What makes your life worth living?
Ikigai is a Japanese word for what makes life worth living. In the West it is often shown as a diagram of four circles. In Japan it is something smaller and more everyday, and that's exactly what makes it useful.
Ikigai in short
Ikigai is a Japanese word that roughly means "a reason for being" or "what makes life worth living". It can be big, like a calling, or small, like morning tea or time with grandchildren. The popular Venn diagram of passion, skill, need and pay is a Western addition, not the original Japanese idea.
Where it comes from
The word is made of iki (life, living) and gai (worth, value). It has been part of everyday Japanese for a long time. In 1966 the psychiatrist Mieko Kamiya published a book on it, Ikigai ni tsuite (On Ikigai), based on her work with patients who had lost almost everything. It is still a standard reference in Japan.
The West heard of ikigai mainly through Dan Buettner's work on places where people live unusually long lives, such as Okinawa. The famous four-circle diagram came later: the Spanish author Andrés Zuzunaga drew a diagram about purpose in 2011, and in 2014 the blogger Marc Winn put the word ikigai in its centre. That version went viral.
Books such as Ikigai by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles and The Little Book of Ikigai by the neuroscientist Ken Mogi made the idea popular around the world.
- Mieko KamiyaJapanese psychiatrist, wrote the classic Japanese book on ikigai (1966)
- Ken MogiJapanese neuroscientist, author of The Little Book of Ikigai
- Dan BuettnerAmerican author who brought ikigai to the West through his work on long-lived communities
The idea in five points
It can be small
A cup of tea counts.
In Japan, ikigai doesn't have to be your career or a grand mission. It can be your garden, a morning walk or the people you cook for. Ken Mogi calls one of his pillars of ikigai "the joy of little things".
It doesn't need to pay
Money is not part of the original idea.
The circle "what you can be paid for" belongs to the Western diagram. Many Japanese people find their ikigai outside work, and that's fine.
Start small
One of Mogi's five pillars.
Mogi describes five pillars: starting small, releasing yourself, harmony and sustainability, the joy of little things, and being in the here and now. None of them asks you to change your life overnight.
It changes with life
What gives you meaning at 30 may not at 70.
Ikigai is not found once and kept forever. Children grow up, jobs end, bodies change. The question comes back, and that's a good thing.
It is felt, not calculated
Notice what lights you up.
Rather than filling in four circles, pay attention to the moments when time disappears or you feel quietly glad to be alive. That feeling is the clue.
Often misunderstood
The four-circle diagram (what you love, what you're good at, what the world needs, what you can be paid for) is often called "the Japanese ikigai". It is a useful tool for thinking about work, but it was drawn in the West and adds a pressure the original idea doesn't have: that your reason for living should also be your job.
Try it today: five questions
- When did time last disappear for you?
- Which small moment in a normal day are you quietly glad about?
- Who would you get up early for?
- What did you love doing as a child that you've stopped doing?
- If nobody paid you, what would you still want to do next week?
How do you feel, out of five? Take the 2-minute check-in → Purpose affirmations →
Your ikigai might already be in your day, hiding in something small. Why not look for it tomorrow morning?
Go deeper
Ken Mogi's websiteBlue Zones (Dan Buettner)
- The Little Book of Ikigai by Ken Mogi
- Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles
ifeelfive has no connection to the people named here. This is a short summary in our own words, not their official material, and not medical or therapeutic advice. The links are not affiliate links.
Questions people ask
What does ikigai mean in English?
Roughly "a reason for being" or "what makes life worth living". Iki means life, gai means worth or value.
Is the ikigai Venn diagram Japanese?
No. It goes back to a purpose diagram by the Spanish author Andrés Zuzunaga (2011), which the blogger Marc Winn labelled ikigai in 2014.
Does my ikigai have to be my job?
No. In the original Japanese sense, ikigai can be anything that makes life feel worth living: people, hobbies, small daily rituals or work.
Who wrote about ikigai first?
The word is old and everyday Japanese. The psychiatrist Mieko Kamiya's 1966 book Ikigai ni tsuite is the best-known early study of it.