book review on ikigai in english

Book review: Ikigai, the Japanese secret for a long and happy life

After reading the book ”Blue Zones” by Dann Buetner I learned two things: ”Ikigai” and ”Hara hachi bu” (later more on later). These are very interesting terms when it comes to a long and healthy life. Don’t we all want to live a long, healthy and happy life? Frances Miralles and Héctor García did research on the secret of the elderly in Japan. Why do Japanese elderly become so extremely old in certain areas in Japan? What are they eating? What are they doing to stay active? How do they deal with stress? What does their social life look like? All of this is discussed in ‘ ‘Ikigai, the Japanese secret for a long and happy life”.

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” Only those who remain busy want to become hundred ” – Japanese p roverb

What is ”Ikigai”?

The term ”ikigai” is explained in various ways. You can describe it briefly as: the reason why you get out of bed in the morning. It is the reason for your existence. The French might say ” raison d’etre” . The book also links to certain Western therapies (such as logotherapy) and may also be a question, such as: ”why don’t you commit suicide?” That’s a harsh question, but it’s forces you to really think what’s important in life. And right there lies the secret to a long and happy life. In the answer to this question you will find your own ikigai. This is one of the reasons why the inhabitants on the Okinawa island are getting so extremely old. On this Japanese island, there are more centenarians than anywhere else in the world. Not only are they old, but they are still active and happy, up until a very high age.

”We find our ikigai by concentrating on what is important , rather than what’s urgent . By constantly keeping an eye on what feels good, we are able to discover what our passion is.”- Mundo Urano

In this book, the term ikigai is translated as the bliss of always being busy. Ikigai is actually a combination of your passion, your mission and your profession. Your ikigai can be very clear, but also something you’re still looking for (which on its own may be your ikigai).

The elderly of Okinawa never retire. The best thing about your ikiga is that once you’ve found it, you don’t want to retire. Some 90 year olds say they have so many plans and don’t think about dying. They always keep having a purpose for which they get out of bed in the morning.

Hara hachi bu & Moai

An old Japanese proverb is: hara hachi bu. This means ”eat until you’re eighty percent full”. The Japanese elderly don’t overeat and believe that eating a little less than you need is healthier.

Another beautiful phrase is ”moai”. This represents a group of joined people with the same interests. In this group the elderly are always there for each other when they need help or support. Whether you have financial problems or need help with something at home, you can always count on your moai.

Good advice

What I appreciated in the book were the advices that were given (especially in the beginning and at the end of the book). The conversations with the elderly were also interesting and could have been, in my opinion, a bit longer and more comprehensive. Some good advices:

• Realize that the only thing that really exists and what we can control is the present. So we should not worry about the past or the future, but appreciate the things that are here right now. Keep in mind that things/persons are not here forever with us, but not in a way that will make you worry about it. The realization that everything/everyone is temporary with us should actually lead to a greater appreciation for life.
• Keep resilient. Resilience is the ability to get through a setback and to overcome it positively. You can do this for example by living in the moment, in Japanese this is called: wabi-sabi. This means that you should try to see the beauty of everything that is perishable, changing and imperfect.

“The things we love are like leaves on a tree, they can fall anytime when the wind pops up.” – Emperor Marcus Aurelius

How to age healthily?

On the island of Okinawa in Japan, most centenarians live per 100,000 inhabitants. In this book, they share their pieces of advice on how to stay and get old healthily.

• Limit stress consciously: Stress has a negative impact on our health. The writers share some tips on how to better manage stress. Meditation is an example to reduce stress, but also living consciously in the moment during small daily tasks can help.
• Stay physically active: The writers explain that a sitting existence is the ”enemy of staying young”. They share a few tips to move more on a daily basis. Walk to work or walk for fun for at least twenty minutes a day. Don’t use an elevator or escalator, but use your legs. The writers say: moderately intensive moving your body equals a longer life.
• Sufficient rest and sleep is important.
• Nutrition: A healthy diet is of course very important. The diet on Okinawa is also called the ”wonder diet”. It’s for example important to eat a variety of foods and not to overeat. The centenarians eat hardly any sugar. Often only 1x per week and then they choose cane sugar. They eat a lot of tofu and sweet potatoes and about 300 grams of vegetables per day. They eat a variety of foods and mostly plant-based. They also eat grains on a daily basis and eat small portions of everything several times a day.
• Strong social ties with family/friends/neighbors is important. On Okinawa, the moai groups were created to provide a social network. The elderly in these groups spend a lot of time together by meeting regularly and supporting each other in difficult times.
• Stay mentally strong: It’s important to keep using your brains. This can be done by brain training or by looking for new situations.
• Go out in the nature, smile and be grateful.

What could have been better

What I found a missed opportunity was the fact that the writers didn’t include a resource list in the book with references. Many of their statements can be backed up with books and studies. I think the addition of sources would have made their message even stronger.

Also, it was sometimes difficult to determine whether the book was about how to get old healthily instead of finding your ikigai. I have no problem with the topic ”healthy aging” (it’s my favorite topic), but I can imagine that readers may wonder sometimes: is this a book about finding your inner happiness or about healthy aging? I will explain this with an example. The book contains a great number of pages with explanations and illustrations on how to do certain exercises (such as the sun salutation, qi gong and tai chi). As this is a thin book already, I found this to be a bit unnecessary and too far away from the subject: ikigai/ finding your life purpose.

”All is good” – Jeanne Calment (122 years)

My conclusion is that this book is a nice, entertaining book that reads very easily and quickly and can certainly motivate you to live healthier. I’ve learned some nice tips. However, if you want to read more about the topic of centenarians and if you’re  interested in their lifestyle, I can recommend the book ”Blue zone”.

I wouldn’t go so far by saying that this book will help you to find your own ikigai. This is something very personal and this can be something very big or something very small. This book is not really about that. However, it gives you an idea of how it feels once you’ve found it and explains why it’s so healthy. I can also recommend this book if you’re looking for great insights and inspiration to live healthier and more positive. There might have been some more ”ikigai tips” in this book, but nevertheless this book is a great addition if you love self-help books with an emphasis on health.

M icroflows & my ikigai

Ikigai is doing something where your heart is and that will get you into a flow. Ikigai can also be a microflow, where you enjoy daily routine tasks like doing the dishes. For this reason, Bill Gates for example does his dishes every night. It helps him to relax and he tries to do it better every day. In a better order for example by rules that he made up himself. Your ikigai does not have to be a big mission to change the world, but something you like, what you do everyday and what gets you into a flow.

My ikigai is without a doubt cooking, writing and photography. If I do this and the doorbell rings I need 5 seconds to get back on earth again. I completely forget about time and sometimes even where I am. I totally get into my flow. That’s clearly my ikigai and I’m grateful that I’ve found it.

And what about you? Are you still looking or have you found your ikigai?

” Ikigai, the Japanese secret for a long and happy life”.   $ 11.75 Publisher : Penguin Books (August 29, 2017)

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Discovering Purpose: A Review of “Ikigai – The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life”

• Post author: James
• Post last modified: March 7, 2024
• Post category: Book Review
• Post comments: 0 Comments

Book Title: “Ikigai – The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life” Author: Francesc Miralles, Héctor García Genre: Self-Help Publication Date: April 2016

Introduction

Embarking on a journey to uncover life’s purpose is a universal quest, and “Ikigai – The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life” is a guide that beckons us to explore the intersection of passion, mission, vocation, and profession.

In this review, we’ll delve into the wisdom of this captivating book and explore how it can help you find your own “ikigai” .

“He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how.” – From Ikigai

Cracking the Code of Ikigai: A Brief Overview

Published as a collaboration between Héctor García and Francesc Miralles , “Ikigai” draws inspiration from the Okinawan culture, renowned for its longevity and emphasis on finding purpose in everyday life. The book unravels the concept of ikigai, a Japanese term that roughly translates to “a reason for being” , and offers a holistic approach to living a fulfilled and meaningful life.

The Essence of Ikigai: Analysis and Evaluation

The authors weave a narrative that seamlessly blends storytelling with research, cultural insights, and practical exercises. Through compelling stories of centenarians from Okinawa and thought-provoking exercises, “Ikigai” invites readers to reflect on their values, passions, and pursuits that bring joy and fulfillment.

You would also like to read: A Review of “Atomic Habits” by James Clear

Themes and Messages: Navigating the Path to Fulfillment

The central theme revolves around the pursuit of finding one’s ikigai, the sweet spot where passion, mission, vocation, and profession intersect.

The book explores the importance of living in the present moment, fostering strong social connections, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle as key components of a purposeful life.

A Journey into Ikigai: Style and Language

The writing style is both evocative and informative. García and Miralles use anecdotes, metaphors, and concise language to convey profound concepts, making the book accessible to a broad audience. The integration of Japanese cultural wisdom adds a layer of richness to the narrative.

Finding your ikigai is easier than you might think. This book will help you work out what your own ikigai really is, and equip you to change your life. You have a purpose in this world: your skills, your interests, your desires and your history have made you the perfect candidate for something. All you have to do is find it.

Personal Insights: A Quest for Ikigai

On a personal note, the journey through “Ikigai” has been transformative. The exercises prompted introspection, leading me to reevaluate my priorities and align my actions with my values.

The practical wisdom shared in the book has inspired positive changes in my daily life, fostering a deeper sense of purpose.

The happiest people are not the ones who achieve the most. They are the ones who spend more time than others in a state of flow. – From Ikigai

Key Lessons from “Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life”

• Convergence of what you love, what you are good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for.
• The sweet spot where these elements intersect is your ikigai.
• Identifying and pursuing your ikigai leads to a more satisfying and fulfilling life.
• Ikigai involves a balance between passion and practicality.
• Ideal life combines doing what you love with finding practical ways to make a living.
• Engaging in activities aligned with your ikigai can lead to a state of flow.
• Flow is associated with happiness and fulfillment.
• Emphasis on a balanced diet, regular physical activity, and strong social connections.
• Contributes to a longer and happier life.
• Building and maintaining strong social connections is crucial for a meaningful and happy life.
• A mindset of continuous learning and personal development is essential.
• Seek new challenges and opportunities for growth.
• Simplifying life and focusing on what truly matters enhances contentment and purpose.
• Being present and mindful in everyday activities helps appreciate small joys and improves well-being.
• Living a life aligned with ikigai may contribute to a longer and healthier life.

Recommendation: A Blueprint for a Meaningful Life

“Ikigai” is not just a book; it’s a roadmap for those seeking a more purposeful and fulfilling life. Whether you’re at a crossroads in your career, searching for passion, or simply yearning for a more meaningful existence, the book provides insights and practical guidance to navigate life’s journey.

