Biography of Dr. Mikao Usui

Family background

Dr. Mikao Usui was born on August 15, 1865 in the village of Yago in Yamagata region, in Japan, where his family had lived for 11 generations. His family was of Buddhist tradition, so when the boy was 4, his family sent him to a Buddhist monastery to get his primary education.

Social and political changes in Japan

Mikao Usui grew up in an age of turmoil for the Japanese society. Christianity was banned and Japan closed its doors to the Western world until the 1850's and it became legal again only in 1873.

But before that, it is known that Usui travelled to China, America and Europe for a few times to learn about the Western culture and civilization. This exchange of ideas was possible during the Meiji era as the Emperor installed a new regime that defeated the Shoguns and so Japan started its modernization process.

Usui's education

Young Mikao Usui pursued higher education and became a doctor in Japanese literature. He was fluent in Chinese, English and Sanskrit and took a keen interest in western medicine, theology and philosophy. Like many scholars of that time, he was fascinated by the new science coming from the West.

The times of change made people want to cling on to their ancient traditions, while also adopting the new. This is what he did when he founded Usui Reiki.

Life threatening illness

Around the year 1900, Mikao Usui became extremely ill and nearly died during an epidemic, when he had some visions of Buddha. It was a life-changing event that made him reassess his life.

He became highly interest in the teachings of spiritual healers and esoteric Buddhist holistic healing and after his recovery he started to share his experiences with his family and priest. But they were furious when he told them about having visions of Enlightened Deities and they made him leave the temple.

Eager to solve his problems and explain his vision with Buddha, he met a Buddhist priest who eventually recognized his immense capabilities and accepted him as a student. He later became a devoted Shingon Buddhist, which infuriated his family even more and they excluded him from the family.

The self - attunement

Mikao Usui had ideas ahead of his time, as he looked for a way to make these Buddhist healing methods available to everyone, without the need for such long and tedious practices.

In 1914, he went on a meditation camp to find the answers he was looking for. The legend says that he went to a meditation place on Mount Kurama and pursued an intensive fast for 21 days.

During his "satori" (enlightenment), he understood how working with reiki energy might help him in some of his problems. And ultimately, after many years of study and practice he found a way to combine the basics of these Buddhist techniques, which later became known as the Reiki system.

After the attunement

He first tested the newly discovered techniques on himself and then his friends. At the same time, he continued to meet regularly with his Buddhist disciples and began to develop and improve the Usui reiki system.

In 1922, he built a Usui Reiki treatment house in Harajuku, near Tokyo. He became extremely famous all over Japan and started to receive more and more invitations from all over the country to come and teach his healing methods.

After the Kanto Earthquake in 1923, he offered his help with the victims. Because of the high demand for unlimited reiki system natural healing, he opened a larger Usui reiki clinic in Nakano, Tokio, in 1925. He received an award from the Emperor (like an honorary doctorate), for having done extremely honorable work for the community.

The end and his legacy

Mikao Usui's intense schedule started to affect his health and on March 9, 1926, while he was in Fukuyama, he died of a stroke at 62. His body was burnt and his ashes lie in a Temple in Tokyo.

Shortly after his death, the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai (Usui Reiki Healing Method Learning Society) was created and was led by some of Mikao Usui's senior students. Current membership of the reiki university is limited and is only invitation-based.

Other articles about Usui's Reiki:

> Origin of Usui Reiki level system
> Meditation techniques used by Dr.Mikao
> Usui's Spiritual Enlightenment
>Mikao Usui - forming Reiki Ryoho
>Divine Intervention Dr.Usui
> Discover the story of Chujiro Hayashi
> Hawayo Takata and Chie Hayashi - First women as Reiki masters