What follows is a basic 'Timeline' - setting currently accepted (2003/4) Reiki-related-events (from the birth of Mikao Usui, to the death of Chujiro Hayashi) in the broader context of Japanese society at the time.

[NOTE:This document is continually being amended as clearer information becomes available. This current version therefore supercedes all other versions which have been posted on other websites, various newsgroups, or made otherwise available as .pdf files.]

FOR A PRINTABLE, PDF-FORMAT VERSION OF THIS DOCUMENT, CLICK HERE

Tuesday,
Aug 15
1865 Mikao Usui born in the village of Taniai, Gifu Prefecture, Japan.
Apr 25, 1867 Tokyo opened for foreign trade
1867 With the assistance of a gun-carrying Samurai named Ryoma Sakamoto, the feudal government system was toppled and the Tokugawa Shogunate gave up power.
1868 Beginning of Meiji period (see: MEIJI, USUI & SHUGENDO )
1869 Emperor relocated Japan's Capital from Kyoto to Edo, renamed Tokyo ("Eastern Capital")
1869 Mikao Usui believed by some to have been sent to a Tendai Monastery School
Feb 3
1870 Proclamation of the Great Doctrine which restored Shinto - also known as: Kami no Michi ('the Way of the Kami') as the guiding principle of the nation. Every Japanese citizen required to register at the Shrine of the local Kami of his residence - i.e. the local Shinto Temple (not at Buddhist Temples, as is mistakenly stated by several Reiki researchers)

Jun 27
1871
The Yen became the new form of currency in Japan.
1871 Samurai class banned from carrying swords
Apr 1872 An Imperial Edict gives state permission for Buddhist monks to eat meat, grow their hair, marry and have children, take on a family name, and to refrain from wearing robes except when performing services
1873 Centuries-old ban on Christianity lifted, and compulsory registration at local Shinto shrines was terminated after vigorous criticism from many
Apr 11 1873 Toshihiro Eguchi born in Kumamoto
1877 Last Revolt by the Samurai class is quelled
1877/78 It is said by some that at the age of 12 Usui-Sensei began martial arts training - studying either 'Yagyu Ryu' or 'Yagyu Shinkage Ryu' - martial arts incorporating Ken-Jutsu (swordsmanship) and Ju-jutsu (unarmed combat). He would go on to gain his Menkyo Kaiden (teachers licence) in his 20's.
Sept 15, 1880 Chujiro Hayashi born in Tokyo
1882 The central Bank of Japan was established.
Apr 4, 1884 Isoroku Yamamoto was born. As a Japanese Naval Commander, he would go on to mastermind the attack on Pearl Harbour.
Feb 9, 1885 The first Japanese arrived in Hawaii.
1887 Chujiro Hayashi's wife, Chie born
1888-92 It had been claimed by some that during this period (- apparently as a result of a Cholera-induced, profound near-death experience in which he is said to have received visions of Mahavairochana Buddha) Usui-Sensei converted from Tendai to the other Major Branch of Japanese Mikkyo (Esoteric) Buddhism - the Shingon school [ - however, the source of this information has recently been exposed as having fabricated a considerable amount of supposed 'original' Reiki information and documents.]
Jul 23, 1894 Korean Imperial Palace in Seoul taken over byJapanese troops.
1894/5 Sino-Japanese War
Apr23, 1895 Russia, France, and Germany forced Japan to return the Liaodong peninsula to China.
1899 Japanese Government passed a statute discriminating against the northern Ainu people.
Dec 24
1900 Hawayo Kawamuru (later: Takata) born in Hanamaulu, Kauai, Hawaii.
APR 29, 1901 Hirohito, future Emperor of Japan, born.
Mar
1902 Japan formed an alliance with England.
Dec1902. Chujiro Hayashi graduated at the Japanese Naval Academy
1904 Tenko Nishida founded the Spiritual Community known as Ittôen
1904/5 Russo-Japanese War
1906 Kimiko Koyama born. We are told that from 1975 to1999, Kimiko Koyama was the 6th President of the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai , the first woman to hold the position
190? Mikao Usui married Sadako Suzuki
Feb 24, 1908 Japan officially agreed to restrict immigration to the U.S.
1908 Usui-Sensei's son, Fuji (1908-1946) born
Feb
1909 The Omoto Kyo spiritual group published the first issue of their magazine entitled: Chokurei-gun ("Direct-Spirit Army" or "Spirit direct [from Kami/God] Army")
1910 Japan officially annexed Korea.
1911 Seitosha - first Japanese feminist group founded in this year
1912 Death of the Meiji Emperor. Prince Yoshihito became the Taisho Emperor
1913 Usui-Sensei's daughter, Toshiko, born
Aug 23
1914 Japan joined the Allied side in World War I, declaring war on Germany
1914