You would also like to read: “Wings of Fire” Book Review

Conclusion: Embracing Ikigai for a Richer Life

In conclusion, “Ikigai – The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life” offers a profound exploration of purpose, seamlessly blending cultural wisdom with practical advice. It’s an invitation to embrace a lifestyle that aligns with our values and passions, unlocking the secret to a longer and happier life.

Ready to Discover Your Ikigai? Grab Your Copy of “Ikigai” Here: Get “Ikigai” on Amazon

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Ikigai Book Review

In the quest for a meaningful and fulfilled life, the concept of Ikigai has gained substantial attention. Rooted in Japanese culture, Ikigai encapsulates the pursuit of happiness, purpose, and contentment. The book “Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life” provides invaluable insights into this philosophy. In this extensive Ikigai Book Review , we delve deep into the realms of Ikigai, unraveling its essence, impact, and how it can transform our lives.

Table of Contents

The Ikigai Book Review encapsulates the essence of this Japanese philosophy and how it can profoundly influence our lives. This literary masterpiece, co-authored by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles, takes readers on a journey to Okinawa, Japan, where people experience exceptionally long and fulfilling lives. The authors intertwine narrative with research, guiding readers through the principles of Ikigai and its application beyond cultural boundaries.

Unveiling the Power of Ikigai

The concept of Ikigai is multi-faceted, merging four fundamental elements: what you love, what you are good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for. This convergence point is where passion, vocation, mission, and profession intersect, ultimately leading to a life of purpose and satisfaction.

The Five Pillars of Ikigai

The book highlights the five pillars that form the foundation of Ikigai:

1. Starting Small

The journey to discovering your Ikigai begins with small steps. Embracing even the simplest activities with enthusiasm and mindfulness can pave the way for a more fulfilling life.

2. Releasing Yourself

Letting go of societal expectations and self-imposed limitations is essential. Ikigai flourishes when you release yourself from the shackles of conformity and fear.

Share this Ikigai Book Review with your friends.

3. Harmony and Sustainability

The Japanese culture places significant emphasis on living in harmony with nature and others. Building meaningful relationships and connecting with the environment contribute to a sense of purpose.

4. The Joy of Little Things

Finding delight in everyday activities, no matter how mundane, is at the core of Ikigai. It’s about savoring life’s small pleasures and moments.

5. Being in the Here and Now

Embracing the present moment and immersing yourself fully in your current endeavors fosters a deep sense of fulfillment.

The Transformative Impact of Ikigai

Ikigai transcends cultural boundaries and has garnered attention worldwide for its transformative impact on individual lives. By aligning personal passions, talents, and contributions with the needs of the world, Ikigai empowers individuals to live a purpose-driven life.

FAQs about Ikigai Book Review and its Application

What exactly is ikigai.

Ikigai is a Japanese concept that combines passion, vocation, mission, and profession. Also, It represents the intersection of what you love, what you’re good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for.

Can Ikigai be applied universally?

Absolutely. While rooted in Japanese culture, the principles of Ikigai are universal. Also, People from all walks of life can discover and pursue their Ikigai.

Is it too late to find my Ikigai if I’m older?

No, because it’s never too late. Ikigai can be found and embraced at any stage of life. Also, It’s about aligning your actions with your passions and values.

Can Ikigai help in overcoming challenges?

Yes, because Ikigai provides a sense of purpose and direction, which can be immensely helpful in navigating challenges. It can offer clarity and motivation during difficult times.

Is Ikigai solely focused on work and career?

Not at all. While Ikigai does involve finding purpose in your profession, it extends beyond that. Also, It encompasses all aspects of life, including relationships, hobbies, and personal growth.

How can I start my journey towards Ikigai?

Begin by reflecting on what brings you joy, what you excel at, but how you can contribute to others’ well-being. So Experiment with different activities and pursuits to discover your unique Ikigai.

“Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life” transcends the boundaries of a typical self-help book. Also, It introduces readers to a holistic approach to living that resonates deeply across cultures. So By embracing Ikigai, individuals can unearth the path to fulfillment and lead lives enriched with purpose, joy, and contentment.

Wings of Fire Book Review

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“Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life” by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles (Book Summary)

By Kyle Kowalski · 26 Comments

This post is a book summary of Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life ( Amazon ) by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles.

I was hoping this book would be a deep dive into the “how” of ikigai. However, it’s more of an introduction to a variety of different topics including: the Blue Zones , logotherapy , longevity, flow, tai chi, yoga, resilience, and more. If you’re new to those topics, then this is the book for you!

Quick Summary of the book Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life

• As mentioned above, this book covers many topics related to the “ art of living .”
• The authors define ikigai and the rules of ikigai—they conducted a total of one hundred interviews in Ogimi, Okinawa to try to understand the longevity secrets of centenarians and supercentenarians.
• “What do Japanese artisans, engineers, Zen philosophy, and cuisine have in common? Simplicity and attention to detail.”
• “The authors of this book wish you a long, happy, and purposeful life.”

What is Ikigai?

• In Japanese, ikigai is written by combining the symbols that mean “life” with “to be worthwhile.”
• “Translates roughly as ‘the happiness of always being busy.'” (Note: I believe they mean “busy” in the sense of living a full life vs busy life )
• “There is a passion inside you, a unique talent that gives meaning to your days and drives you to share the best of yourself until the very end. If you don’t know what your ikigai is yet, as Viktor Frankl says, your mission is to discover it.” (Note: Viktor Frankl is the author of Man’s Search for Meaning )
• “Our ikigai is different for all of us, but one thing we have in common is that we are all searching for meaning . When we spend our days feeling connected to what is meaningful to us, we live more fully; when we lose the connection, we feel despair.”
• “Our ikigai is hidden deep inside each of us, and finding it requires a patient search. According to those born on Okinawa, the island with the most centenarians in the world, our ikigai is the reason we get up in the morning.”
• “Once you discover your ikigai, pursuing it and nurturing it every day will bring meaning to your life.”
• “They have an important purpose in life, or several. They have an ikigai, but they don’t take it too seriously. They are relaxed and enjoy all that they do.”
• “One thing that everyone with a clearly defined ikigai has in common is that they pursue their passion no matter what.”

The 10 Rules of Ikigai

• Stay active; don’t retire.
• Take it slow.
• Don’t fill your stomach.
• Surround yourself with good friends.
• Get in shape for your next birthday.
• Reconnect with nature.
• Give thanks.
• Live in the moment.
• Follow your ikigai.

Ikigai Book Highlights

Stress & Existential Crisis:

• “Many people seem older than they are. Research into the causes of premature aging has shown that stress has a lot to do with it.”
• “The American Institute of Stress investigated this degenerative process and concluded that most health problems are caused by stress.”
• “ Existential crisis , on the other hand, is typical of modern societies in which people do what they are told to do , or what others do, rather than what they want to do. They often try to fill the gap between what is expected of them and what they want for themselves with economic power or physical pleasure, or by numbing their senses.”
• “Those who give up the things they love doing and do well lose their purpose in life. That’s why it’s so important to keep doing things of value, making progress, bringing beauty or utility to others, helping out, and shaping the world around you, even after your ‘official’ professional activity has ended.”

Morita Therapy:

• “Many Western forms of therapy focus on controlling or modifying the patient’s emotions. In the West, we tend to believe that what we think influences how we feel, which in turn influences how we act. In contrast, Morita therapy focuses on teaching patients to accept their emotions without trying to control them, since their feelings will change as a result of their actions.”
• “Logotherapy and Morita therapy are both grounded in a personal, unique experience that you can access without therapists or spiritual retreats: the mission of finding your ikigai, your existential fuel. Once you find it, it is only a matter of having the courage and making the effort to stay on the right path.”
• “The happiest people are not the ones who achieve the most. They are the ones who spend more time than others in a state of flow.​”
• “In order to achieve this optimal experience, we have to focus on increasing the time we spend on activities that bring us to this state of flow, rather than allowing ourselves to get caught up in activities that offer immediate pleasure.”
• “ Concentrating on one thing at a time may be the single most important factor in achieving flow.”
• “Japanese people often apply themselves to even the most basic tasks with an intensity that borders on obsession.”
• “Our ability to turn routine tasks into moments of microflow, into something we enjoy, is key to our being happy, since we all have to do such tasks.”
• “Artists, for example, who carry the torch of their ikigai instead of retiring, have this power. Art, in all its forms, is an ikigai that can bring happiness and purpose to our days. Enjoying or creating beauty is free, and something all human beings have access to.​”
• “Artists know how important it is to protect their space, control their environment, and be free of distractions if they want to flow with their ikigai.”
• “Many such artists might seem misanthropic or reclusive, but what they are really doing is protecting the time that brings them happiness, sometimes at the expense of other aspects of their lives. They are outliers who apply the principles of flow to their lives to an extreme.​”
• 1. To be in a distraction-free environment
• 2. To have control over what we are doing at every moment ​

Ogimi, Okinawa:

• “We realized right away that time seems to have stopped there, as though the entire town were living in an endless here and now .”
• “Many Japanese people never really retire—they keep doing what they love for as long as their health allows.”
• “The Japanese are skilled at bringing nature and technology together: not man versus nature, but rather a union of the two.”
• “Okinawans live by the principle of ichariba chode , a local expression that means ‘treat everyone like a brother, even if you’ve never met them before.'”
• Celebrations seem to be an essential part of life in Ogimi.​

Slow Living :

• “Being in a hurry is inversely proportional to quality of life. As the old saying goes, ‘Walk slowly and you’ll go far.’ When we leave urgency behind, life and time take on new meaning.​”
• “Looking back, our days in Ogimi were intense but relaxed—sort of like the lifestyle of the locals, who always seemed to be busy with important tasks but who, upon closer inspection, did everything with a sense of calm. They were always pursuing their ikigai, but they were never in a rush.”
• “They are always busy , but they occupy themselves with tasks that allow them to relax. We didn’t see a single old grandpa sitting on a bench doing nothing.​”
• “The restaurant is right by the sea and seems like something from the planet Tatooine, from Star Wars. The menu boasts in large letters that it serves ‘ slow food ‘ prepared with organic vegetables grown in the town.​”

Secrets of the Centenarians & Supercentenarians:

