A lineage is the line of teachers a practitioner’s own training descends from — from the master who taught them, back through each teacher before, to Mikao Usui himself.
What lineage means
Because Reiki is passed directly from teacher to student, each practitioner can in principle name the chain of people who carried it to them. That chain is their lineage. It is less a credential than a way of locating oneself within a living tradition.
The main line
The best-known line runs through just a few names before branching widely:
Founder of the practice, teaching in Tokyo from 1922.
His student, who structured the hands-on method.
Hayashi’s student, who carried Reiki to the West.
Trained by Takata, from whom most modern lines branch.
Why it matters
Knowing one’s lineage is a way of honouring where the practice came from and of being honest about how one learned it. It carries no magic of its own — but for many practitioners, that sense of continuity is part of what makes Reiki feel like a tradition rather than a technique.
Honesty, not hierarchy
It helps to be clear about what lineage is and is not. It is a record of how one learned — a way of saying, truthfully, that the practice was received from a particular teacher who received it from theirs. It is not a ranking, and a longer or more famous line does not make a better practitioner.
Knowing one’s lineage is really an act of honesty and respect: honesty about where a practice came from, and respect for the people who carried it. For that reason many teachers will happily name their line when asked, and are wary of anyone who cannot.