Possible date when Usui-Sensei received the Reiki ability??. This is apparently the date given in 2 different Japanese books on Reiki?? &, according to Dave King of Usui-Do, is the date cited by Tatsumi-san [said to have been one of Hayashi-Sensei's students]
Jan, 1915 Japan took over economic control of China
1915 A Tendai Buddhist nun referred to as: 'Suzuki San', so it is claimed, becomes one of Usui Sensei's student, remaining with him until 1920
March,
1915 A book entitled Kenzon no Gebri (Health Principles), written by a Dr. Bizan (or Miyama?) Suzuki, includes the admonition:
"Just for today, do not anger, do not fear, work hard, be honest, and be kind to others."
This is almost certainly the direct source of Usui Sensei's Five Reiki Principles.
[There may have been an earlier edition of this book published in Dec.1914]
1915 Tamai Tempaku, a practitioner of the ancient art of Ampuku (abdominal massage) and student of Chinese acupoint therapy, published the first book describing his newly developed therapeutic modality, which he named 'Shiatsu'.
In the volume entitled: Shiatsu Ryoho (“Finger Pressure Method of Healing”) Tamai described the treatment of pathological conditions identified by modern Western medicine using his Shiatsu Ryoho which integrated traditional therapies, spiritual wisdom, and western models of anatomy and physiology.
1917 Gichin Funakoshi first introduced the Okinawan Martial art of te (or naha-te) to the Japanese mainland. The art is better known today as Karate
1917 Hawayo Kawamuru and Saichi Takata married
1918 Chujiro Hayashi appointed Director of Ominato Port Defense Station, at the foot of Mt Osore, Northern Japan.
1918 Japan's first Parliamentary Cabinet formed.
1918/19 Usui-Sensei said to have begun 3 year training in Zen.
1919 A therapist named Mataji Kawakami (?) published a book entitled: Reiki Ryoho To Sono Koka (Reiki Ryoho & Its Effects)
This book was not about 'Usui Reiki Ryoho'.
It seems that the term Reiki Ryoho (indicating 'Spiritual Healing') was used by several therapists, before Usui-Sensei, to describe their practices.
1920 According to Dave King, a woman now referred to as Mariko-Obaasan (- a Tendai Buddhist Nun) and her friend apparently met Usui-Sensei on Mt. Hiei (Headquarters of the Tendai sect). It is claimed that she spent almost every day from then on working with him, up to the time of his death [Note: Obaasan means grandmother and is simply a term of respect, not part of a name]
1920 Mrs Chiyoko Yamaguchi (founder of Jikiden Reiki) born
1920/21 Toshihiro Eguchi, a friend of Usui-Sensei spent several months working and studying with Usui-Sensei
1921 Usui-Sensei believed to have begun working as secretary to Goto Shinpei, head of the Department of Health and Welfare, who had from 1898 to 1906 been head of the civil administration of Taiwan, and would later (1922) become the Mayor of Tokyo.
April 1921 Usui Sensei believed to have incorporated the gokai (the 'five principles' or 'precepts') into his teachings.
Nov 25, 1921 Hirohito became Regent of Japan.
March 1922 Possible date when Usui-Sensei received the Reiki ability??
Kurama Yama (MT Kurama), about a 30 minute train ride from the old capital of Kyoto, is said to be the mountain in where Mikao Usui carried out his 21-day meditation, and on the 21st day experienced the phenomenon that is Reiki.
[However, others have previously suggested that it was in fact Koya Yama (MT Koya) and not Kurama Yama which was the place.]
Whatever the case, prior to this date, Usui-Sensei is said to have been practicing and teaching his own personal system of self -development involving [so it is claimed] teachings which, while Buddhist in origin, are said to have included some 'Shinto energy practices'.