• Don’t worry
• Cultivate good habits
• Nurture your friendships every day
• Live an unhurried life
• Be optimistic”
• “Eat and sleep, and you’ll live a long time. You have to learn to relax.” — Misao Okawa (117 years old)
• “I’ve never eaten meat in my life.” — María Capovilla (116)
• “Everything’s fine.” — Jeanne Calment (122)
• “Your mind and your body. You keep both busy, you’ll be here a long time.” — Walter Breuning (114)
• “I just haven’t died yet.” — Alexander Imich (111)
• “Food won’t help you live longer…The secret is smiling and having a good time.”
• “My secret to a long life is always saying to myself, ‘ Slow down ,’ and ‘Relax.’ You live much longer if you’re not in a hurry.”
• “The key to staying sharp in old age is in your fingers. From your fingers to your brain, and back again. If you keep your fingers busy, you’ll live to see one hundred.”​

Longevity Diet:

• “One hundred percent of the people we interviewed keep a vegetable garden, and most of them also have fields of tea, mangoes, shikuwasa, and so on.”
• “Locals eat a wide variety of foods, especially vegetables. Variety seems to be key. A study of Okinawa’s centenarians showed that they ate 206 different foods, including spices, on a regular basis. They ate an average of eighteen different foods each day, a striking contrast to the nutritional poverty of our fast-food culture.”
• “They eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables every day. At least seven types of fruits and vegetables are consumed by Okinawans on a daily basis. The easiest way to check if there is enough variety on your table is to make sure you’re ‘eating the rainbow.’ A table featuring red peppers, carrots, spinach, cauliflower, and eggplant, for example, offers great color and variety. Vegetables, potatoes, legumes, and soy products such as tofu are the staples of an Okinawan’s diet. More than 30 percent of their daily calories comes from vegetables.”
• “Grains are the foundation of their diet. Japanese people eat white rice every day, sometimes adding noodles. Rice is the primary food in Okinawa, as well.”
• “Eat fish an average of three times per week.”
• “Consume fewer calories: an average of 1,785 per day, compared to 2,068 in the rest of Japan. In fact, low caloric intake is common among the five Blue Zones .”
• “Tofu, Miso, Tuna, Carrots, Goya (bitter melon), Kombu (sea kelp), Cabbage, Nori (seaweed), Onion, Soy sprouts, Hechima (cucumber-like gourd), Soybeans (boiled or raw), Sweet potato, Peppers”
• “Okinawans drink more Sanpin-cha—a mix of green tea and jasmine flowers—than any other kind of tea…Okinawans drink an average of three cups of Sanpin-cha every day.”
• “White tea, with its high concentration of polyphenols, may be even more effective against aging. In fact, it is considered to be the natural product with the greatest antioxidant power in the world—to the extent that one cup of white tea might pack the same punch as about a dozen glasses of orange juice.”

Other Memorable Quotes:

• “ We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” — Aristotle
• “To be able to concentrate for a considerable amount of time is essential to difficult achievement.” — Bertrand Russell
• “The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.” — Washington Burnap
• “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” — Viktor Frankl
• “Nana korobi ya oki (Fall seven times, rise eight.)” — Japanese proverb
• “Metabolism slows down 90 percent after 30 minutes of sitting. The enzymes that move the bad fat from your arteries to your muscles, where it can get burned off, slow down. And after two hours, good cholesterol drops 20 percent. Just getting up for five minutes is going to get things going again. These things are so simple they’re almost stupid.” — Gavin Bradley

Have you read the book or found your ikigai? Please share what was most beneficial for you in the comments.

You can check out all of my  book summaries here .

You May Also Enjoy:

• Get the new eBook: Ikigai 2.0: A Step-by-Step Guidebook to Finding Life Purpose & Making Money Meaningfully (+ Bonus Workbook)
• How the Japanese Wake Up to Joy and Purpose: “Awakening Your Ikigai” by Ken Mogi (Book Summary)
• The Truth about Ikigai: Definitions, Diagrams & Myths about the Japanese Life Purpose
• Ikigai 2.0: Evolving the Ikigai Diagram for Life Purpose (& Why and How it Needs to be Redesigned)
• My Ikigai 2.0 — A Detailed Personal Ikigai Example of How to Find Your Life Purpose

About Kyle Kowalski

👋 Hi, I'm Kyle―the human behind Sloww . I'm an ex-marketing executive turned self-education entrepreneur after an existential crisis in 2015. In one sentence: my purpose is synthesizing lifelong learning that catalyzes deeper development . But, I’m not a professor, philosopher, psychologist, sociologist, anthropologist, scientist, mystic, or guru. I’m an interconnector across all those humans and many more—an "independent, inquiring, interdisciplinary integrator" (in other words, it's just me over here, asking questions, crossing disciplines, and making connections). To keep it simple, you can just call me a "synthesizer." Sloww shares the art of living with students of life . Read my story.

Sloww participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. When you purchase a book through an Amazon link, Sloww earns a small percentage at no additional cost to you. This helps fund the costs to support the site and the ad-free experience.

Reader Interactions

August 22, 2018 at 10:21 AM

Kyle Kowalski, thanks a lot for the post. Really thank you! Much obliged.

August 22, 2018 at 10:50 AM

Sure thing! Glad it was helpful.

November 23, 2018 at 10:51 PM

Live slow, seems to be important.

November 24, 2018 at 12:37 AM

Yes, Kazim! It seems all good things start with slowing down.

January 21, 2019 at 10:17 AM

Ikigai is magical!! It is living life the way you want, at a slower pace and enjoying every moment of it!! Thanks Kyle!

January 25, 2019 at 10:51 AM

I agree, Nirmaladevi! Ikigai has been one of the most life-changing concepts I’ve discovered in the last few years.

December 15, 2019 at 4:09 AM

I too will read it.Thank you.

December 16, 2019 at 10:38 PM

January 8, 2022 at 10:51 PM

I have ikigai book and I am eager to read that hope I like it✨ Thank you so much kyle

August 1, 2020 at 7:24 AM

One more thing I want to add on is that this book also gave us a way to the reality that stay with those thoughts in which you can easily confide in and enjoy your life

August 4, 2020 at 10:51 PM

March 4, 2019 at 9:03 AM

Living in the now! That’s the most important. And cherishing life.

March 6, 2019 at 2:34 PM

Life only happens in the now! Good thoughts, Ranjit. You may like this: A Deep Look at “A New Earth” by Eckhart Tolle (Book Summary #1)

March 21, 2019 at 10:46 AM

Live a simple life try to see happiness in small things.

March 28, 2019 at 1:41 AM

You got it, Raju!

January 8, 2020 at 6:24 AM

Really good. It helped me a lot. I am going to teach these concepts in my courses (yes that’s My Ikigai) about goal setting and life mission.

January 14, 2020 at 9:47 AM

Fantastic, Hadi!

January 9, 2020 at 6:23 PM

Hi Kyle, I loved this book summary on Ikigai a lot. I have shared it on my LinkedIn page so that other people can know about it too. Hope you don’t mind. Your website is amazing, very meaningful posts and the layout is so simple. I look forward to reading a lot more about the art of living on your other posts. Thank you very much.

January 14, 2020 at 9:48 AM

Awesome, thanks for sharing Keya! The more the merrier. I greatly appreciate the kind words about Sloww 🙂

February 5, 2020 at 1:36 AM

hey kyle, the most amazing thing is that you are replying to everyone since 2018, well i actually need to read this book, so i am going to start it, here i was seeing what is the concept of this book. Thank you

February 5, 2020 at 8:37 AM

Hey Isha! Yes, I’ve always tried to respond to every single comment on all posts since the site launched. Enjoy the book!

October 23, 2020 at 8:54 PM

Hi Kyle, thank you so much for your post. It benefits me a lot. This help in my thesis writing and I will use this with my family.

November 25, 2020 at 12:39 AM

So happy to hear that, Cho Lye Yin!

August 18, 2021 at 6:55 PM

December 4, 2021 at 8:59 AM

I have found the book very interesting and helpful to understand my ‘self’ .

July 29, 2022 at 9:47 PM

Wonderful, Benudhar!

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Book Review: ‘Ikigai’ By Héctor García and Francesc Miralles

• by Sam Howard

‘Ikigai: The Japanese Secret To A Long And Happy Life’ by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles is about living lightly and purposefully, doing things that make you happy. It draws on relevant research and lived experiences to point out fulfilling ways of living – or simply, to show us the “ikigai” way of life.

I picked up this book because I wanted to find out the exact meaning of the word ‘ikigai’ – I was curious because it has no direct English translation and, like any writer, I’m intrigued by fascinating words. To my delight, I came away with more than just the meaning of the word after reading the book.

No products found.

‘Ikigai’ Overview

‘Ikigai’ explores what it means to have a purpose or meaning in life drawing from relevant research in psychology, spirituality, and philosophy with commentary from lived experiences. 

The authors Héctor García and Francesc Miralles travel to Okinawa, Japan to discover the secret behind Okinawa residents’ longevity. There, they find a way of communal living filled with purpose, happiness, and good health that they share alongside interviews with the Okinawans and practical tips for a good life.

‘Ikigai’ Book Review

Basically, “Ikigai” is a Japanese concept that loosely translates to mean ‘the reason to live’, ‘the thing that makes life worth living,’ or according to the authors Héctor García and Francesc Miralles, “the happiness of always being busy.”

Now, this seemed a little contradictory to me because ‘always being busy’ does not (at all) inspire happiness in me so I was curious as to how this concept became so popular. I was even more intrigued when the authors tied ‘ikigai’ to longevity: 

“Those who study why the inhabitants of this island in the south of Japan [Okinawa] live longer than people anywhere else in the world believe that one of the keys—in addition to a healthful diet, a simple life in the outdoors, green tea, and then subtropical climate (its average temperature is like that of Hawaii)—is the ikigai that shapes their lives.” – Prologue

A purpose that makes life worth living and in fact, extends it, was a fascinating concept to me because a few years ago, I wasn’t exactly thrilled about having no real purpose in my work. This lack of contentment even seeped into my personal life where I stopped finding joy with people close to my heart and in my hobbies. So the way the authors – and the Okinawans – defined “ikigai” was relatable and personal: 

“According to those born on Okinawa, the island with the most centenarians in the world, our ikigai is the reason we get up in the morning…Having a clearly defined ikigai brings satisfaction, happiness, and meaning to our lives.” – Chapter 1

The authors expand on this concept drawing from Viktor Frankl’s logotherapy and Shoma Morita’s Morita therapy that focus on finding the meaning of life (the former) and working with one’s feelings and desire to find purpose in life (the latter). 

I found those theories interesting, but my favorite part of the book was the chapter about ‘flow.’

