting, but does nothing for us in regards to Reiki's effectiveness as a system of wellness. As practitioners however, especially if we are teachers, we should be working towards an understanding as to the origins of the system.

It's beneficial to give a devil's advocate view!

sure, though we should all be clear as to what exactly Takata sensei has misrepresented. A failure of a few to verify things said in the audio, doesn't mean that she wasn't acurate in what she said. You, I or anyone else might find the verification at any time, if we chose to look. And also, she's on this audio saying that she's only repeating what Hayashi sensei told her. So for sure, Takata sensei never misrepresented anything.

AlienProgeny wrote:
Also, if you haven't done so yet, check out my post in your facebook post in regards to Takata Sensei

Aha! so you're on facebook at last! Hey, i can't find you're post, is it in the forum group, or the Usui Shiki Ryoho one buddy?

warmest wishes
Wayne

Milarepa wrote:

So, with Takata sensei's Master certificate mentioning 'system' 3 times, yet the use of the suffix being in line with 'style', is my only new point. Though still is relevant to Jotaro's topic points.

Hello Wayne,

I think it is not the case that shiki is being translated as "style" in one place and "system" in another but where the word "system" is used it is a translation of the "ho" in "ryoho". A friend tells me that this word "ho" that is usually given as "Method" in English also can be understood as "a principle or model to follow in doing something" and can have the translation of "system". So "Usui Reiki system of natural healing" might be a way of saying "Usui Reiki Ryoho" Usui Reiki Ryo ("Natural Healing") Ho ("System")


EZRI

Ahh, this is very interesting! Muxch appreciation for sharing this.


(See everyone, i did say he knew more than me, hehe)

EzriReiki wrote:

AlienProgeny wrote:
3) That brings me to my last question. I am looking for information from anyone who has read John Grey's book "Hand to Hand". I am a student of The International house of Reiki and as a part of my Okuden training it was recommended that we read Frans and Bronwen Stiene's "Your Reiki Treatment". In the Stiene's book, it quotes "Hand to Hand" as saying - "On many occasions while John was her student, Takata said, 'I have simplified the system.'". So, if this is the case, are we back to square one?

Hello Jotaro

You can ask John about this directly, using the contact form on his web site http://learnreiki.org/contact.htm


EZRI

Hi Jotaro

Just in case there is a delay in John replying to you, you may be interested in this excerpt from my notes I made when I read John Gray's book "Hand to Hand":

According to John Harvey Gray, Hawayo Takata was given a copy of Chijiro Hayashi’s Healing Guide in 1941. He says that because of the high degree of complexity and redundancy (lots of the conditions listed use similar sets of hand positions), Takata felt that all this information would be repetitive and confusing for Western students.

Over time, with increasing experience and study, Takata found that she could achieve the same results as using Hayashi’s complex system by using “a series of hand placements covering key points in certain patterns on the body”. Takata combined several of the hand positions in Dr Hayashi’s Manual, standardising the positions so that every Reiki treatment was the same. This became what Takata called the “foundation treatment” and it made the system much easier to learn. On many occasions when John was with Takata as a student she said “I have simplified the system”.

The foundation treatment originally consisted of four basic hand positions on the torso and 3 on the head (none over the heart or back). She also supplemented the foundation treatment with “optional” positions, which were based on the client’s condition and where the problem was physically located. “Go to the problem” she would say.

John went on to make the system less simple (apparently with Takata's full knowledge and encouragement) by developing the Usui-Gray Integrated Reiki System (r), which added eight back positions, heart/thymus and four on the head and face. Later the knees and feet were added. There was also a six step protocol to follow for all treatments done using the Usui-Gray System:

Counselling

Scanning (including chakras and edge of aura)

Opening Spiral (sending energy into each chakra moving clockise spirally from the heart)

The Three Patterns (the groups of hands positions on torso, head and neck, back and feet)

Closing Spiral (chakras again but moving anti-clockwise from transpersonal chakra back to heart)

Smoothing the Aura.

So we can see that, according to John, Takata did make changes in an effort to simplify but John made even more changes by adding things in he wasn't taught by Takata.

For those who may be interested, here are some other interesting snippets from notes I have made from John Harvey Gray's book "Hand to Hand", concerning Takata:

No need for special preparation or mental concentration on the part of the practitioner for a Reiki session. The cells of the body determine how much Reiki flows: the more depleted the cells, the stronger the Reiki flow. Takata called it “automatic concentration”.

Takata would often give Reiki treatments seated cross-legged on the floor.

Takata emphasised that for complete healing after an injury it was necessary to “Release the shock from the adrenal glands. There will not be complete healing after an injury if you don’t release the shock from the adrenals.”

