The concept of ikigai aligns more to seikatsu and, through his research, Hasegawa discovered that Japanese people believe that the sum of small joys in everyday life results in more fulfilling life as a whole. “But in Japan we have jinsei, which means lifetime and seikatsu, which means everyday life,” he says. So, ikigai translated as life’s purpose sounds very grand. Hasegawa points out that in English, the word life means both lifetime and everyday life. Ikigai is what allows you to look forward to the future even if you’re miserable right now. The book’s author, psychiatrist Mieko Kamiya, explains that as a word, ikigai is similar to “happiness” but has a subtle difference in its nuance. There are many books in Japan devoted to ikigai, but one in particular is considered definitive: Ikigai-ni-tsuite (About Ikigai), published in 1966. Ikigai can be thought of as a comprehensive concept that incorporates such values in life. There are other words that use kai: yarigai or hatarakigai which mean the value of doing and the value of working. It is composed of two words: iki, which means life and gai, whichdescribes value or worth.Īccording to Hasegawa, the origin of the word ikigai goes back to the Heian period (794 to 1185). “ Gai comes from the word kai (“shell” in Japanese) which were deemed highly valuable, and from there ikigai derived as a word that means value in living.” In a 2001 research paper on ikigai, co-author Akihiro Hasegawa, a clinical psychologist and associate professor at Toyo Eiwa University, placed the word ikigai as part of everyday Japanese language. Someone’s value in life can be work – but is certainly not limited to that. In fact, in a survey of 2,000 Japanese men and women conducted by Central Research Services in 2010, just 31% of recipients considered work as their ikigai. One’s ikigai may have nothing to do with income.

For Japanese however, the idea is slightly different.

What is the meaning of life