“…the heart of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s research into the experience of being completely immersed in what we are doing. Csikszentmihalyi called this state “flow,” and described it as the pleasure, delight, creativity, and process when we are completely immersed in life.” – Chapter 3

I could relate to this state of immersion because it happens when I’m reading a book that takes me far into a world of its own or when I’m writing a piece that captures my attention that the world falls behind and only the sound of tapping keys remains. The ‘flow’ got me thinking about the “ikigai” and how it’s described as “the happiness of always being busy.” I’ll admit, it made me realize how always being busy and being happy is entirely possible, because I’m happy when I read or write – I was just defaulting into the idea that ‘always being busy’ means being stressful and under pressure all the time. 

So instead of looking at “ikigai” as having to be busy, I understood it to be about enjoying being busy and unhurried–especially inspired by the centenarians from the village of Ogimi in the island of Okinawa. In an interview, an elderly Ogimi resident says that their secret to a long life is slowing down:

“Doing many different things everyday. Always staying busy, but doing one thing at a time, without getting overwhelmed.” – Chapter 6

The interviews with the people of Ogimi also highlight the importance of cultivating good habits, consuming healthy food, nurturing friendships, and being optimistic in order to lead a long, fulfilled life. 

I loved the wealth of information packed into the book, and also the glimpse into life on Okinawa island, but I felt the authors spent a lot of time on drawing from other research instead of focusing on “ikigai.” I was waiting till they shared a comprehensive guide into finding our own “ikigai” but it never came, and I felt a little let down because the book didn’t deliver what its title promised. Now, something I thought was really neat was when I learned the author duo has published a follow-up book called ‘ No products found. ’ and it fills in this missing part about how to find our “ikigai” – I thought it was a motivating read and a solid follow up. 

The other concern for me about the ‘Ikigai’ book was about the learnings from Okinawans. I could see that they were lovely people with a passion for their work and community, but the profound, meaningful insight about ikigai that the authors promised from their interviews just wasn’t there. I think the genuinity of the Okinawa residents would have come through better if their interviews were framed differently, and that would’ve added a lot to the learning experience.

My rating for the book went down a little because it didn’t meet the expectations that were set out by its blurb, but that does not mean you shouldn’t give ‘Ikigai’ a chance. The research and wellness practices that the authors cover are valuable, interesting to read, and definitely actionable, so if you’re looking for a simple, inspiring read on how to improve the quality of your life, ‘ No products found. ’ by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles is worth a read.

Who Should Read ‘Ikigai’

Fans of the hygge lifestyle of slowing down and enjoying the quiet pleasures of life might find “ikigai” an interesting concept to learn about because the two concepts, while kind of built for the same goal (finding happiness), suggest working toward the goal in such different ways. If hygge is about finding happiness in not doing anything, “ikigai” is about finding happiness in doing, so you’re definitely up for a refreshing read with this book.

Readers who want to find wholesome ways of living to improve the quality of your life might find ‘ No products found. ’ an interesting read.

Books Similar to ‘Ikigai’

No products found. written by the same author duo is a follow-up book to ‘Ikigai’ that helps you find your own ikigai. This book fills in the gaps of ‘Ikigai’, showing you how to find your “ikigai” among other things, so pick up for a great follow-up read!

No products found. is a great read similar to ‘Ikigai’ in that it draws from lived experience to discuss the same topic – the meaning of life.  

And if you would like to read more on inspiring ways of living, give No products found. a chance – it talks about slowing down and finding joy in small moments in life.

If you’re looking for more self-help reads on various topics, check out all my self-help book reviews .

Final Thoughts

Building on the concept of a life worth living, No products found. packs a wealth of information, draws on a lot of relevant concepts, and shares with us the way of life of the people who’ve found their “ikigai.” This is a short read with actionable practices toward a fulfilling life, so pick it up for a quick dive into “ikigai” and how to live a long and happy life.

Yes. ‘Ikigai’ is worth reading because it’s about living a long, healthy, and happy life full of purpose and meaning with a lot of research, experience, and practices to support the “ikigai” way of living.

The main theme of ‘Ikigai’ is making life worth living.

The 10 rules of “ikigai” as set out in ‘Ikigai’ are 1) stay active, don’t retire; 2) take it slow; 3) don’t fill your stomach; 4) surround yourself with good friends; 5) get in shape for your next birthday; 6) smile; 7) reconnect with nature; 8) give thanks; 9) live in the moment; 10) follow your ikigai.

‘Ikigai’ is famous and widely-read because it shares a lot of actionable advice on how to take life slow, be healthy, and make your life meaningful.

The 80% rule in ‘Ikigai’ refers to the Japanese practice of eating only until 80 percent of your stomach is full. It’s about eating barely enough that you keep yourself from overeating.

1 thought on “Book Review: ‘Ikigai’ By Héctor García and Francesc Miralles”

Thanks for sharing this article. I love this book and I try to reread it at least once a year. I’m glad other people like it as well.

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Book Review: Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life by Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles

Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life ” by Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles is a comprehensive guide to discovering and pursuing one’s ikigai .

The authors conducted extensive research and interviewed many of Japan’s centenarians to uncover the secrets to a long and happy life.

The book offers several major takeaways that can help readers find their ikigai and live a more fulfilling life. These include:

The concept of moai, a sound mind in a sound body, adopting an anti-aging attitude, wisdom words/lessons from japan’s centenarians, the authors explain there are ten rules of ikigai..

The ten rules of ikigai provide a roadmap for living a fulfilling life, and include embracing simplicity, spending time in nature, slowing down, following your passions, and cultivating relationships with others.

Stay active and don’t retire

This rule encourages people to stay engaged in activities that bring them joy and purpose, regardless of their age.

Leave urgency behind and adopt a slower pace of life

This rule emphasizes the importance of slowing down and taking time to appreciate life’s simple pleasures.

Only eat until you are 80% full

This rule is based on the traditional Japanese practice of “ hara hachi bu ,” which encourages people to eat mindfully and in moderation.

Surround yourself with good friends

This rule stresses the importance of relationships and social connections for overall well-being and happiness.

Get in shape through daily, gentle exercise

This rule promotes a regular exercise routine, emphasizing the benefits of gentle movements and mindfulness.

Smile and acknowledge others

This rule encourages people to be more social and to engage with others in a positive way.

Reconnect with nature

This rule highlights the importance of spending time in nature and taking in its beauty and wonder.

Give back to your community

This rule emphasizes the importance of making a positive impact on others and contributing to the world in a meaningful way.

Live in the moment

This rule encourages people to be fully present and to enjoy life in the here and now.

Follow your ikigai

This rule is the most important of all, reminding people to always follow their passions, missions, vocations, and professions and to stay true to their purpose in life.

These takeaways are presented in a clear, concise, and engaging manner, making it easy for readers to understand and incorporate them into their own lives. The authors also offer practical exercises and suggestions to help readers find their ikigai and pursue it with purpose and joy.

Overall, “Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life” is an inspiring and transformative book that provides readers with the tools they need to live a more fulfilling and happy life.

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IKIGAI: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life Summary, Review, Notes

The primary takeaways from this book are how to live a better and happier life while also extending your lifespan. 

Héctor Garcia and Francesc Miralles, authors of the book “Ikigai: The Art of Finding Your True North,” provide a definition of the term as well as an exposition of its underlying concepts. 

To gain a deeper understanding of this occurrence, researchers in Ogimi, Okinawa, spoke with one hundred of the island’s centenarians and supercentenarians.

What we think about, we bring about. Several research has come to the conclusion that stress is the key component that contributes to an accelerated aging process. 

The writers of this book believe that the concept of ikigai is a significant factor in both the extraordinarily high quality of life enjoyed by Japanese people and their exceptionally long-life expectancy.

Book Title—  Ikigai, The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life Author—  Héctor García and Francesc Miralles Date of Reading—   February 2023 Rating—   8/10

Table of Contents

What is being said in detail, prologue. ikigai: a mysterious word.

The book’s prologue lays the groundwork for the investigation of ikigai and its significance in Japanese culture. 

The author discusses his personal experience of living in Japan and how the culture and manner of life there captivated him.

Although Japan is frequently thought of as a nation of invention and technology, the author emphasizes that it is also a nation with a strong regard for tradition and an emphasis on mindfulness and simplicity. 

The author observes that this cultural perspective has produced a special approach to health and wellbeing that places a premium on balance, harmony, and purpose.

CHAPTER 1. Ikigai. The Art of Staying Young While Growing Old

The first chapter of the book introduces the concept of ikigai, which translates as “a reason for being” or “a purpose in life” in Japanese. 

Ikigai’s origins and how it has been studied by researchers and philosophers over the years are further explored in the chapter. 

While there is no one-size-fits-all definition of ikigai, the author notes that it generally refers to the things that give our lives meaning and purpose, Ikigai has to be something you’re good at, something that you love, something that the world need and something that you can be paid for.

The author explains that while Japan is often associated with technology and innovation, it is also a country with a deep respect for tradition and a focus on simplicity and mindfulness. 

He notes that this cultural mindset has led to a unique approach to health and wellness, one that values balance, harmony, and purpose. 

The island of Okinawa holds the first place among the world’s Blue Zones where the community practices Moai, which is an informal group of people with common interests that look out for one another, they serve the community.

CHAPTER 2. Antiaging Secrets. Little Things that Add Up to a Long and Happy Life

The author reveals the secrets to living a long life in this chapter:

• Younger body, active mind. Because the mind and body are inextricably linked, having a youthful mind motivates you to live a healthy lifestyle that will slow the aging process. We suffer from a lack of mental exercise because it causes our neurons and neural connections to deteriorate.
• Eliminate long-term stress. The majority of health issues are caused by living in a constant state of stress.
• A little stress is beneficial. Low levels of stress can be beneficial to our health.
• Continue to be active. Sedentary behavior contributes to a variety of diseases; make a few changes to your routine, such as walking to work, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, playing with children or pets, and being mindful.
• Sleep between 9 and 10 hours per night. This is an important antiaging tool because when we sleep, we produce melatonin, a powerful antioxidant that strengthens the immune system.
• Maintain a positive attitude. Having a calm or stoic attitude toward life’s challenges can help us stay young by reducing anxiety and stress and stabilizing behavior.

CHAPTER 3. From Logotherapy to Ikigai. How to Live Longer and Better by Finding Your Purpose

Logotherapy assists you in discovering reasons to live. The author breaks down the procedure into five steps:

• A person feels empty, frustrated, or anxious.
• The therapist demonstrates to him that what he is experiencing is a desire to live a meaningful life.
• The patient discovers the meaning of his life (at that particular point in time).
• The patient chooses whether to accept or reject his fate of his own free will.
• His newfound enthusiasm for life aids him in overcoming obstacles and sorrows.

