Who is the author of Awakening Your Ikigai?

The author of Awakening Your Ikigai is Ken Mogi.

Awakening Your Ikigai summary

Name: Awakening Your Ikigai
Rating: 4.5 (1052 reviews)
Author: Ken Mogi

Ken Mogi

How the Japanese Wake Up to Joy and Purpose Every Day

4.5 (1052 ratings)

15 mins

Brief summary

Awakening Your Ikigai by Ken Mogi is a guide to discovering and living out your ikigai, or reason for being. It explores the traditional Japanese concept and provides practical tips for finding meaning and fulfillment in life.

Topics

Inspiration Happy Mindful Work Meaningful Living

Table of Contents

Awakening Your Ikigai
Summary of 5 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 5

What’s in it for me? Discover Japan’s best-kept secret.

What do a 90-something-year-old Michelin-starred sushi chef, a tennis champion with 23 grand slam titles under her belt, and a critically acclaimed author of horror novels whose books have sold over 350 million copies have in common? Well, Jiro Ono, Serena Williams, and Stephen King – among many other driven, successful people – have awakened their ikigai. Ikigai is a Japanese word that essentially means “life purpose.” Connecting with your life’s purpose is, so many Japanese people believe, the secret to living a life that’s both successful and deeply satisfying.

Next question: What do you have in common with Jiro Ono, Serena Williams, and Stephen King? Well, just like them, you have ikigai. In fact, everyone does. The trick is turning your unique spark of ikigai into a flame that can illuminate meaning and purpose in every aspect of your life.

Ready to learn more about ikigai and how you can implement it in your own life? Then, let’s begin.

Ikigai illuminates every aspect of life

Tokyo, 2014: Barack Obama shares an intimate dinner with the prime minister of Japan. Not at the Imperial Palace. Not at a grand restaurant. At a tiny, ten-seat sushi bar, called Sukiyabashi Jiro. Its owner is the sushi master Jiro Ono. Ono has ikigai. It’s because he has ikigai that he has welcomed guests like Obama and garnered three coveted Michelin stars. But Ono isn’t driven by accolades. Now approaching 100, Ono still works behind the restaurant counter – he’d work whether he won rave reviews and culinary awards or not. Why? Well, because he has ikigai.

So what is ikigai? It’s a Japanese concept derived from the word iki, meaning “to live” and gai meaning “reason.” Your ikigai is your life’s purpose – the reason you get up in the morning. And it’s also the pleasure and meaning you find in the life you have. Ikigai is versatile and applicable to both small daily activities and significant life goals. In fact, ikigai thrives in life's small moments – the morning air, a cup of coffee, a ray of sunshine, or the act of preparing a meal. Recognizing the richness of this spectrum is a crucial lesson of ikigai, particularly in a world where personal worth is often tied to conventional success.

American writer Dan Buettner discussed ikigai in a TED talk on longevity. He highlighted “blue zones” worldwide where people live longer. Okinawan Japan topped the list. Okinawans attribute their longevity to simple pursuits aligned with their ikigai – a 102-year-old karate master finds ikigai in practicing martial arts, a centenarian fisherman in catching fish for his family, and a 102-year-old woman finds it in holding her great-great-great-granddaughter.

When life is illuminated with ikigai, healthy and mindful habits come naturally. The Okinawans of the Blue Zone study ate well, cared for their physical and mental health, and worked to maintain community connections. In fact, studies, like the Ōsaki study from Tohoku University, have linked ikigai to various health benefits. This large-scale study involving over 50,000 subjects revealed that individuals with a sense of ikigai were more likely to have better physical and mental health – emphasizing the profound impact of this concept.

Ikigai is an intrinsic motivator that goes beyond external recognition, offering a deeper connection to life's richness. In essence, ikigai encourages individuals to find fulfillment and meaning in the present moment, acknowledging that perfection isn't necessary, and the journey itself is where the true essence of life resides.

To uncover your ikigai, start small

How can you awaken your ikigai? Simple. Wake up to something that gives you pleasure and fulfillment every morning. Don’t complicate things – find something small that brightens your morning. It might be standing at your window for a few moments and admiring the early sun. It might be stretching and enjoying the feeling of your body waking up after a night’s rest. It could be savoring the ritual of preparing and sipping your morning coffee.

Not only is this a rewarding way to start the day but also making time for pleasure in the morning primes your brain to notice and experience more pleasure as the day goes on. Rewarding yourself with your favorite things upon waking up releases dopamine in the brain, making the morning routine more enjoyable and creating a good mood for the day.

Work for the sake of flow

Intimately connected with ikigai is the Japanese concept of kodawari, which is challenging to translate precisely into English but is often interpreted as “commitment” or “insistence.” These translations fail to capture the depth of the term, though. Kodawari represents a personal standard that individuals wholeheartedly adhere to, often in pursuit of exceptional quality or professionalism. It's an attitude deeply ingrained in one's life and a fundamental element of ikigai.

Kodawari revolves around an unwavering dedication to meticulously tending to even the minutest of details, reflecting an individual's pride in their work. It emphasizes starting small, without the need to justify the effort for grandiose schemes.

Ikigai transcends winning and losing

Hayao Miyazaki is a name well-known to fans of film animation across the world. Miyazaki is the founder of the legendary animation studio, Studio Ghibli, and the creative genius behind films like My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away. Miyazaki certainly has ikigai: he labors painstakingly over the smallest details in each of his films and, despite having announced his retirement several times now, he continues to create feature-length films.

But it’s not just Miyazaki who has ikigai. It’s safe to say that every animator working at Ghibli has it, too. Japanese animation is known and loved the world over. Yet it’s common knowledge in Japan that working at an animation studio is demanding, sometimes repetitive, and compared to other jobs, poorly paid. Nevertheless, aspiring animators flock to be hired by studios like Ghibli. They’re not driven by money but by devotion to their craft.

To find ikigai, follow your joy

You might have heard of the novelist Haruki Murakami, one of Japan’s most successful literary exports. His novels have sold millions of copies and been translated into over 50 languages. As a writer, he’s famously disciplined, waking at 4:00 a.m. to begin work. He’s also a jazz aficionado – he even ran a famous jazz bar for a time.

Your ikigai might connect to the thing you’re most successful at and do professionally. It might connect to something you do outside of work that brings you great joy. You might derive ikigai from a combination of professional and personal pursuits, like Murakami, the jazz-aficionado novelist.

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What is Awakening Your Ikigai about?

Awakening Your Ikigai (2018) introduces the Japanese concept of ikigai or “life’s purpose,” and explains how uncovering and nurturing ikigai can catalyze a life filled with purpose and meaning.

Awakening Your Ikigai Review

Awakening Your Ikigai (2020) is a book that explores the Japanese concept of ikigai, which means finding purpose and fulfillment in life. Here's what makes this book worth reading:

Through real-life stories and examples, the book helps readers uncover their ikigai and find greater meaning in their lives.
It offers a practical framework for discovering one's passions, talents, and values, providing a roadmap for personal growth and fulfillment.
With its thought-provoking insights into the importance of connecting with others and finding joy in simple moments, the book challenges readers to live more purposefully.

Who should read Awakening Your Ikigai?

Serial snooze-button users who want to wake up feeling inspired
Workers who feel they’re just going through the motions
Anyone interested in uncovering their higher calling

About the Author

Ken Mogi is a scientist and senior researcher at Sony Computer Science Laboratories, and the author of over 50 books on topics ranging from psychology to philosophy, linguistics to art, including The Way of Nagomi.

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