[However, research in progress (2006) would seem to indicate that Usui-sensei's system may actually have been strongly influenced by the philosophy of the Omoto Kyo spiritual group]
Apparently he did not really have a name for the system -though it is referred to by some as: 'Usui Do' - 'Usui Way'
April 1922 Usui-Sensei opened his first training centre (some call it a "clinic") in Harajuku, Aoyama, Tokyo.
His 'motto' for the training centre was:
"Unity of self through harmony and balance".
It is also claimed by some that Usui-Sensei founded Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai (Usui Reiki Healing Method Learning Society) at this time, though others maintain that the Gakkai was actually founded by a number of his senior students sometime after Usui-Sensei's death.
1922 Usui-Sensei supposed to have used the Reiju empowerment method for the first time in Harajuku, Tokyo.
Nov 17th, 1922 Albert Einstein and his second wife, Elsa arrived in Japan. Staying in the country till 22nd December, he visited several Imperial Universities, lecturing on the theory of relativity. [While on route to Japan Einstein learned that he had been awarded the Nobel Physics Prize]
1923 Usui-Sensei said to have introduced a grading system used by Jigoro Kano (creator of Judo). Thus the levels in the original Usui-Do system became:
Rokyu, Gokyu, Yankyu, Sankyu, Nikkyu (CKR symbol taught at this level), Ikkyu (SHK symbol ), Shodan (HSZSN symbol), Nidan (DKM symbol), Sandan, Yondan, Godan, Rokudan, Shichidan (/Nanadan).
This format was in use up until late 1925
1923 Toshihiro Eguchi returned to the training centre to practice his own te-no-hira (palm healing) system which apparently incorporated elements of Usui-sensei's teachings. Eguchi's system had religious overtones and included a form of blessing ceremony that Eguchi had learned from his friend Tenko Nishida - founder of the Ittoen Community
Usui-Sensei, it seems, was somewhat uncomfortable with Eguchi's approach but eventually permitted Eguchi to teach at the centre on a twice-weekly basis. He was allowed to perform the blessing ceremony, but apparently not allowed to chant a prayer element known as the Komyo Kigan .
1923 Torii gate at entrance to Amataka shrine in Taniai village erected by Usui-Sensei and his family.
1923 Over 106,000 people reported missing or killed, 500,000 injured and 694,000 houses were destroyed, in an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale - the epicentre was about 50 miles from Tokyo. Usui-Sensei apparently became quite famous as a result of helping many of the survivors, and his success and reputation with Reiki is said to have spread all over Japan.
Feb
1924 Usui-Sensei moved his Centre to larger premises in Nakano, outside of Tokyo.
Jun 26, 1924 Crown Prince Hirohito married the daughter of Prince Kuniyoshi Kuni, Nagako
1924 US passed an Immigration Act banning Japanese from emigrating to the US
1925 Taisho Government passed the Chian Iji Ho (Peace Preservation Law / Public Security Act). Primarily intended to stem the spread of Socialist thought, the Chian Iji Ho was also implemented to control the growth and activities of religious and spiritual groups considered to be promoting 'dangerous thoughts' - i.e. ideas in any way conflicting with, or critical of, the official views and doctrines of the State.
March
1925 Males over the age of 25 were given the vote
May 1925 A further group of Tendai nuns are said to have arrived at the Usui Sensei's Training Centre (staying until the November of that year).
May 1925 Chujiro Hayashi arrived at the training centre
June
1925
Chujiro Hayashi received Sandan level training from Usui-Sensei
Nov
1925