The author also discusses Morita therapy, which was developed in Japan prior to Logotherapy. In Japan, Shoma Morita developed his own purpose-centered therapy. 

Because their feelings will change as a result of their actions, Morita therapy focuses on teaching patients to accept their emotions without trying to control them. Its fundamental principles are as follows:

• Accept your feelings.
• Carry out your responsibilities.
• Determine your life’s purpose.

This relates to Ikigai in that both Logotherapy and Morita therapy are based on a personal, one-of-a-kind experience that you can access without the help of therapists or spiritual retreats: the mission of discovering your ikigai, or existential fuel.

CHAPTER 4. Find Flow in Everything You Do. How to Turn Work and Free Time Into Spaces for Growth                                                                     

When you give yourself over to anything, you forget about the passage of time. Every second seems like an hour when you’re doing something you really don’t want to do. 

Flow refers to the state of engrossment one experiences when performing an activity one enjoys. 

According to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, flow is the experience of bliss, joy, inspiration, and flow that comes from being fully present in the moment. 

You need to go into a state of flow, have an “ideal experience” if you wish to live according to ikigai.

The author cites Owen Schaffer, a researcher at DePaul University, who lists “knowing what to do” as one of the conditions necessary to enter a state of flow:

Having the requisite skill to accomplish the task.

• Knowing what to do.
• Knowing how to do it.
• Knowing how well you are doing.
• Knowing where to go (where navigation is involved)

The author provides us with three approaches to this:

• Choose the challenging option (but not too difficult). It’s a challenge since it’s within our capabilities but yet a little bit of a reach. Our desire to persevere to the finish of a struggle is rooted in the pleasure we take in the sensation of mental and physical exertion.
• Know what it is you’re trying to accomplish and make it crystal clear. Whilst your journey may not be without twists and turns, keep in mind that you will reach your destination far sooner and more effectively than if you had followed a predetermined course.
• Focus on what you’re doing. While it may seem logical to perform multiple jobs at once in order to save time, studies have shown that this is actually not the case.

It is also stated that our ability to transform mundane work into moments of microflow, into something we enjoy, is critical to our happiness, because we all have to complete such tasks. 

You can locate your Ikigai by engaging in pursuits that put you in a state of flow.

CHAPTER 5. Master of Longevity. Words of Wisdom from the Longest-Living People in the World

The author interviewed supercentenarians—people who live to be 110 years old or more—in Okinawa, which has its own chapter. 

Misao Okawa (117), Mara Capovilla (116), Jeanne Calment (122), Walter Breuning (114), and Alexander Imich (111) are among the interviewees.

García also draws inspiration from elderly people who continue to carry the ikigai torch rather than retiring.

CHAPTER 6. Lessons from Japan’s Centenarians. Traditions and Proverbs for Happiness and Longevity

In this chapter, the author recounts his visit to Ogimi, Okinawa’s capital, also known as the Village of Longevity, to interview the community’s oldest members. 

They noticed the lack of traffic as soon as they arrived. Houses were strewn about the mountain and seascape.

Ogimi residents have a vibrant social life centered on community centers. Volunteering is essential because everyone can contribute and feel like they are a part of the community. 

Celebrations and spirituality are an important part of village life and contribute to the happiness of the residents. 

The locals live an intense but relaxed lifestyle; they appeared to be preoccupied with important tasks but went about their business calmly.

The following were the most significant statements derived from the interviews:

• Don’t be concerned
• Develop good habits
• Maintain your friendships on a daily basis.
• Live an unhurried life
• Be optimistic

CHAPTER 7. The Ikigai Diet. What the World’s Longest-Living People Eat and Drink

Okinawa was one of the most devastated areas of Japan during WWII. 

As a result of not only battlefield conflicts, but also hunger and a lack of resources after the war. However, as Okinawans recovered from the devastation, they became some of the country’s longest-living citizens.

The following are the fundamentals of the Okinawa diet:

• Consume a wide variety of foods, particularly vegetables.
• Every day, consume at least five servings of fruits and vegetables.
• Grains are the foundation of the diet; consume white rice on a daily basis.
• Rarely eat sugar, and if you do, use cane sugar.

They also follow the Japanese rule of Hara hachi bu, also known as the 80% rule. When you realize you’re almost full but could eat a little more, just stop! You can make it easier by skipping dessert, reducing portion size, or fasting one or two days per week.

Okinawans consume a variety of natural antioxidants, including tofu, miso, tuna, carrots, kombu, nori, and soy sprouts. 

Okinawans drink Sanpin-cha, which is a mix of green tea and jasmine flowers, and they also drink the juice of shikuwasa, which is a citrus fruit that is used not only for juices but also in traditional dishes.

CHAPTER 8. Gentle Movements, Longer Life. Exercises from the East that Promote Health and Longevity

People who move around the most are the ones who live the longest, not the ones who work out the most. The people who live in Ogimi are very active. They walk a lot, get up early , and work in their gardens.

If you live in a city, it may be hard to move every day in a natural and healthy way because we tend to sit more. There are many Eastern practices that we can do at home to bring balance to our bodies, minds, and souls:

• Radio taiso
• Sun salutation
• Tai chi Qigong Shiatsu
• Mindfulness of breath

CHAPTER 9. Resilience and Wabi-Sabi. How to Face Life’s Challenges Without Letting Stress and Worry Age You

Ikigai teaches you to pursue your dreams no matter what and to keep trying even when things don’t go according to plan. 

This is toughness. To deal with life’s ups and downs, proper mental, physical, and emotional resilience training is necessary.

The strength of resilient people comes from their adaptability; they are skilled at making adjustments in the face of change and setbacks. 

They focus on the variables they can influence and don’t worry about the variables they cannot.

Buddhism and Stoicism can help you develop emotional fortitude. Moreover, meditation can be beneficial since it allows us to become conscious of our emotions and desires and so liberate ourselves from them. 

By doing this, we can teach our thoughts to resist feelings of rage, envy, or resentment.

Knowing which moment to live in is another essential skill for developing resilience. 

The moment is all there is, and it is the only thing we have control over, as both Buddhism and Stoicism provide as a reminder. 

Never should we lose sight of the fact that everything we own and everyone we care about will go at some point. 

Never forget that everything we own and everyone we love may one day vanish but resist the need to be gloomy about it. 

Knowing that everything is temporary should not be depressing; rather, it should inspire us to cherish the here and now and people around us.

A Japanese idea known as wabi-sabi demonstrates the beauty of the world’s impermanence, changeability, and transience. 

We should look for beauty in things that are defective or incomplete rather than trying to find it in things that are flawless. Ichi-go ichi-e, which roughly translates as “This moment exists only now and won’t come again,” is a complimentary Japanese idea.

And finally, antifragility. Antifragility goes beyond resilience; whereas the former can withstand shocks and remain unchanged, the latter improves. 

By doing the following three things, we can become antifragile:

• Make redundant positions. Rely on multiple sources of income.
• Make cautious bets in some situations while taking numerous tiny risks in others. Spend money on
• Do away with the things that weaken you. Improve your habits.

We should not fear hardship in order to develop resilience in our life because each setback presents a chance for improvement. 

If we adopt an antifragile mindset, we’ll figure out a method to become stronger with each setback, improving our way of life and being resilient centering on our ikigai.

EPILOGUE. Ikigai: The Art of Living

The author shares the work of Mitsuo Aida, one of the most important calligraphers and haikuists of the 20th century, as an example of a person that dedicated her life to the ikigai of communicating emotions with seventeen-syllable poems, using shodo calligraphy brush.

Our ikigai is unique to each individual, but we all share the common goal of searching for meaning. Modern life can make it easy to lose this connection, with distractions like money and success. 

To find our ikigai, we should follow our intuition and curiosity, doing things that bring us joy and fulfillment, whether big or small. 

There is no perfect strategy, but we should not worry too much about finding it. Ultimately, we should stay busy doing what we love, surrounded by people who love us.

In short, these are the ten rules of Ikigai:

• Stay active, don’t retire.
• Take it slow.
• Don’t fill your stomach.
• Surround yourself with good friends .
• Get in shape for your next birthday.
• Reconnect with nature.
• Give thanks.
• Live in the moment.
• Follow your ikigai.

Most Important Keywords, Sentences, Quotes

“Some people have found their ikigai, while others are still looking, though they carry it within them.”

“Having a youthful mind also drives you toward a healthy lifestyle that will slow the aging process.”

“As such, though challenges are good for keeping mind and body active, we should adjust our high-stress lifestyles in order to avoid the premature aging of our bodies.”

“Achieving mindfulness involves a gradual process of training, but with a bit of practice we can learn to focus our mind completely, which reduces stress and helps us live longer.”

“Existential frustration arises when our life is without purpose, or when that purpose is skewed.”

“Morita therapy is not meant to eliminate symptoms; instead it teaches us to accept our desires, anxieties, fears, and worries, and let them go.”

CHAPTER 4. Find Flow in Everything You Do. How to Turn Work and Free Time Into Spaces for Growth

“What makes us enjoy doing something so much that we forget about whatever worries we might have while we do it? When are we happiest? These questions can help us discover our ikigai.”

“When we flow, we are focused on a concrete task without any distractions.”

“The happiest people are not the ones who achieve the most. They are the ones who spend more time than others in a state of flow.”

“A peaceful life in the countryside seems pretty common among people who have watched a century pass.”

“If you want to stay busy even when there’s no need to work, there has to be an ikigai on your horizon, a purpose that guides you throughout your life and pushes you to make things of beauty and utility for the community and yourself.”

“They have an important purpose in life, or several. They have an ikigai, but they don’t take it too seriously. They are relaxed and enjoy all that they do.”

“They are always busy, but they occupy themselves with tasks that allow them to relax.”

“The easiest way to check if there is enough variety on your table is to make sure you’re “eating the rainbow”.”

“When you notice you’re almost full but could have a little more . . . just stop eating!”

“You don’t need to go to the gym for an hour every day or run marathons. As Japanese centenarians show us, all you need is to add movement to your day.”

CHAPTER 9.  Resilience and Wabi-Sabi. How to Face Life’s Challenges Without Letting Stress and Worry Age You

“Proper training for our mind, body, and emotional resilience is essential for confronting life’s ups and downs.”

“The more resilient we are, the easier it will be to pick ourselves up and get back to what gives meaning to our lives.”

“Worrying about things that are beyond our control accomplishes nothing.”

Book Review (Personal Opinion):

The Ikigai book is a great resource for anyone seeking to know how to live a fulfilled, long, and serene life. The wording is clear, concise, and easy to understand. 

