Some of my faithful readers have asked for a brief history of Reiki and how it spread across the world. Well, I'm not an historian, myself, but I read an amazing book who used first hand Japanese translations of the history itself. I will, of course, provide references at the bottom of this page.
Reiki, the word itself, in Japanese, actually stands for any kind of bioenergy work and is a fairly generic term...Rei meaning "universal" and Ki meaning "life force energy."
Reiki as the healing practice we know it to be comes from Mikao Usui, who was very curious about medicine and various healing practices. It is understood that around Spring of 1922, Usui went on a fasting retreat to Mount Kurama. At that time, he received the vibrational energy of Reiki. A maverick of his time, after testing the efficacy on his close family members, Usui sought to share this system with his fellow citizens, and initiated over 2000 Japanese students into Reiki practice. Interestingly enough, Usui referred to his practice as the "Secret of Happiness" and the "Secret of Medicine."
Because this is meant to be a brief history, I won't be going into how it came to the West, except to say it was from the Herculean efforts of Mrs. Hiwayo Takata, a truly amazing woman. You can read more about her in great detail at the referenced book below.
Reiki does have a spiritual side to it...mainly because we mere mortals have no idea what else to call vibrational energy. Westerners argue, "is it spiritual or medicinal?" The answer? Both? Neither? My question to the argumentative is this: Does it matter as long as it brings positive healing results?
Reference:
Miles, P. (2006). Reiki: A Comprehensive Guide. New York, NY: Penguin Books (USA) Inc.
ISBN: 1-58542-474-9
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