18 junior Naval Officers and the Rear Admirals: Juusaburo Gyuda (also known as Ushida) and Kanichi Taketomi
(-these latter two are believed to have been the actual founders of the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai -) joined Usui Sensei's classes.
It is said that at this point there was a sudden shift in the nature and structure of the training given at the centre, and as a result of the Rear Admirals' influence, a system of 'biofield therapeutics' - with a focus on treating others - began to emerge alongside Usui-Do
This system, apparently based in part around Eguchi's hand healing concepts - and utilising several Ki-development techniques from Eguchi's book - was being referred to as: 'Usui Reiki Ryoho' by the Naval Officers.
It has been suggested that it was also during this time that Hayashi-Sensei [perhaps under orders from the Admirals] compiled his 'healing guide' - as a basic text for this newly evolving therapeutic modality.
A new grading system came into use - grades above Nidan were dropped - and four new levels introduced, called: Shoden (first grade), Chuuden (middle grade), Okuden (inner grade) and Kaiden (grade of explanation)
It is also possible that it may have been under the influence of the Naval Officers that the Gyosei (: poems penned by the Meiji Emperor) began to be used at the start of the meetings
1925/26

Kaiji Tomita learned Reiki around this period, and later taught Reiki in the 4-level format introduced by the Naval Officers.
Apparently, his classes for the first three levels: Shoden, Chuuden and Okuden, each involved a 10-hour period of training over 5 days, and Kaiden involved 15 days training (presumably 30 hours).
Jan 1926 It seems the grading levels were apparently changed once more to: Shoden (which now included Chuuden, and had four sub-levels), Okudenzenki (previously: Okuden), Okudenkouki and Shinpiden (the latter two covering what had formerly been taught as Kaiden), with the Shinpiden level having almost the same content as the Sandan level in the grading system originally used by Usui-Sensei.
It is said that while Gyuda and Taketomi achieved the Shinpiden level of proficiency, Hayashi-Sensei had continued his training in keeping with the earlier grading system, in time achieving the level of Shichidan.
Apparently, the only other person to reach this level was Toshihiro Eguchi and it is said that both Eguchi and Hayashi-Sensei continued teaching the original Usui-Do system along with their own healing systems for several years after Usui-Sensei's death.
March 9
1926 Usui-Sensei travelled to Fukuyama town to meet with his creditors, and died there as a result of a stroke (he had apparently had several previous ones)

* * *
1926 Mariko-Obaasan and her friend remained at the training centre for some months after Usui-Sensei's death, then left.
Apparently, while they were still there, some of Usui-Sensei's remains were placed in a private shrine along with a large portrait photograph of him and the original copy of the 5 Precepts that had hung in the training centre.
1926 A few months after Usui-Sensei's death, Hayashi-Sensei (with the cooperation and assistance of Ushida and Taketomi) is believed to have moved Usui-Sensei's training centre to the Shinano Machi district (where apparently his own clinic was)
Dec 25, 1926 Hirohito became the Emperor Showa. However, he would not be formally enthroned for almost another two years
1926/27 According to some, Rear Admiral Juusaburo Gyuda and other students formed the "Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai" (Usui Reiki Healing Method Learning Society[/Association])"', posthumously honouring Usui-Sensei by naming him as the first 'president' of the society.

