HISTORY OF HAWAYO TAKATA
Much of Takata's history is known so far, however some points should be made regarding her story. Since Takata learned reiki from Hayashi, Takata never received master level - she received Shinpiden (Reiki 3) in 1938. In 1937, Takata travelled Hawaii with Hayashi teaching reiki. After she received Shinpiden level, she began to train students to Okuden level (Reiki 2). It was in 1970 when she began to train others to Shinpiden level, which she called "Master" level. (In the book, The Spirit of Reiki, a copy of Takata's reiki certificate is shown conferring on her the title of Master in Usui Reiki. However, it has been argued that at the time only the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai could confer on anyone the title of Master.) She called the healing style Usui Reiki. However, since she never met Usui and was trained by Hayashi, she never learned Usui's techniques directly. Takata added many rules and restrictions to reiki. She insisted that it was an oral tradition, although reportedly she let some students tape record her classes. She also charged a high fee of $10,000 for Reiki Master level. No one really knows why she charged such a high fee. Some speculate that since she was teaching reiki in such short a time, the high fee paid showed that the student was really willing to dedicate herself to reiki. Instead of dedicating yourself by spending time apprenticing, you would dedicate yourself through time spent raising money to pay for reiki. Apparently, some were willing to pay the high fee as Takata attuned 22 Reiki Masters by the time she died. It is through Takata and her students that reiki was able to grow and spread outside of Japan as a healing practice. It is not clear whether Takata learned reiki as an enlightenment system - if she did, she never taught it as one.
Following is a list of the 22 Reiki "Masters" taught by Takata:
Virgina Samdahl
Ethel Lombardi
John Harvey Gray
Dorothy Baba (deceased)
Bethel Phaigh (deceased)
Harry Kuboi
Fran Brown
Barbara McCullough
Kay Yamashita (Takata's sister)
Iris Ishikuro (Takata's cousin - deceased)
Phyllis Lei Furumoto (Takata's successor, formed the Reiki Alliance)
Shinobu Saito May
Barbara Weber Ray
Beth Gray
Paul Mitchell
Rick Bockner
Barbara Brown
Wanja Twan
George Araki
Patricia Ewing
Ursula Baylow
Mary McFayden
LIST OF SOURCES
Empowerment Through Reiki by Paula Horan
The Power of Reiki: An Ancient Hands-on Healing Technique by Tanmaya Honervogt
Reiki: A Piatkus Guide by Penelope Quest
Essential Reiki: A Complete Guide to an Ancient Healing Art by Diane Stein
The Spirit of Reiki: The Complete Handbook of the Reiki System by Walter Lubeck, Frank Arjava Petter, William Lee Rand
Reiki Level 1 Training Manual given to me by Nancy Peel
http://angelreiki.nu/level1/level1.htm
http://www.reiki.org/FAQ/HistoryOfReiki.html
Copyright C.J. Chow October 2004
