Eguchi Toshihiro and Palm Healing Part 1

There has been a great deal of interest in the history of the system of Reiki in recent years. This interest has occasionally hit brick walls and impasses and has not been unlike piecing together an historical jigsaw puzzle. There are pieces of information that people have been sitting on and then there are those pieces that remain unturned. Naturally, there will also be missing pieces to this puzzle, ones that have fallen through the cracks or been swept away never to return.

One person whose name recently has appeared on a number of different pieces of the puzzle is Eguchi Toshihiro. Some people today believe that he influenced the teachings of Usui Mikao particularly through his deep knowledge of Shinto practice[i]. This is reflected largely in what we now know as Level II or Okuden in the system of Reiki.

From the early 1900s Japan was in a great popular health movement that continued well up to its entry into World War II. Not only was Usui developing a practice that would initially be taught to hundreds but so were many other seekers and searchers including Eguchi.

Japanese culture appears to have always held a special place for hand or palm healing within its natural laws. Palm healing in Japan has been practiced as an element of Buddhism since ancient times and similar concepts are currently in use with the popular deity Binzuru as an example. Here the devotee seeks to experience healing by rubbing his/her body's physical equivalent on the statue of Binzuru.

Usui Mikao, the Usui Reiki Ryôhô Gakkai and Eguchi Toshihiro In 2000 a book was published in Japan about Eguchi and his healing techniques called Tenohira-ga Byoki-o Naosu (Cure Your Illness with Your Palms) written by Mihashi Kazuo. This book sheds some light on what was taught and practiced by Eguchi. Though it does not mention Usui himself it does briefly discuss Eguchi's dealings with the Usui Reiki Ryôhô from 1926 onwards. This is most likely the Usui Reiki Ryôhô Gakkai (Usui Spiritual Energy Healing Method Society) that still exists in Japan today. The author's knowledge of Eguchi was drawn from a number of out of print books, written by Eguchi and others. Our article on Eguchi is comprised of factual information from Tenohira-ga Byoki-o Naosu with the noted inclusion of additional information from other sources such as Professor Judith Rabinovitch (her sources being various Japanese texts including a chronology of his life, prepared in 'note' form by Eguchi), Suzuki san and Chris Marsh.

Eguchi Toshihiro (photo on the left) was born on the 11th of April 1873 in Kumamoto, Japan and died on the 10th of June 1946. Around 8 years Usui's junior, his health had never been very good and he often fainted and had chest problems. At one point in his youth he was not accepted into the ‘Army Cadet School' due to problems encountered in the physical entry test. Later when he was admitted to the University of Tôkyô he fainted during the University examination. Eguchi was known to have dropped some subjects due to his weak health yet he still managed to graduate eventually becoming a principal of a school in Nagano.

According to Tenohira-ga Byoki-o Naosu, a lady called Tamura introduced Eguchi to the Usui Reiki Ryôhô in 1926; he was 53 years old at that time. Eguchi was living in Shibuya, Tôkyô and Eguchi wrote "50 yen was/is a high price to pay for admission to the group (nyûkai is the term), and moreover, at each meeting, one has to pay 1 yen[ii] further. So, while I thought that this [my training] was very important, having to pay fifty yen for this kind of thing just didn't make sense to me."[iii] Eguchi believed that people practising palm healing should never ask large fees for the service as it is a natural gift that everyone is born with and he also believed it may have been possible to collect a person's karma. He also noted that a current teacher of the Usui Reiki Ryôhô was Taketomi Kanichi (1878-1960) who, as a Rear Admiral in the Japanese navy, was well off financially. After 2 years Eguchi took action saying he had 'seen through to the unjustness (iwarenaki wo) of the high fees' writing a formal letter of resignation (taikai-todoke ) from the group and submitting it to Naval Officer (Rear Admiral) Ushida Jûzaburô (1865-1935), "head of the Usui-kai." [iv]

Moving on to begin his own school, with his own ideas and his ‘declared independence'[v], Eguchi created the Tenohira Ryôji Kenkyû Kai (Hand Healing Research Centre). He moved to the city of Kôfu where, to house the hundreds who came for his public service, he took a meeting room near the Kôfu station. "This,' states Professor Rabinovitch, ‘was the beginnings of Eguchi's flourishing practice, which attracted thousands of people from all across the land for decades.' She also said of his nature that ‘he is said to have been a deeply religious man "who practiced a meditative healing grounded in prayer without symbols or attunements"'.[vi]

As far as fees were concerned Toshihiro Eguchi and his brother Shunpaku apparently did not take fixed fees for training others, but Professor Rabinovitch believed that they did receive small contributions.

Usui Mikao, personally, is not mentioned in Tenohira-ga Byoki-o Naosu but according to the Professor, ‘Eguchi was a student of Usui sensei's for about two years and a close personal friend for much longer'. The Professor goes on to say that ‘since Eguchi in particular studied under Usui with such seriousness, his writings are especially valuable in tracing early proto-Reiki and better understanding the Buddhist and spiritual underpinnings of hand healing.' There are also said to be records and a journal of Eguchi's that have survived the decades detailing information about his relationship with Usui.

Tenohira Ryôji Nyûmon Tenohira-ga Byoki-o Naosu states that Eguchi's centre became very popular by 1929 with about 150 new people joining each month to learn his techniques. Eguchi and some of his students developed 3-day seminars that they took to Tôkyô and Osaka with around 300 people attending each seminar. Of his students the most well known were Mitsui Kôshi and Miyazaki Gorô.

Mitsui, a poet and one-time village Mayor, helped Eguchi with his lectures and meetings and was well respected for his writing of waka poetry. Waka is a form of classical Japanese poetry that Usui and some of his contemporaries combined with their spiritual teachings. The Usui Reiki Ryôhô Gakkai have a list of 125 waka poems written by the Meiji Emperor (1852-1912) that were used by Usui in his teachings. Another student of Usui, Tomita Kaiji, wrote in his 1933 manual about his own Tomita method of hand healing. In it he specifically describes a meditation that focuses on waka to generate greater amounts of energy in the body. ‘The important thing' Mitsui wrote, ‘during training is to reach unity and to reach this you must practice gasshô, or during your normal daily life - waka'. Mitsui published quite a few books discussing the Meiji Emperor's waka. In 1930 he co-wrote a book about tenohira ryôji with Eguchi called Tenohira Ryôji Nyûmon (Introduction to Healing with the Palms).

Miyazaki, who admired Mitsui, also became Eguchi's son-in-law. He too wrote books and other material on palm healing. After Eguchi's death in 1946 Miyazaki took over the centre but as his focus was centred on writing, students began to dwindle with the group becoming smaller and smaller. One of the better-known books written by Miyazaki was Tanasue no Michi (The Way of Working with Hands).

Eguchi travelled as far as Pusan in Korea to give lectures but stopped with the eventuation of the war due to travelling restrictions. In 1945 his house was damaged and he moved to his daughter's house together with his wife. At this time he told his daughter there were two great successes in his life - one, that he had found his daughter a good husband and two, palm healing.

In Japan today, Mihashi states that there are still people teaching Eguchi's method with one of them being Kijima Yasu.

[i] Suzuki san, 2003

[ii] Professor Rabinovitch states that 1 yen was likely 1-day's wage. She also states that it is quite the norm in Japan to ask large fees for association membership.

[iii] Professor Rabinovitch quotes notes from Eguchi, 2004

[iv] Professor Rabinovitch quotes notes from Eguchi, 2004

[v] Professor Rabinovitch quotes notes from Eguchi, 2004

[vi] Professor Rabinovitch quotes notes from Eguchi, 2004