It causes us to actively seek solutions to life’s most fundamental issues. It aids in expanding one’s worldview and discovering one’s ultimate calling.

The Japanese concepts presented in this book were interesting to me, however the book just scratched the surface of its subjects. In most cases, this is just common sense. 

If the authors had focused more on the “how” of ikigai, I would have been more satisfied. 

The book tries to cover a lot of ground, thus it spends too much time on the introduction to a lot of various things that don’t need to be introduced, like the steps to perform a sun salutation or some fundamental tai chi moves.

Whilst it could have benefited from more emphasis dedicated to the concept of ikigai as its central theme, this book is very uplifting and useful for letting its reader take a step back, slow down, and reflect on the meaning of life.

Rating : 8/10

This Book Is For:

• People who want to live a long and happy life.
• People who are looking for their purpose in life
• People who want to face life’s challenges with a stress-free mindset.

If You Want to Learn More

Here is an interview with author Héctor García on how he finds (and honors) his life purpose, his Ikigai. Finding and retaining Ikigai, an interview with  Héctor García .

How I’ve Implemented The Ideas From The Book

I took some time to reflect on what I truly enjoyed doing and what made me feel alive. It didn’t take long for me to realize that I had always had a passion for writing. With newfound clarity and motivation, I decided to start writing.

One Small Actionable Step You Can Do

One small step you can take to start applying the principles of Ikigai in your life is to begin incorporating mindfulness and reflection into your daily routine. 

Take a few minutes each day to reflect on what you are grateful for, what brings you joy, and what you are passionate about. This can be done through journaling, meditation, or simply taking a moment to pause and reflect.

By regularly reflecting on your values, passions, and purpose, you can begin to develop a deeper understanding of what drives you and what gives your life meaning. 

This self-awareness can help you make more intentional choices and align your actions with your values and purpose. 

Over time, this can lead to a greater sense of fulfillment and satisfaction in your life.

Bruno Boksic

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Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life Hardcover – August 29, 2017

Purchase options and add-ons.

• Print length 208 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Penguin Life
• Publication date August 29, 2017
• Dimensions 0.9 x 5 x 7.1 inches
• ISBN-10 0143130722
• ISBN-13 978-0143130727
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• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Life; Illustrated edition (August 29, 2017)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 208 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0143130722
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0143130727
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.6 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.9 x 5 x 7.1 inches
• #1 in Consciousness & Thought Philosophy
• #6 in Longevity
• #9 in Happiness Self-Help

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About the authors

Heather cleary.

Heather Cleary’s translations include Betina González’s American Delirium, Roque Larraquy’s Comemadre (nominee, National Book Award 2018), and Sergio Chejfec’s The Dark (nominee, National Translation Award 2014) and The Planets (finalist, BTBA 2013). She has served as a judge for the National Book Award (Translated Literature), the BTBA, and the PEN Translation Award. A member of the Cedilla & Co. translation collective and a founding editor of the digital, bilingual Buenos Aires Review, she holds a PhD in Latin American and Iberian Cultures from Columbia University and teaches at Sarah Lawrence College.

Francesc Miralles

Francesc Miralles is a lecturer and award-winning author of bestselling books in the areas of health and spirituality. Born in Barcelona, he studied journalism, English literature and German philology, and has worked as a translator, editor, art therapist and musician. His novel Love in Lowercase has been translated into 28 languages. Along with Hector Garcia, he is the author of the bestselling Ikigai: the Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life.

Héctor García

Héctor García was born in Spain and worked at CERN in Switzerland before moving to Japan, his home for 16 years and counting. In Tokyo, when he is not writing his next book, he makes a living in the IT industry. His popular blog led to his international bestseller A Geek In Japan. He is the author of the bestselling Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life; translated to 57 languages, has the strange honor of being the most translated book ever originally written in Spanish language. To this day he has published seven books, his latest one is: The Book of Ichigo Ichie.

Fracesc Miralles

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"After a time a man finds that it is not happiness, but knowledge, towards which he is going, and that both pleasure and pain are great teachers, and that he learns as much from evil as from good." 

Swami Vivekananda , An Indian Monk and disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa 

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• Jun 27, 2023

Uncovering the Meaning of Ikigai: A Detailed Book Review

Updated: Apr 17

Original Article was published in my Medium Page

Photograph of the Book Bought. The Book Ikigai is written by Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles

If you want to live long, happy and want to enjoy this birth, I personally feel that this book ‘IKIGAI’ is for you. IKIGAI is the Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life.

This book has all the tools, all the advices which can make one’s Soul live a happy and fulfilling life. The authors Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles wanted to find answers too many questions, which surfaces a human mind i.e. what is the meaning of life? Is there a point just to live longer or should I seek a higher purpose? Why do some people know what they want and have a passion for life, while others languish in confusion?

The authors describe Ikigai as a Japanese Concept, which translates in a rough form ‘the happiness of always being busy’. After many researches all across the Japan, they found that Ogimi a place in Japan boasts of the highest life expectancy in the world — a fact that had earned them the title — The Village of Longevity.

This book found many such examples and beautifully describes the art of staying young while growing old. The book has very nice and informative chapters on Logotherapy to Ikigai, which states how to live longer and better by finding your purpose and also the ways to find one’s own flow in everything one does.

The book has beautifully expressed the wisdom from the longest-living people in the world. One of the best things, I learnt from this book is Hara hachi bu, a Japanese Concept that when you feel that you are full and yet your stomach has the ability to take little more — Stop Eating. The Ikigai diet is very well explained in this book.

If I have to rate the book on 10 Stars and 10 being the highest, I will give the book 9 Stars.

A book, which I feel I will always keep with myself to be referred again and again. Thank you, Universe, for giving me an opportunity to read this book.

(Mainak Majumdar)

Thanks for visiting the Book Review website: https://majumdarbookreviews.asia

Thanks and Regards:

Mainak Majumdar, Book Critic

Email: [email protected]   & [email protected]

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IKIGAI—The Japanese Secret to a Long Happy Life—Book Review

Many of us indeed struggle and asks these questions: Why do we exist? What do we live for? What is our intention in life? Assuredly, those questions are laborious to answer and of course, are a description of our endless search for the meaning of life; on both a group and individual level. Yet, when we're at workplaces, we desire whatever we're doing to hold something that not only gives us money; but also happiness, passion, and a feeling that we are fulfilling our ends.

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Ikigai Summary

1-Sentence-Summary: Ikigai explains how you can live a longer and happier life by having a purpose, eating healthy, and not retiring.

Favorite quote from the author:

Table of Contents

Video Summary

Ikigai review, audio summary, who would i recommend the ikigai summary to.

Do you want to live a long life? How about a happy one? What if you could have both? The secret to a long life actually comes from finding joy and purpose every day. Most of us think of these ideals as mere dreams that only a select few achieve.

The people of Japan, however, have practiced ikigai , their “reason to live,” for centuries. It helps them live longer, more joyful lives. This practice is what makes Japan part of the five Blue Zones of the world where people live the longest.

Many people find themselves trapped in the never-ending need to do everything faster, better, and harder. In contrast, discovering your ikigai will help you slow down and enjoy life more. Identifying your life’s purpose will also help you live longer.

Hector Puigcerver , author of Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life , is a native European who moved to Japan in 2004 and became enamored with Japanese culture. In this book, he breaks down how we can use ikigai to live better.

These are my 3 favorite lessons from his work:

• Having a purpose is a vital component of longevity and happiness. 
• If you want to live a long life, follow the advice of some of the oldest people in the world.
• To stay healthy throughout your life, make sure that you are moving enough.

Ready to learn how to live longer, healthier, and happier? Let’s go!

If you want to save this summary for later, download the free PDF and read it whenever you want.

Lesson 1: If you want to be happy and live longer, discover your ikigai – a reason to wake up in the morning.

Okinawa, Japan is home to some of the longest-living people in the world. Their secret is ikigai. The Japanese word has two characters: ‘iki’ which means life, and ‘gai,’ or value. Finding your ikigai can be as simple as asking four basic questions:

• What are your strengths? Think of what you do better than everyone else.
• What does the world need? Imagine something you see that the world lacks.
• What are your passions? Picture the things that you could do all day without stopping.
• What can you earn a living doing? You have to make money from your craft, so how can you do that?

Your ikigai might take you a short time to discover, or it could take much longer. Once you find it, however, you may realize that you never want or need to retire. Aside from being made up by the Germans , retirement is associated with an increased risk for many health problems . Searching your ikigai is the perfect way to never retire and thus avoid deteriorating faster in your old age. 

However, your ikigai doesn’t have to be connected to your job. Your purpose may come from a hobby or your family relationships. Do whatever you find gets you up in the morning, just make sure that you never give it up.

Okinawans forced into retirement continue to stay active with their hobbies and in their community, which helps them live longer. Research has shown that the elderly people of Okinawa have remarkably lower rates of dementia and heart disease as a result of their purpose and activity level.

Lesson 2: Okinawan elders know a thing or two about well-being, and we should follow their advice if we want to live as long as they do.

Seniors have so much wisdom to share with the world from their years of experience. Those of us that are young might sometimes pretend like we know everything, but we should learn a thing or two about life from the generations before us. 

One tip from Okinawan centenarians is to worry as little as possible . It helps to slow down, take your time, and realize that you don’t have to have it all figured out right away. Anxiety has a myriad of negative health effects .

Focus on enjoying life for what you have, instead of being afraid of what might go wrong. A great way to do this is to connect with everyone around you, even strangers. Okinawan old-timers suggest smiling and having an open-heart towards everybody you meet.

Your friendliness will help you develop many friendships throughout life. Okinawan elders recommend maintaining those relationships as well. When you become a grandparent your replacement of worry with friends may also help your grandchildren visit more often.

Japanese centenarians also endorse eating healthy, waking up early, and making sure you have enough movement throughout your day.

Lesson 3: A key component of staying healthy is to keep moving throughout the day, no matter how little.

Residents of Okinawa suggest that you don’t always need to play a sport or go running to be healthy. Longevity and health are more about finding simple, consistent ways to move more through the day.

Intensity may deter consistency, so Okinawans strive for simplicity in their forms of exercise. A walk around the neighborhood, day in the garden, or singing karaoke are just a few simple ways they maintain movement frequently. 

Radio Taiso, a Japanese radio show, has helped Okinawans exercise for years. Large groups of Japanese tune into the station and listen to directions on how to exercise.

In the present day, most watch online or on the television, but the show still continues throughout the day in Japan. With simple exercises, like lifting your arms above your head and bringing them down again, Radio Taiso is an easy to repeat form of exercise for the Japanese. 