Feb
1927
Usui-Sensei's students said to have erected the memorial stone which amongst other things, mentions Mount Kurama as the site of Usui-Sensei's receipt of the Reiki phenomenon. The stone stands beside the Usui family tomb in the graveyard at the Saihoji temple, Tokyo.
March
1927 A marker-stone was erected atop the family tomb by Fuji Usui. The tomb would later also become the resting place for Usui-sensei's wife, Sadoko, and both their children)
1927 A woman named Chio Uno (1898-1996) scandalized Japanese society by cutting her hair short!
1928 Wasaburo Sugano (Uncle of Mrs Chiyoko Yamaguchi) learned Reiki from Hayashi Sensei
Mar 4, 1928 Article about Reiki by Shou Matsui (a student of Chujiro Hayashi ) appears in a Japanese magazine: 'The Sunday Mainichi'
1928 Toshihiro Eguchi established his own school: Eguchi Te-no-hira Ryoji Kenkyukai (Palm Treatment Research Association)
1928 A book entitled "The Essentials of Seiki Self-Healing", by Jozo Ishii was published by the Seiki Ryoho Institute. The term: Seiki translates as 'Vital Life-Force'
1929 Eguchi began teaching his healing system to members of Tenko Nishida's Ittoen Community
1930 Hayashi-Sensei had begun to restructure his own system, referred to as: Hayashi Reiki Ryoho Kenkyukai - something which would in time evolve into the therapeutic modality learned by Takata-Sensei between 1935 and 1938, and later presented by her as 'Usui Shiki Ryoho'.
1930 Hawayo Takata's husband, Saichi, died.
1930 Toshihiro Eguchi published: Te-no-hira Ryoji Nyumon (An Introduction to Healing with the Palms)
1931 Hayashi-Sensei left the Gakkai. By this time he apparently stopped teaching the original Usui-Do system, although he had conferred Shichidan status on Tatsumi and at least 11 other students.
Eguchi had also left the Gakkai by this time (some suggest he had joined the Gakkai for a year out of respect to Usui, but left because he was unhappy with the ultra-nationalistic attitudes of the Naval Officers), however he continued to teach Usui-Do alongside his own system - one of his Shichidan level students being Yuji Onuki.
1933/4 Kaiji Tomita, who, after Usui-Sensei's death, went on to establish the 'Tomita Teate Ryohokai' (Tomita Hand-Healing Centre), wrote a book entitled: Reiki To Jinjutsu - Tomita Ryu Teate Ryoho (Reiki & Humanitarian Work - Tomita Ryu Hand Healing.
1935 Chiyoko Yamaguchi's elder sister Katsue studied Reiki in Daishoji in the North of Japan
1935 Usui-Sensei's daughter, Toshiko, died
1935

Hawayo Takata travelled to Yamaguchi City, Japan to inform her parents of the death of one of her sisters, and also brought her late husband's ashes to be interred in Kyoto.
After receiving Reiki treatment for several health conditions, Hawayo Takata was accepted into a one-year internship at Hayashi-Sensei's clinic.
Some months later, Hawayo Takata moved into the Hayashi's home - essentially as an uchideshi - a live-in student who receives special training.
1936

On completion of internship, Hawayo Takata initiated into second degree
1936

It is suggested by some that Hawayo Takata and Hayashi-Sensei's wife: Chie, both received the master level initiation some time late in the year.
Oct.
1936

Takata-Sensei returned to Hawaii.
1937

Hayashi-Sensei, accompanied by his daughter, travelled to Hawaii, and they embarked on a lecture tour to promote the art of Reiki Healing.
Feb, 21
1938

Takata-Sensei certified by Chujiro Hayashi as: "a practitioner and Master of Dr. Usui's Reiki system of healing"
1938 Chiyoko Yamaguchi began studying Reiki in Daishoji in the North of Japan
Jan 1,
1940 Hawayo Takata had a nocturnal vision of Hayashi-Sensei. Fearing something was wrong, she wrote to her daughter who was living with the Hayashis while attending school in Tokyo. Although her daughter replied that all seemed well, Takata remained disturbed by the vision for some time, eventually deciding to set sail for Japan in late March
April 12,
1940 Takata arrived at Yokahama and made her way to Tokyo. On her arrival, Hayashi-Sensei instructed her to go to Kyoto and study Hydrotherapy.
May 9, 1940
Hayashi -Sensei wired Takata to come immediately to his summer Villa in Atami, near Mt. Fuji.
May 10, 1940

Cognisant of the likely entry of Japan into what we now designate W.W.II, and of the moral and ethical conflict between resuming military duty and his Reiki values, Hayashi Sensei - in the presence of Takata Sensei and his other students - committed seppuku (suicide). It is said that Hayashi-Sensei was cremated and his ashes interred at a Temple in Tokyo.
1940

Prior to committing suicide, Hayashi-Sensei apparently bequeathed his Tokyo home (and his Clinic?) to Takata-Sensei, leaving the Atami villa to his wife. It was his wish, it seems, that Takata -Sensei continue his work. However, she decided to return to Hawaii - allowing Chie Hayashi to continue to live in the Tokyo house. Chie, it seems, also took over the running of the Hayashi Reiki Ryoho Kenkyukai clinic


Partly, one assumes, as a result of Japan's entry into the war, Takata-Sensei is said to have lost contact with both the Hayashi Reiki Ryoho Kenkyukai itself and with other Japanese Reiki practitioners.

