The story of Reiki and its origin is an ancient one. The traditional Reiki story begins in the 1800’s with Mikao Usui’s quest to discover how to heal the body. His travels eventually led him to Mount Kurama-yama in Japan where he went to fast and meditate for a 21 day retreat. There he received visions of the sacred symbols he had found during his studies. He was attuned to this powerful healing energy and had gained an understanding of how to transfer this gift to others.
But the story of this healing modality, later called Reiki, goes back much, much further than the time of Usui. It is thought that Reiki originated with the planet, and the Indian god we know as Shiva was responsible for bringing Reiki here. It is a part of every one of us, and was once universal. In early civilization all people were attuned to Reiki, but over time changes on earth resulted in cultural disorganization and caused the healing system knowledge to be lost to most people.
The story continues with Buddha and many of his disciples who were known as “The Great Physicians”, healing body, mind and emotions. Later Jesus was said to have the same ability to heal and he trained his disciples as well. Unfortunately over time the healing methods only remained active with Buddhist adepts who used it but kept it within themselves.
And that brings us back to the “discovery” of Reiki by Usui. I’d recommend reading “Essential Reiki” by Diane Stein to get a more in depth understanding of the story.