Another Reiki myth corrected

Did Hawayo Takata, who brought Reiki from Japan to the rest of the world, teach that Reiki was an oral tradition? Did she allow students to take notes?

That story has been repeated for decades, but in the Summer 2009 issue of Reiki News Magazine, we find copies of Takata's class handouts from a 1975 first-level class in which students were allowed to take notes. Alice Picking, a student in that 1975 class, sent copies of the handout Takata gave her in that class along with her class notes and other documentation. In the same issue, there is an article by another student in that same class.

So while Takata might have changed her teaching methods later on, she did use handouts and allow note-taking at one point. 

We hope to hear from some of Takata's other students about this topic.