It would apparently be more than 40 years before contact with Japanese Reiki practitioners would be re-established...

[However, in one of her recorded talks, Takata Sensei states that fourteen years after Hayashi Sensei's death, she made a return visit to Japan and met with his wife Chie, handing back ownership of the Tokyo property to her]

www.aetw.org/

Some time ago I remember reading an interview in one of the Reiki magazines in which either Phyllis Furumoto, or Paul Mitchell (- her co-holder of the Office of Grandmaster in the Reiki Alliance) stated that there are actually only three Reiki symbols used in Usui Shiki Ryoho ( - meaning this in the sense of: 'in terms of giving Reiki treatment'). [We know Takata-sensei taught the sole use of DKM was for attunement.]

It was only a short while after this (-and some might say it was merely a coincidence?) that Hiroshi Doi decided to reveal yet another new snippet of 'secret Gakkai information', i.e:
that there were actually only three symbols in the Usui Reiki Ryoho system...

However, unlike the Reiki Alliance leaders, Doi's meaning was not that the DKM was solely reserved for attunement purposes. He was claiming that there were only three symbols. Period.
Three symbols - and the DKM was not one of them!

Doi claimed that the Gakkai doesn't use the DKM, not even for attunement purposes - and that Usui-sensei didn't use a 'master symbol' at all.

[Though, as Doi himself states, he has not reached the Shinpiden level in the Gakkai - so he is therefore not privy to the 'Mystery Teachings' of this level. The Gakkai (so Doi tells us) is a very formal organisation - strictly following rules of protocol and secrecy - so just how is it that he is supposedly able to say what does or does not feature in the attunement and other practices used by those who have reached the higher levels in the organisation ? ]

Hiroshi Doi's claims have apparently also been 'validated' by certain other 'cliquish' Reiki Masters, though no one is willing (or able?) to say just how they have validated them! And soon, others started to spread the story, as usual without question...

But then again, just who would they question - Doi, so we are told, is the only one with direct access to the fabled Gakkai.
(Of course, many are currently questioning whether the Gakkai actually really exists or whether its 'members' are - to put it politely 'channelled' by Doi…)

DKM - a piece of Artwork?
Hiroshi Doi would have us believe that, originally, the DKM was simply a piece of calligraphy which Usui-Sensei presented to each of his Shinpiden students.
The way Doi tells it, this piece of 'brush art', was intended as a reminder that their ultimate aim in life should be the achievement of enlightenment; but that somehow, over the years, the calligraphy evolved into an actual Reiki symbol…

Interestingly, a simple online search for DKM will eventually lead to the discovery that - hanging in a place of prominence in most modern-day Ninjutsu Dojo's - one will find a scroll bearing a piece of calligraphy which reads:
'Shiken Haramitsu DAI KO MYO'
And the purpose of this scroll?
To remind the martial arts student that their ultimate aim in life should be the achievement of enlightenment...

So, having been informed that Usui-Sensei himself practiced a form of martial art, should we view this ninjutsu-related fact as something that 'lends weight' to Hiroshi Doi's story ? Possibly.
But personally, I am more of the opinion that Doi's story about DKM simply being a piece of calligraphy may well have come into being as a result of Doi himself having 'googled' the phrase DKM - in an attempt to seek out other snippets of information about its wider usage.

So why then - if the DKM was not actually a Reiki symbol and neither the Gakkai, nor Usui-Sensei, ever even used a master symbol of any sort - does Doi himself teach the use of the DKM, as a master symbol?