On one of the more than 20 tapes John Harvey made of Takata teaching he says she discusses “travelling to Japan to teach her approach to Reiki. While there she met some citizens who were actively practicing and preserving Reiki as they understood it in Japan. Takata regarded their approach as entirely valid, but inappropriate for the West. It was highly complex, required years of training and was closely intertwined with religious practices. She felt that these factors would deter students in the West and hobble the spread of Reiki through the world at a time when, in her view, it was urgently needed.”

In 1982, John was given a copy of a book called ‘Leiki’, compiled by Alice Takata Furumoto (Hawayo’s daughter). This was a compilation of notes and photographs that belonged to her mother and also contained a copy of Takata’s Master certificate, signed by Chujiro Hayashi. There were also 40 pages written in kanji characters. Around 1997, Lourdes, John’s current wife, discovered this book in John’s private library and they had it translated. It turned out to be “a treatment guide specially established for the United States by the Hayashi Reiki Research Institute”, which “sets out recommended hand placements for specific ailments and injuries.”

Interestingly, the original manuscript was written using two types of characters: a simpler form (presumably hiragana) alongside the more complex kanji (Chinese characters). John makes the assumption that although Takata did read and speak Japanese, she wasn’t as fluent as a native Japanese person, so the simplified characters were put there for her benefit.

The sub-title of this manuscript was “Use your fingers as an acupuncturist would use needles”.

good stuff buddy.

yeah if she did teach somewhat diferent, she did give some of her students that Hayashi manual.

Some things are at odds with what John's worte though.

Takata sensei always said she taught as Hayashi sensei taught her. and Fran Brown went to Japan to meet Chiyoko Yamguchi. You know what i'm gonna say. when they compared things, including initiations, Chiyoko said Fran was the only person in the west teaching Hayashi Reiki. and Fran always taught the way Takata sensei taught her, maybe even down to mannerisms (?), hehe. Hayakuten Inamoto was the translator for the meeting. If Takata sensei did change things, then Chiyoko wouldn't have said that, and Fran wouldn't have told others also.

but this is all very interesting in itself!

Milarepa wrote:good stuff buddy.

yeah if she did teach somewhat diferent, she did give some of her students that Hayashi manual.

Maybe...but since it was written in Japanese it would not have made much sense to her non-Japanese students. John Gray kept it hidden away in his private library for 15 years and, although he was aware of its historical interest he had no idea what the Kanji pages said until his wife asked him to get it translated in 1997!

Who says lateral thinking is important, hehe. dunno what didn't motivate the students to go get a translation of a Japanese book their Reiki teacher gives them. It maybe wasn't important enough for them?

Edit: re: Takata sensei seeing Reiki folks in Japan. didn't she say something along th elines of she brought it back into Japan? And did Meiko Mitsui find any Reiki folk. Not including hiroshis' later claim of Gakkai? and it's weird that Arjava Peter would say Reiki was so much in demand when he taught it, if it was already being taught. Very conflicting stuff, from John.

Hi Colin,
Thanks for posting that! I did e-mail John, but haven't gotten a respnse yet.

One thing I have been thinking about however is that Hayashi Sensei may be the one who turned Reiki into what we know today. I have heard even before Wayne mentioned it about Fran Brown's meeting with Ms. Yamaguchi, and the comments made by Ms. Yamaguchi in regards to Fran Brown's methods. To me that is an impressive bit of support for what it is that Takata Sensei taught. However, when I decided to first post my thoughts here, it wasn't to discuss changes that Takata Sensei may have made (while I did put the point in the original post) my main point is in regards to Hayashi. My line of thinking in this matter is on if Hayashi Sensei might have made changes (due to his religion or his military carreer) to the system. The fact of Ms. Yamaguchi commenting on what Takata Sensei taught Fran Brown (to me anyways) isn't really the issue. It would only serve to support the idea that it was Hayashi that "changed" things in the system. Both Takata Sensei and Ms. Yamaguchi were trained by Hayashi Sensei around the same time (in the mid-30's). It would make sense that there would be a great deal in common between lines.

Usui Sensei died in 1926. The story that goes around would have us believe that Hayashi ran a Usui style dojo and the started his Hayshi Reiki Kenkyukai. Could it be that this is when he made some changes? I know that Kenkyukai is a "Research Association", but could this be an effort to difference what he was practicing as compared to Usui?

Jotaro

Wayne Posted
[/Edit: re: Takata sensei seeing Reiki folks in Japan. didn't she say something along th elines of she brought it back into Japan?

Are you talking about this photo? http://www.aetw.org/reiki_koushukai.htm

If so, then there is a problem. It is dated as 1937, and Takata sensei wasn't a "Master" until 1938. I know she mentioned in one of her talks about teaching a level one class in Japan, and there are some opinions about the reiju debate concening the students wanting to continue learning after she never returned. I do believe that she taught a class or two in Japan for the record.

Jotaro