The Little Book of Ikigai (39/2020)

 

Title : The Little Book of Ikigai
Author : Ken Mogi
Publisher : Quercus Editions Ltd., 2018
No. of Pages : 196

REVIEW 39/2020.

I have heard of ikigai some time ago, but haven’t got the chance to explore what it means, until I found this book. I started reading it in August and just completed it today. A very slow read, I’d say.

Ikigai, in a layman’s term is a life’s principle held by Japanese in order to live a long and happy life. The word “iki” means to live and “gai” means reason, a Japanese word to describe the pleasures and meaning of life. Okinawa, Japan, is recorded as the place with the highest number of centenarians (people aging 100 years and more) and one of their secrets is because they have ikigai. 

This book was written based on the Five Pillars of ikigai and they are as follows:

 

However, each of the chapter does not really refer to any particular pillar. The chapters were written starting with “What is Ikigai?” and followed by topics such as your reason to wake up in the morning, kodawari and the benefits of thinking small, sensory beauty of Ikigai, flow and creativity, ikigai and sustainability and finding your purpose in life. It is not a book about ikigai itself, but more to “HOW” we can apply ikigai in our lives. Hence it is not written in sequence of every Pillar. 

In the first few chapters, Ken Mogi makes the reader understand what is ikigai. By telling the story of how Jiro Ono started his world class sushi restaurant, the writer is making an example on how Japanese people with ikigai started their business small. Jiro Ono, for example, put all his attention into the business and make improvements along the way, not only to make his sushi taste better, but how to make it faster. The business started off as a means to make ends meet and making sushi was the cheapest option. But it is now one of the famous sushi restaurants in Japan. 

Most of the successful business owners told in this book have ikigai in certain areas of their life. If Jiro Ono has the Starting Small ikigai, Kiroki Fujita has the same, too. He got up at 2am every day to go to the market in order to get the finest tuna for his clients (and that includes Jiro Ono). He has also perfected his skills on looking for the high-grade tuna. 

Japan is also known as the Land of the Rising Sun and people in Japan would stay up all night on New Year’s Eve, to see the first rising sun of the year. People would also get up very early in the morning to start their business; and to save fuel and candles during the night. Starting up early in the morning refers to Pillar 4 : The Joy of Little Things. 

Other than real life examples, Ken Mogi also shared his point of view through movies that he has seen. For example, he quoted the movie Tampopo by Juzo Itami, a 1985 movie of a woman who tried to perfect her skills in making ramen noodles. This is an example of kodawari – a trait that is uncompromising and self-centred. Kodawari is also about people pursuing their own goals above and beyond reasonable expectations based on market forces, when good enough is simply not good enough. 

Ken Mogi also gave the example of Sembikiya, Japan’s premium fruit shop, which sell fruits at ridiculously high prices. For example, their musk melon could cost up to 20,000 yen each. On that note, I have also seen a video of Paul Hollywood tasting a 50,000 yen strawberry and I start to wonder, why is it so expensive? To answer this question, Ken Mogi stated that the Japanese take the transient of life seriously. Therefore, in agriculture, the farmers will take care of their harvest with very good care. For the musk melon, in order to make the fruits grow bigger than usual, sweeter and juicer, the farmers would leave only one fruit on each tree and these expensive fruits are given to people as gifts, to honour them. Another kodawari example is in the making of Yohen Tenmoku bowls, also known as the starry bowl. There are only three left in the world. Kodawari is in relation to Pillar 5 : Being in the Here and Now. 

To relate this principle with our own culture in Malaysia, I think the best would be in the making of Batik clothes, weaving of Songket, the making of Wau Bulan and also the making of Keris. However, in Japan, crafts people are held with high esteem and played a pivotal role in Japanese society. Making of the art is related to Pillar 2 : Releasing Yourself, which is also very much related to Being in the Here and Now. 

A neuroscientist argues that being conscious is functionally significant because it gives us sensory pleasure, which is a reason to carry on with life. Such sensory pleasure can also be derived from making music, cooking, gardening, dancing and drawing. 

Japan is also a nation of harmony and sustainability (Pillar 3). Sustainability is evident through family businesses that have thrived for centuries. For example, ikebana, the business of Ikenobo family which has been around since 1462 and the Sen family, with their tea ceremony business which is still active for more than 400 years. 

Ken Mogi also shared the unique construction of the Ise Shrine. The shrine will be dismantled and reconstructed on a new site every 20 years, with exactly the same design and the same construction process. It was last reconstructed in 2013 and the next will be in 2033. This is to maintain the sustainability of the shrine. It is also part of the Shinto belief of death and renewal of nature. It is also said that in 20 years, they would manage to pass down the skills to construct the new shrine, to younger generations. The uniqueness is not only about maintaining the same structure, but also in maintaining the household and its standards, to manage the shrine. 

The Meiji Shrine is also an example of Harmony and Sustainability. This shrine was built surrounded by 120,000 trees from 365 species. Dried leaves are swept and put back under the trees to turn them into natural fertilizer for the trees. Tourists are not allowed to wander off the tracks in order to preserve the natural surroundings. This is something that we need to think of, regarding the future of our jungles and natural surroundings, which have been destroyed by modernisation and development. 

Having ikigai is also about finding our purpose for living and that it is not only about the materials or the monetary rewards. Ikigai is also about getting back up once we have experienced failure and to find things that make us happy. 

In Japan, the datsusara phenomenon is on the rise, when office workers decide to leave their employment to pursue their passion and work on freelance basis. There are also people who seek their happiness through producing manga comics and participating in the Comiket (Comic Market). These people find their happiness while selling their own creations in the Comiket and others would dress as the anime figures, called Cosplay, and get back to their routine life afterwards.

The greatest secret of ikigai is accepting oneself. Seek your own ikigai in your uniqueness. Perhaps you already have your own ikigai, but you are not aware of it? Try and reflect - what makes you happy, what are your passions / hobbies, how you have lived your life all these while, how are you going to move forward in the future?

Though this book is not structured in accordance with the Ikigai Pillars, the examples and stories shared have shed some light on how they can be applied. This is a very interesting book that it took me almost two months to read. I’d give it FOUR stars. It is also worth checking out the movies, places, people and businesses mentioned in this book.