Well apparently, Doi says that having been used and 'believed in' by so many Reiki practitioners over the years, the DKM has developed a life of its own, and has become empowered as a viable symbol in its own right.
(An interesting twist, I feel - that somehow we, the collective Reiki Community, rather than Usui-Sensei - are responsible for creating and empowering the 'master symbol' which we use to attune others to Usui-sensei's Reiki Phenomenon!)

If not Usui-Sensei, then who?
And if the DKM was not originally the Reiki 'master symbol' - if there wasn't even the concept of a 'master symbol' - how and when did DKM become the 'master symbol'?
Who is responsible?

[I admit I find it really quite fascinating - the way this whole process works. It's really quite a clever 'mind-game' - you claim an accepted 'fact' to be untrue, but instead of even bothering to work out a clear and rational alternative scenario, you simply offer snippets of information here and there - snippets of information that will logically invite further questions - and hey presto! this opens up a 'creative space' into which other inquiring minds are drawn, to engage in further speculation - further 'flights of revisionist fancy' - on your behalf!]

In an attempt to 'fill in the missing links' it has been suggested that Hayashi sensei may have created the concept of a 'master symbol' exclusively for Takata-sensei (as to why he should have done this - or even felt the need to do so - well, 'flights of revisionist fancy'…).

And as to why Hayashi-sensei - who, from what we can gather, was concerned with developing Reiki as a therapeutic modality (rather than a spiritual discipline) - would add to the system's 'powertools' something like the DKM which has strongly spiritual overtones, intimating as it does, of the Radiant Wisdom of Deity, well, here is yet further opportunity for 'flights of revisionist fancy'.

It has also been suggested that Takata-sensei invented the master symbol herself - which means we would have to assume that Hayashi-sensei must have either given her, shown her or at least told her about the DKM calligraphy

[It really is so easy to get drawn into this speculative 'mind-game'!]

In support of this theory that it was Takata's creation, it has been pointed out that one of Hayashi-sensei's other students, Chiyoku Yamaguchi (founder of Jikiden Reiki) didn't use or teach the DKM master symbol - she had not received it from Hayashi-sensei.
Because Hayashi-sensei did not have it to use or teach?
(Or maybe Hayashi-sensei was simply experimenting with different ways of teaching what had afterall by this time evolved into Hayashi Reiki Ryoho - perhaps this was why Chiyoko Yamaguchi didn't receive the DKM?)

But there is also another possible explanation why Chiyoko Yamaguchi didn't receive the DKM:

Some time back on at least one Reiki forum, questions were raised about whether or not Chiyoko Yamaguchi ever actually undertook the Master Level with Hayashi-sensei. [Not long after this, we were told she had actually completed her training, not with Hayashi-sensei, but with her uncle, Wasaburo Sugano, who it seems was one of Hayashi-sensei's master-level students.]

It was commented that (interestingly I thought), it was only after her son, Tadao, had attended a 'western' style Reiki seminar that the Yamaguchi's began to talk about Mrs Yamaguchi's training with Hayashi-sensei…

[Thinking about it, it is worth noting that Jikiden Reiki - which is supposed to be exactly as Hayash-senseii taught Mrs Yamaguchi - actually offers Reiki training in a format similar to how Takata-sensei would later develop and simplify it for western students - whereas Takata-sensei's own training had taken the form of an apprenticeship or internship - spending a year in Hayashi-sensei's clinic and then later completing her studies with Hayashi-sensei on a Reiki tour in Hawaii... ]

Mrs. Yamaguchi claimed she used have a number of notes (apparently copied from Hayashi-Sensei'sown Reiki notes), but that these were later lost in a fire during a time when she was living in Manchuria. Her certificates seem to have also gone the same way...


But all this is beginning to lead away from the issue of Hiroshi Doi's 'mind-game' claims that originally DKM was not the 'master symbol' - not a Reiki symbol at all…

Just as well, though, because if you were expecting a nice neat conclusion to this piece, there isn't one.

Because, at this point I'd just like to introduce yet another new snippet of 'secret Gakkai information', courtesy of Hiroshi Doi.

According to Doi, the most important and powerful Reiki symbol is the HSZSN…
www.aetw.org/