Lineage

Lineage is the unbroken chain of teacher-to-student transmission that traces a Reiki practitioner all the way back to the founder, Mikao Usui. Each time a teacher passes an attunement (reiju) to a student, a link is added to a line of connection reaching across a century — a way of honouring where the practice comes from and how it has been carried forward.

The classic line. The most widespread Western branches descend through a recognizable succession: Mikao Usui taught Chūjirō Hayashi, who taught Hawayo Takata, who carried Reiki from Japan to Hawaii and the West, initiating the teachers from whom most modern schools branch.

Why it's valued. A clear lineage is traditionally seen as a mark of authenticity — evidence that a practitioner's connection was passed on within a living stream of practice, rather than improvised. Many teachers can name each link between themselves and Usui.

A living thread. More than a credential, lineage expresses belonging: a sense of standing within a long current of healers, each entrusted with the practice and responsible for passing it on faithfully.

To know one's lineage is to know one's spiritual family — the hands through which the energy has been passed, teacher to student, down to today.