The little book of Ikigai, by Ken Mogi
Advice for a happy life, the Japanese way
I picked up this book on a lazy Saturday in the Serpentine Gallery’s bookshop in Hyde Park, while I was waiting to meet a friend for lunch. It’s one of these shops where you want to buy everything. I settled on this one to read with a good coffee, with no other expectation than to have a cosy hour or so.
As it turns out, it was perfect.
Ikigai has been a bit of a buzzword in the last few years, and there are several books with the same name. This one is by Japanese neuroscientist Ken Mogi, who wrote it in English, presumably with an international audience in mind.
Being into self-development, I was familiar with the concept of Ikigai – the Japanese word which describes your “reason for being”, your life purpose, or what gets you up in the morning.
But as someone who mostly gets up because the alarm rang, I can’t say that I had mine all figured out. What drew me in the book is that it seemed to tackle the “how”, as well as the “why”, so I could pick up some tips.
It was a relief to learn that Ikigai isn’t something you chase alone, outside of your own life, the way you might chase your “Life Purpose”.
When we think of our Purpose, we might pressure ourselves to focus on extraordinary success or recognition in our field, which feels really daunting – especially when we don’t know what ours is.
Ikigai is a more gentle version. You don’t need to “win” at life to have Ikigai, you just need to follow what you enjoy. Ikigai is deeply embedded in routine and small tasks. It requires being present in the here and now, and taking pleasure in your work or daily activities, in particular small acts of service. It’s about finding meaning in your life as it is now.
Ikigai lives at the intersection of what you love doing, and how you can serve others by doing it.
So it’s pretty democratic. Everyone can have their own Ikigai, and it can be as varied as a restaurant owner trying to make the perfect bowl of ramen or a grandmother caring for her grandchild. Their outward success doesn’t matter. Ikigai isn’t about the result, it’s about enjoying the pursuit.
In terms of theory, according to Mogi there are five interlinked pillars that contribute to Ikigai:
• Starting Small – taking extraordinary care of small details, taking pride in what you do, and going above and beyond
• Releasing Yourself – letting go of your ego and thinking of the group.
• Harmony and Sustainability – being at peace others, and working together to build things that last
• The Joy of Little Things – delighting in small sensory pleasures
• Being in the Here and Now – achieving a state of flow
Beyond this, what I mostly enjoyed in the book was all the examples and stories Mogi tells of life in Japan. If you’re keen to learn more about the country, it’s a lovely way to do so, as it goes into culture beyond all the touristic clichés.
Along the pages, we discover many colourful characters and their everyday lives.
We meet sushi masters and strawberry farmers, fishermen and Sumo fighters, salarymen and cosplayers. We hear about rare Chinese pottery which became Japanese national treasure, and the tea ceremonies in the time of the Samurai. We learn there are thousand-year-old temples that get rebuilt every twenty years, and chess clubs on the Tokyo early morning commuter trains.
All these stories show that everyone is unique, and everyone’s Ikigai is precious.
The book is a gentle invitation to appreciate the seemingly mundane, and to express our unique tastes and personalities in subtle but powerful ways.
So I did spend a lovely hour or so, but I hope the stories will stay with me as I go about my day, appreciating the small things.
