Do You Have Ikigai?

The Japanese word ikigai (pronounced “ee key guy”) is an important word/concept that has long been common in Japan, and it is becoming more widely known in the English-speaking world. 

The Oxford English Dictionary defines ikigai as “a motivating force; something or someone that gives a person a sense of purpose or a reason for living.” Its meaning is similar to the French expression raison d'être, and shares much in common with Viktor Frankl’s concept of logotherapy. 

One of the first popularizers of ikigai in the U.S. is Dan Buetter whose TED talk “How to live to be 100+” in 2009 referred to how ikigai is one reason for the remarkable longevity of people who live in Okinawa, Japan. (The video of that talk has now had more than 630,000 views.)

Marc Winn is an entrepreneur and a “business coach” who in May 2014 posted “What is your Ikigai?” He presented his ideas with a Venn diagram that has become quite popular. (Some of you have probably seen it on Facebook.)

Winn’s “Ikigai Venn Diagram” has now been presented in various colorful ways, but I like this simpler one: 

Although it is translated from Spanish, Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life (2016, 2017) by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles is an “international bestseller,” and I read a copy from my local library in 2020. (Here is a link to a review of that book, including “the 10 rules of ikigai.”)

Winn’s Venn diagram and the “marketing” of ikigai in the Western world is not liked by some Japanese, however. I won’t try to explain that criticism here, but if you are interested, please access this website.

Just because the Japanese use the wonderful word ikigai, that doesn’t mean everyone actually possesses it. The Japanese suicide rate has been, and remains, high—for many reasons. But the absence of ikigai is one of the major reasons, especially among for younger Japanese.

Neither is obtaining ikigai, perhaps wrongly appropriated by Western entrepreneurs, something that can be quickly achieved. Still, having a strong purpose for living is of great importance for all people, whether you call it ikigai or not.

But how does one obtain ikigai? There is no “one and only” way, but I am convinced that a strong religious faith is a primary means, although that is not a way common among Japanese people. But consider this example of one Japanese Christian who exhibited a strong sense of ikigai.

It was about 50 years ago that I first met a Japanese professor/scholar by the name of Sakakibara Gan. He was translating Arthur Gish’s book The New Left and Christian Radicalism, which I wanted to use in an upcoming Christian Studies course that I was going to teach.**

Sakakibara-sensei was born in 1898, so he was 74 or 75 when I first met him—and I thought he was quite old since he was 40 years older than I. When he told me about his plans for the years ahead, I understood his strong sense of ikigai.

The “old” professor said, “I can’t die for a few years yet; there are too many books I still want to write and to translate”—and he did go on to write three books (the third of those published in 1991) and to translate four more books after that. He died in 1994, about two weeks after his 96^th birthday.

Although I haven’t often used the term ikigai, I am deeply grateful for having had it from my teen years. My 38 years in Japan were so meaningful because of ikigai—and having had the privilege of helping a number of Japanese people discover their ikigai was and remains gratifying.

Even though I no longer need the bottom part of the Venn diagram, I am still invigorated by the top three circles.

I hope that you readers, too, have a sense of ikigai—or at least that you will acquire more and more ikigai in the months/years ahead.

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** I have previously posted blog articles about Gish and his book; see here and here. And here is the link to an article about Sakakibara (and his wife) in the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online.