Professor Judith Rabinovitch has been collecting research about Toshihiro Eguchi from material that includes his diaries and monographs. She states that he was both a student and longtime friend of Mikao Usui. According to a recently published Japanese book by Mihashi Kazuo on Toshihiro Eguchi’s life, Tenohira-ga Byoki-o Naosu, he was born in Kumamoto, studied at Tôkyô University, and was principal of a junior high school. He also wrote waka.
As his health had never been very good, as an older man he claimed that only two good things had happened in his life: that he had started practicing hands-on healing and found a good husband for his daughter. His daughter’s husband was Gorô Miyazaki, a hands-on healing student of Toshihiro Eguchi.
Due to Toshihiro Eguchi’s popularity as a teacher of hands-on healing, he is most likely to have influenced many hands-on healing teachings at that time.
Toshihiro Eguchi created the Tenohira Ryôji Kenkyû kai (Hand Healing Research Center) in 1928 and wrote a number of books: Te No Hira Ryôji Nyûmon (Introduction to Healing with the Palms) in 1930 and Te No Hira Ryôji Wo Kataru (A Story of Healing with the Palms) in 1954. Hiroshi Doi states that Toshihiro Eguchi studied Mikao Usui’s teachings between 1925 and 1927.
Toshihiro Eguchi was a member of the Usui Reiki Ryôhô Gakkai for two years but, according to Mihashi Kazuo, he apparently found the 50 yen admission fee to be too expensive. At that time Taketomi Kanichi was teaching and as he was a financially well-off naval officer, Toshihiro Eguchi could not understand why such large sums of money were required. At every meeting members were also asked to pay 1 yen. Eventually Toshihiro Eguchi wrote a letter to the Usui Reiki Ryôhô Gakkai president, Jûzaburô Ushida, resigning from the society.
According to Mihashi Kazuo, he taught specific hand positions, meditations, the recitation of the Meiji Emperor’s waka by students on a daily basis, and principles for an ascetic life.
In 1929 he taught members of the Ittôen community his system, with some families still practicing these hands-on healing practices today. Professor Judith Rabinovitch states that, ‘Ittôen folks have told me that there were no levels, no formal rituals or attunements in Eguchi's way of doing things.’
His teachings became very popular with about 150 to 300 people in attendance at a teaching. A book by his student Kôshi Mitsui about the teachings increased this popularity. He even travelled to Pusan in Korea to teach. Toshitaka Mochizuki states in his book that Toshihiro Eguchi taught approximately 500,000 students. This large number may include all students who have studied his teachings over the years.
According to Suzuki san, it was Toshihiro Eguchi who was responsible for adding the 3 mantras or jumon from Shintôism into Level 2 of the system of Reiki.