Mrs Takata was born December 24, 1900 in Hanamaulu, on the island of Kauai, Hawaii. Her parents were Japanese immigrants and her father worked in the sugar cane plantation on Kauai. She eventually married the bookkeeper of the plantation where she was employed. His name was Saichi Takata and they had two daughters together. In October 1930 Saichi died at the age of 34, leaving Mrs Takata to raise their two children.

Mrs Takata had to work extremely hard to compensate for the loss of her husband’s wage. As a result, her health began to suffer and after 5 years she developed severe abdominal pain, a lung condition and had a nervous breakdown.

Soon after this, one of her sisters died and it was Mrs Takata’s responsibility to travel to Japan where her parents had resettled to deliver the news. She also felt she could receive help for her health in Japan.

The hospital diagnosed her with a tumour, gallstones, appendicitis and asthma. She was told to prepare for an operation but opted to visit Hayashi’s clinic instead. Mrs Takata was unfamiliar with Reiki but she was very impressed that the diagnosis by the Reiki practitioners closely matched the one she had been given by the hospital and decided to begin treatment with them.

Over the next few months she attended the Reiki clinic on a daily basis. Not only did she experience the wonder of Reiki first hand, making a complete recovery, she also saw Reiki in action with other people. The results spoke for themselves and Mrs Takata knew she had to learn the art herself.

In the Spring of 1936 she received 1st Degree Reiki from Dr Hayashi. As already mentioned, Dr Hayashi knew that the Second World War was coming and that many of the men he taught Reiki would be called on to fight and die. He also knew that a woman would have a greater chance of surviving this madness and so Mrs Takata became the beneficiary of this insight. She then worked with him for a year and received 2nd degree initiation.

Mrs Takata returned to Hawaii in 1937 and opened her own Reiki clinic. In 1938 Dr Hayashi travelled to Hawaii and ensured the continuance of Reiki by initiating Mrs Takata as a Reiki Master.

Mrs Takata practised Reiki in Hawaii, establishing several clinics. She gave treatments and initiated students up to Reiki II. It was not until after 1970 that Hawayo Takata began initiating Reiki Masters. She charged a fee of $10,000 for Mastership even though it only took a weekend. She also set fees for Reiki 1 at $175 and Reiki 2 at $500. This high fee was not part of the Usui system and she may have charged this fee as her way of creating a feeling of respect for Reiki. She said that one should never do treatments or provide training for free but should always charge a fee or get something in return.

In addition she did not provide written instruction and no one was to make written copies of the symbols. She said that Reiki is an oral tradition and had to be memorised. She didn’t always teach the same way and in at least one class, she allowed her students to take notes and gave them handouts. It is not sure why she said Reiki is an oral tradition. Mrs Takata received a Reiki manual from Dr Hayashi as part of her training, but she taught in a different way.

Before Mrs Takata made her transition on December 11, 1980, she had initiated 22 Reiki Masters. Mrs Takata had made each one take a sacred oath to teach Reiki exactly as she had taught. This made it difficult for most of them to change, even though some of her rules made it even more difficult to learn, which seemed to go against the nature of Reiki.

After Dr Hayashi had died and WW2 ended, Mrs Takata stated that all other Reiki Masters in Japan had died during the war and she was only Reiki Master in the world. Therefore, most people refrained from researching the history of Reiki, thinking she was the only authority. Many of the Masters she initiated also discouraged people from doing such research, stating it was not needed as their knowledge of Reiki was complete. Add to all this the fact that the Gakkai had become a secret society along with the linguistic, cultural and geographic barriers that separated the United States from Japan, and it’s easy to see why most authors simply accepted her story as true without seeking verification.

Most did not realise that the organization started by Mikao Usui still existed in Japan and that contact with them, while difficult, was still possible.