Your ‘ikigai’ guide to the holidays
Could drawing on the principles of an ancient Japanese value to live by, encapsulated in a word we have no direct translation for – ikigai – create a happier, healthier, more fulfilling, meaningful festive break?
in partnership with Etsy
WORDS ALI ROFF
Last winter, the world went crazy for hygge, but this festive season, ikigai, ‘the Japanese word for describing the pleasures and meanings of life’, as Ken Mogi encapsulates in his book, Ikigai: The Essential Japanese Way To Finding Your Purpose In Life (Quercus, £9.99), is having its moment. Yet for some, namely the people of Okinawa, a Japanese island and the one place in the world where you’ll find the highest number of centenarians, their ikigai is the reason they wake up in the morning.
But there is more to it than just realising our purpose in life. Many di.erent elements contribute to our ikigai – all of which, if practised over the festive period, could make not only our break from work more enjoyable, but create a sense of contentment and health that we could take forward into creating new habits for the new year.