Whether you find an exercise program like that or not, always make time for small, consistent amounts of movement in your day.

Ikigai is an incredible concept that can benefit many people. Whether you feel stuck in your job, want to live longer, or just desire a deeper level of happiness and meaning, finding your reason to live will help you. The ikigai summary on Blinkist seems to focus more on how to live a long life than on ikigai itself, but some research on the topic reveals there are multiple books on the subject to explore further. I’m excited to dive in and figure out how not to retire and live happier and healthier!

Listen to the audio of this summary with a free reading.fm account:

The 35-year-old father of two who is uncertain if he wants to spend 30 more years in a career he doesn’t love, a 21-year-old college graduate who is planning for retirement, and everyone who wants to be fit and have joy throughout their life.

Last Updated on June 18, 2023

Luke Rowley

With over 450 summaries that he contributed to Four Minute Books, first as a part-time writer, then as our full-time Managing Editor until late 2021, Luke is our second-most prolific writer. He's also a professional, licensed engineer, working in the solar industry. Next to his day job, he also runs Goal Engineering, a website dedicated to achieving your goals with a unique, 4-4-4 system. Luke is also a husband, father, 75 Hard finisher, and lover of the outdoors. He lives in Utah with his wife and 3 kids.

*Four Minute Books participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising commissions by linking to Amazon. We also participate in other affiliate programs, such as Blinkist, MindValley, Audible, Audiobooks, Reading.FM, and others. Our referral links allow us to earn commissions (at no extra cost to you) and keep the site running. Thank you for your support.

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Ikigai by by Héctor García & Francesc Miralles is book which talks about finding your purpose and then following it with all heart to live a happy and satisfying life. The authors take us in this search along with them and make us understand how people of Japan have been living a long and a happy life.

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Ikigai Book Review – Is it worth reading?

Ikigai book review.

Ikigai – A Japanese term that translates to “a reason for being” . Using this as an inspiration, Ikigai is a guide that fosters livable principles to enhance your existence. Ikigai is a state of mind that brings your body, mind, and soul together. It is not the idea of achieving the purpose but rather identifying with something bigger than yourself.

Ikigai Book is written by the New York Times Bestselling Shinpan Japanese author, Shouhei Fujisawa. This book was first published in 2016 and was released for Amazon Kindle owners. The Amazon page shows that Ikigai Book has received appreciation for the simplicity and straightforwardness of the content. I am highly attracted to the simplicity and straight-to-the-point approach of this book since I am not fond of reads that are filled with fluff just to add up the word count. 

There are many books on the market promising to teach you how to reach your maximum potential and they all promise greatness. There are signs of doubt in my mind when I see such books since the idea of self-growth and improvement is exploited in many ways and they become a marketing and sales tool rather than a useful one. 

Almost everyone, believe it or not, wants to be happy. But how can one be happy? Illness is another problem that every human being has to face in life. It’s not easy to do so. You have to come up with different ideas, so you could find the happiness that you are expecting.

How to find your Ikigai?

Your Ikigai, or soul purpose, is the essence of what brings meaning to your life. It can be anything — a passion, a hobby, an interest — but whatever it is, it’s something that keeps you going and makes your life worth living.

Here’s how you can find your Ikigai:

1) Identify your talents and passions: Know what you’re good at and why. These are valuable assets that can help you get to your Ikigai. Your talents and passions might be valuable in their own rights, such as artistic talent or technical ability. They can also lead to something valuable down the road. For example, if you get really good at drawing, one day you may use your artistic skills to design websites or print materials for a living. Or maybe you have a natural knack for connecting with people online, which could help with writing resumes or getting interviews.

2) Choose an area of expertise: List all the things that are important to you. Think about activities that are essential to fulfilling your Ikigai. For example, if you enjoy cooking with friends and family, then consider becoming a chef or taking classes in culinary arts. If you’re interested in travel writing but don’t have much experience yet, then consider taking some courses on travel writing online so that someday soon you’ll be able to use those skills in the real world.

3) Find an opportunity: Make a list of opportunities where you can utilize these skills to make money doing what you love best. If cooking professionally is important to you but feels out of reach at the moment because it seems too specialized, then take baby steps by starting with something more accessible like catering to small parties where your friends gather regularly or by starting an informal blog that documents recipes that don’t require complicated ingredients. See which kind of opportunities excite you most and start pursuing them today!

Seven principles of Ikigai

1. Discover your strengths

2. Make new friends (but don’t overdo it)

3. Live life to its fullest (but don’t get hurt)

4. Be independent (but don’t be aloof)

5. Learn and grow (but never stop learning yourself)

6. Don’t take yourself too seriously (but take yourself seriously enough) and

7: Have fun with everything you do!

What did I like about this book?

The book focuses on a topic that is a bit of a mystery to many people: what do you do with your life? While I was able to discover the answer to this question, it didn’t feel like I was learning about something new or different. Rather, it gave me more clarity on the subject and helped me find motivation for making changes in my life.

I liked how the book was broken down into chapters based on themes. Each chapter took about ten minutes to read and felt like it had something important to say. Even though I found this helpful, I still don’t think I would have spent the time reading each chapter if they weren’t broken up into smaller bites.

I appreciated how the book incorporated real-life examples (because everyone can relate to them) but didn’t seem like they were there just because they could be used as examples. The author also gave specific recommendations on how to make these changes but didn’t dwell on them too long. It was obvious she wanted us to go out there and make changes for ourselves instead of feeling like we had to learn everything from her first-hand experience.

What I Didn’t Like?

There were some parts of the book I didn’t like. The author is very focused on Japan and Japanese culture, so this part of the book is full of Japanese names, words, and phrases.

I also had some issues with the author’s writing style. It’s very easy to understand and I’m sure that there are people who would love it, but I found it a little annoying. His writing style is very informal and conversational, almost as if he’s talking with you personally. That may make it seem casual, but it’s actually quite formal for someone who has written a couple of books about mindfulness. Then there are some passages where he makes contradictions or leaves you wondering what exactly he is trying to say.

But even though I didn’t like all of the content in this book, I do recognize that it has something valuable to offer. The information in this book has given me an opportunity to think about my life in a new way and to start making changes that will improve my life in the long run. And that’s what mindfulness is all about – taking an opportunity to think about our lives in ways we haven’t before so we are better prepared for whatever comes our way.”

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Ikigai: The Japanese Secret To A Long And Happy Life

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Ikigai Book Summary – Héctor García & Francesc Miralles

Tristan Alexander

What you will learn from reading Ikigai:

–  Gain insights into the five pillars of Ikigai and how they contribute to a fulfilling life.

–  Discover actionable practices associated with Ikigai.

–  Discover how embracing Ikigai can enhance longevity and happiness.

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• Quotes from Ikigai

Ikigai Book Summary

In “Ikigai,” Héctor García and Francesc Miralles delve into the five pillars of the Japanese concept, offering profound insights into discovering purpose, fulfilment, and longevity. The book provides a refreshing perspective distinct from Western attitudes, prompting readers to open their minds to alternative ways of living— definitely worth exploring.

What is Ikigai

What is Ikigai?

• Ikigai, a profound Japanese term, encapsulates the joys and significance of life. Comprising ‘iki’ (to live) and ‘gai’ (reason), it extends beyond mere existence to encompass both the mundane and the monumental. In the rich tapestry of the Japanese language, ikigai seamlessly weaves into everyday discourse, often overlooked in its depth and ubiquity.

Ikigai flourishes in the appreciation of small moments: the morning air, the warmth of coffee, the touch of sunlight. True Ikigai requires awareness of the richness in these simple elements, often overlooked in modern hustle.

Ikigai’s beauty is in its democratic essence; success is not a prerequisite. Amid a world tying self-worth to professional achievements, ikigai urges a holistic perspective, finding life’s essence in community, a balanced diet, and spirituality.

The Ōsaki study, encompassing data from over 50,000 individuals, sheds light on the profound impact of ikigai on various aspects of life. Those who embrace ikigai tend to flourish in relationships, employment, and education, exhibiting better overall well-being.

Ikigai is a cognitive hub guiding life’s habits and values, fostering a mindset that constructs joy and activity from inconspicuous elements. It embodies the essence of starting small, the first pillar of ikigai.

Ikigai as a cultural phenomenon

• The pervasive use of ikigai in Japanese daily life, even when its precise meaning is not fully understood, highlights its profound importance. This aligns with the lexical hypothesis put forward by Francis Galton in the late nineteenth century, suggesting that important individual traits in a race’s personality become encoded in the language of the culture, and the more important the trait, the more likely it is to be captured in a single word. The singular term ‘ikigai’ implies a significant psychological characteristic in the lives of the Japanese, representing their wisdom and unique cultural perspective, shaping how they view and engage with the world.

Embrace ikigai, recognising your own sentimental values and small joys. In its essence, ikigai beckons a meaningful and joyous life, starting small and appreciating the richness within.

Your Reason to Get Up in the Morning

Stop clicking the snooze button

• Ikigai, often described as ‘the reason for getting up in the morning,’ serves as a perpetual motivation, igniting an appetite for life and anticipation for each new day. In the realm of ikigai’s Five Pillars, the act of rising early is closely tied to the principle of starting small.

Embedded in Japanese culture, the ethos of early rising is reflected in cultural norms, exemplified by specific rules for saying “ohayo.” There’s a widespread belief among the Japanese that early rising makes economic sense.

Another aspect of early rising is engaging in physical activity first thing in the morning. This practice traces back to the inception of Radio Taiso (radio calisthenics – short exercises set to music) in 1928, aimed at enhancing public fitness.

The power of community within radio taiso exemplifies how collective engagement enhances motivation, aligning seamlessly with the third pillar of ikigai, emphasising harmony and sustainability.

Kodawari and the Benefits of Thinking Small

Japan’s attention to detail, cleanliness, and punctuality consistently leave visitors in awe. Public amenities, convenience stores, and transportation operate with meticulous precision, and the locals are praised for their kindness and helpfulness.

The key to Japan’s high-quality goods and services lies in the concept of kodawari, a commitment and insistence on unwavering dedication to quality and professionalism. Kodawari, akin to the first pillar of ikigai, emphasises starting small with meticulous attention to detail.

Crucially, kodawari goes beyond market expectations, as individuals pursue goals that surpass reasonable standards. This mindset rejects mere satisfaction with mediocrity and strives for continuous improvement.

