Reiki's Birthplace - Mt. Kurama 2

Photo B: According to the Kurama Temple’s website, this area is also called Meditation Dojo, and is known for high energy place of Mao-son. When I was there, I saw some people, more non-Japanese than Japanese, meditating in this area.

Photo C: The big typhoon in September 2018 snapped trees and damaged some of the buildings around here.

This is a continuation of Reiki’s Birthplace - Mt. Kurama 1.

After visiting the Honden Kondo (Main Hall), there is a sando (a sacred path to a shrine/temple) called Kinone-michi (Tree Root Path, photo A) to descend Mt. Kurama.
According to the Kurama Temple’s website the tree roots above the ground are due to the very hard sandstone that was once magma and cooled into hard dirt.

Osugi-gongen - The incident

The path leads to Osugi-gongen (photo B), this is the place where Mikao Usui, the founder of Usui Reiki, fasted and meditated for 21 days before he was given the Reiki energy. It was in March, 1922. March in Kyoto is still cold, it must be much colder on the mountain.

On the 21st day of his fasting, it’s said that a big white light came toward him from the sky when he was meditating at Osugi-gongen, and he was knocked down unconscious. After he awoke, he began to realize that his consciousness expanded; the Universe was him, and he was the Universe.
He developed his style and system; his method allows anyone access Reiki energy. He called his method “Usui Reiki.”

Here I want to point out that Mikao Usui didn’t start Reiki. Exact time when it started is unknown, but the word “Reiki” appears in a document written in Kamakura Period (1185–1333). Before Usui Reiki, the treatments using Reiki energy had been done only by someone who was born with the special ability. *1

Sanat Kumara and Reiki

Tom Kenyon wrote in his book “The Arcturian Anthology” that Sanat Kumara said through his channel that he was the one who gave Reiki energy to Mikao Usui in Mt. Kurama. *2
Mao-son is said to be Sanat Kumara. Even Kurama Temple doesn’t say so, I think it’s more interesting to believe it. ;)

Mao-den

The last building of the path is Mao-den (Mao Inner Sanctuary). Mao-den is dedicated to Mao-son, the deity said to have descended to Earth from Venus some 6.5 million years ago.

Lunch in Kibune

After descending Mt. Kurama, you have an option of having lunch or visiting another beautiful shrine “Kifune Shrine.” I was in the Kurama Temple for more than 4 hours, I chose to have lunch. ;)
You will find a lot of restaurants along Kibune River, the restaurant I chose happened to have outside dining, dining on the water in summer. I had heard about Kawadoko in Kyoto, but I didn’t know Kibune was the famous place for Kawadoko. Kawadoko, which means “place at the river”, allows diners to eat on platforms built over water. Cool! It was November, it was too late for a Kawadoko dining experience, if you want to have this cool experience, you should come in summer. (I probably won’t go to Kyoto in summer as it’s super hot and humid… )
I had Yuba Somen noodle and Ayu Kanroni (simmered sweet Ayu fish). It was so good that I will go back there again. (Photo G)

After the good lunch, I spent more time in Kifune Shrine; it was another interesting shrine, it was almost dark when I went back to my relative’s house in Ashiya.

To write this blog, I focused only on the path related to Reiki in Mt. Kurama, however, this temple has a long interesting history before Reiki, you will find a lot more if you visit there or explore on the Internet. In fact, I didn’t find a word about Mikao Usui or Reiki in the temple, I saw one of the Reiki symbols everywhere, though.
Whether or not if you are interested in Reiki, I highly recommend visiting Mt. Kurama.

Love and Light,

Tomoe

*1 I came across the information that Mataji Kawakami created Reiki Ryoho in 1914, and published a book “Reiki Healing and Its Effects” in 1919, so it’s possible that Mikao Usui wasn’t the first person who created a method that allows anyone access Reiki energy.

*2 I read a Japanese translated version of the book, I haven’t checked the original book.

I referred NPO Reiki Association (Japanese) to write about Mikao Usui at Osugi-gongen.