Mikao Usui, founder of modern day Reiki.

Chujiro Hayashi studied directly under the founder of modern day Reiki, Dr. Mikao Usui. Hayashi-sensei is credited with opening the first Reiki clinic in Tokyo, Japan where Reiki practitioners worked in pairs to heal clients who visited the clinic. It is believed that Dr. Hayashi was the one responsible for categorizing the Reiki attunements into three degrees and for devising the system and practice of using a specific order of hand positions during a Reiki treatment.

Hawayo Takata is largely responsible for having insured that the Reiki legacy (as taught to her by her teacher, Chujiro Hayashi, and his teacher, the founder of modern day Reiki, Mikao Usui) was brought to the West before the outbreak of World War II. During her life, she attuned 22 students to the Degree of Reiki Master. Throughout her adult life, she healed and taught Reiki in Hawaii and on the mainland of the United States.