old, a retired Captain in the Japanese

Navy, when he started his

Reiki training with Mikao Usui in

1925. He and fellow Naval officers

to have been Usui.s final students.

It.s believed that Usui met them

while giving healings at a Naval

base, and that Hayashi convinced

him to accept the 3 officers as

Reiki students. They were certainly

not characteristic of his other

students, and some of Usui.s

friends are even said to have been

upset that he would teach his

spiritual method to military men.

In Hayashi.s case at least, it seems the teachings were not very

spiritually oriented. Hayashi was a medical doctor and a Christian,

and his interest was in using Reiki to heal diseases. Also,

Usui.s death in March of 1926 cut short Hayashi.s training; he

had not by then reached the point of learning to give empowerments,

and apparently was taught some form of Reiju after the formation

Dr. Hayashi was involved in the beginning of the Gakkai, but left

it early on, definitely by 1931 if not before.

Following Usui.s death in 1926, Hayashi took charge of Usui.s

.learning place. and moved it to a different area of Tokyo

(Shinano Machi). With the help of Taketomi and Ushida, he taught

original Usui methods there and operated a hospice. In 1931 he

changed the name to Hayashi Reiki Kenkyu-kai (.Hayashi Reiki

Research Center.) and began teaching in his own way (which

caused his student Tatsumi and others to separate from him).

became his student. She returned home to Hawai.i, where Dr.

Hayashi certified her in 1938 as a .Master of Dr. Usui.s Reiki

system of healing.. Their relationship and their personal philosophies

would define Reiki outside Japan for the remainder of

the 20th century.

On May 10, 1940, in front of his family and a group of his Reiki

could not go to war (he knew World War II was about to begin, and

that he would be ordered to serve in it).