Consider the exquisite fruits at Sembikiya, a showcase of the farmers’ kodawari. Picture a kanjuku (perfectly ripe) mango, priced at over 10,000 yen ($100), presented like a jewel in a specially crafted box. To truly grasp its value, you must ‘destroy’ the fruit by peeling and cutting it. This pursuit of perfection, even if it means ‘destroying’ the fruit, embodies a belief in the fleeting beauty of life.

Appreciate the fleeting

• This reverence for the transient aligns with the fifth pillar of ikigai—being in the here and now. In various endeavours, from meticulous production to the pursuit of perfection, ikigai derived from kodawari serves as a driving force, showcasing a dedication to excellence beyond the ordinary.

The Sensory Beauty of Ikigai

The prevalence of sound symbolism in the Japanese language, as suggested by the lexical hypothesis put forward by Francis Galton, hints at a correlation with the Japanese perception of the world. Their ability to distinguish nuanced experiences and appreciate sensory qualities is reflected in the rich tapestry of onomatopoeic expressions.

Craftsmanship in Japan is often characterised by labour-intensive processes, resulting in refined, high-quality products. The meticulous attention to detail, seen in items like knives, swords, ceramics, and lacquerware, is a testament to the value placed on time and effort—qualities recognised and appreciated by Japanese consumers.

Negation of the Self

• A unique aspect of Japanese philosophy on life lies in the negation of the self, as emphasised by Micko Kamiya. This carefree approach, reminiscent of a child’s perspective, aligns with the second pillar of ikigai—releasing oneself. It encourages living in the present, free from the constraints of social definitions and professional roles.

The concept of releasing oneself finds resonance in the Eihei-ji temple and Zen Buddhism. Here, the absence of a merit system promotes anonymity and a loss of individuality among disciples. As if to compensate for the loss of individuality, there is an abundance of serene beauty within the temple, providing the setting in which the disciples carry out these daily rituals.

Finding Ikigai, like a form of biological adaptation, appears possible in various environments, with sensory pleasure playing a key role. In the realm of contemporary consciousness science, the term ‘qualia’ refers to the sensory qualities accompanying an experience, suggesting that sensory pleasure contributes to the resilience of finding Ikigai.

By shedding the burden of self, individuals can open themselves to the vast universe of sensory pleasures, creating a pathway to discovering and embracing Ikigai.

Flow and Creativity

Releasing Oneself

• Attaining the psychological state of ‘flow,’ as described by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, amplifies the essence of ikigai. In this state, external recognition and rewards become unnecessary, paving the way for a continuous state of bliss. The negation of the self, a fundamental aspect of ikigai, aligns with the second pillar—releasing oneself. In the flow, work becomes a joyous symbiotic connection, emphasising coherence and a sense of life’s goals.

In Japan, the concept of ‘unconscious creation’ thrives, emphasising the beauty in not claiming individual rights. Being in the flow centres on cherishing the here and now, giving full attention to sensory experiences without dwelling on the past or future.

In contrast to some traditions, such as those of Christianity, Japan embraces work as inherently valuable, and the mindset persists even after retirement. This work ethic, immersing oneself in the joy of the present without immediate expectations, is integral to the Japanese concept of ikigai.

The Tea Ceremony

Sen no Rikyū, the tea ceremony’s sixteenth-century founder, conceived the idea of ichigo ichie—’one time, one encounter’—during the tumultuous Sengoku era of samurai warfare. This concept underscores the ephemeral nature of life’s moments. This appreciation, rooted in the Japanese tea ceremony, forms the foundation of ikigai and the philosophy of life.

The tea ceremony, a living tradition, remarkably embodies all Five Pillars of ikigai . Meticulous preparation, attention to detail, and the selection of wares reflect starting small, releasing oneself, and promoting harmony and sustainability.

Humility prevails among the master and guests, echoing the principle of releasing oneself. Despite the age of ceremonial items, the goal remains relaxation, joy in sensory details, and mindfulness—an illustration of the joy of little things and being in the here and now within the tea room.

The concept of ‘wa’ exemplifies how individual ikigai thrives collectively, fostering creativity. Embracing the unique characteristics of others creates a golden triangle of ikigai, flow, and creativity.

A relentless pursuit of quality, commitment, and attention to detail without seeking recognition results in blissful concentration, where an audience becomes unnecessary. Prioritising the process over immediate rewards is the key to genuine happiness.

“Each person’s ikigai, when implemented in harmony with other people, promotes creativity in the free exchange of ideas. By appreciating and respecting the individual characteristics of people around you, you can realise a golden triangle’ of ikigai, flow and creativity.”

“Once you achieve a state of blissful concentration, an audience is not necessary. You enjoy the here and now, and simply go on.”

Sometimes we misplace priorities, chasing rewards. When they’re delayed or absent, disappointment sets in, eroding our interest. This flawed approach overlooks the inherent delays between actions and rewards. Success lies in finding joy in the effort itself, making it the ultimate triumph in life.

Ikigai and Sustainability

In Japan, the value of sustainability is closely tied to reserved expressions of freedom and success. Balancing individual desires with societal and environmental well-being is essential, as without a healthy society and environment, personal goals cannot be pursued effectively.

Ikigai emphasises harmony with the environment and society. This concept, encapsulated in the third pillar of ikigai , underscores the Japanese mindset’s unique ethos.

Japan embodies sustainability not only in its relationship with nature but also in individual actions within society. Respect for others and consideration of societal impacts are emphasised.

The Japanese approach involves pursuing goals in a subdued yet sustained manner, rather than, in flamboyant fashion, prioritising long-term perseverance over fleeting satisfaction. This commitment to continuity is evident in practices such as the periodic rebuilding of the Ise Shrine, which serves to pass down craftsmanship through generations.

The Ise Schrine

• The Ise Shrine offers a fascinating insight into our quest for ikigai, particularly through its cyclical reconstruction. With separate sites for the Inner and Outer shrines, every two decades witnesses the meticulous dismantling of the shrine, followed by the construction of an identical structure using freshly sourced wood.
• One theory proposes that this ritual rebuilding process serves as a conduit for passing down the art and expertise of shrine building from one generation of carpenters to the next, ensuring the preservation of valuable skills for future craftsmen.

Appreciating the efforts of ordinary people is crucial for sustaining ikigai. Japanese culture thrives on simple tasks elevated to perfection, highlighting the value of humility and dedication.

While a desire for success can drive innovation, it also carries the potential for stress and instability. Examining ikigai within the framework of self-restraint and ecological consideration fosters a sustainable approach to life.

Winners and Losers

• It’s inherent in human nature to think in terms of winners and losers, leaders and followers—a mindset that has propelled our species forward but may also lead to our own downfall. Exploring ikigai with a focus on measured self-expression within the organic system we inhabit could contribute to a more sustainable existence. In essence, ikigai is a pursuit for peace, emphasising harmony, balance, and a mindful coexistence within the intricate web of life.
• In life, embracing what comes your way and adapting to it is essential. Finding ikigai in any environment is akin to biological adaptation, particularly in terms of mental well-being.
• Regardless of success or failure, everyone can discover their reason for living. Ikigai transcends performance levels, available to all who seek it. It resides in the simple joys of the present moment, accessible to anyone willing to look.
• Ultimately, finding ikigai is a personal journey—one that cannot be attributed to external circumstances. It’s about taking responsibility for discovering your own purpose, regardless of the environment or circumstances

What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger

The Japanese draw energy from various sources, including social norms, education, financial stability, and interpersonal relationships, instilled from a young age. Publications like the Weekly Shōnen Jump promote values of friendship, struggle, and victory to millions of readers.

But it is clear that religion plays and has always played a fundamental part in the country’s resilience.

Ikigai and Religion

In Japan, Confucianism influences behaviour, mentor-disciple dynamics, and elder respect. The Zen tradition underscores self-transformation to impact the interconnected world, seamlessly blending religious elements into daily life. This integration, viewing everything as interconnected, aligns with a holistic worldview akin to the omnipresence of God in Christianity.

The significance of secular values over strict religious systems is vital in constructing a robust ikigai. Japanese allegiance to religious organisations is rarely exclusive, emphasising flexibility. This assimilation of foreign religious traditions within the context of 8 million gods reflects Japan’s adaptability, though criticised in the past for perceived religious laxity.

In navigating choices between strict adherence to one principle and embracing diverse ideologies, the Japanese prefer flexibility. This openness fosters curiosity, allowing the nation to absorb diverse influences. However, the pursuit of balance in small things complicates strict adherence to a single principle.

“A swamp is a rich ecological system where many microorganisms thrive. Life on Earth probably originated from an environment similar to a swamp. In our intestine, which in recent years has been shown to play an important role in our immune system, there is a rich ecosystem of microorganisms indispensable for the maintenance of our health. One’s ikigai is actually like a swamp, if there is enough diversity and depth to it. In short, there is glory in the swamp. There might even be 8 million gods.”

Ikigai and Happiness

Pursuing Passion: Hobbies as Ikigai

In modern Japanese companies, employees often find fulfilment outside their day jobs, becoming avid hobbyists. This pursuit mirrors the joy of small things, emphasising the satisfaction derived from completing tasks and enjoying the process.

Unveiling True Happiness: Challenging Preconceptions

The common belief that certain conditions, such as education, employment, marital status, or wealth, are prerequisites for happiness is challenged by scientific research. The focusing illusion leads people to overestimate the impact of specific life aspects on their overall happiness.

Contrary to popular notions, accumulating wealth doesn’t guarantee happiness. The essence lies in accepting oneself—an essential yet challenging life task. This act of self-acceptance proves to be a low-budget, maintenance-free formula for genuine happiness.

Releasing Illusions: The Paradox of Self-Acceptance

In the exploration of happiness, researchers delve into the ‘focusing illusion.’ This phenomenon reveals a tendency to perceive specific aspects of life as crucial for joy, such as marriage. Those caught in this illusion unknowingly create their own sources of unhappiness, manufacturing a void that exists only in their biased imagination.

Essentially, the key to happiness lies in accepting oneself and letting go of illusory self-images, a task that is both important and challenging. Embracing oneself stands out as a simple yet rewarding endeavour, offering a cost-effective, maintenance-free formula for genuine happiness.

Reflecting through Relationships: Understanding Your Character

To appreciate your personality, it’s essential to observe and understand others. Realising the similarities and differences between yourself and others provides a foundation for a realistic appraisal of your character—a crucial aspect of the journey towards happiness.

“Paradoxically, accepting oneself as one often involves releasing yourself, especially when there is an illusory self, which you hold to be desirable. You need to let go of the illusion of the self, in order to accept yourself and be happy.”

Accept Yourself for Who You Are

In the intricate tapestry of nature, humans stand out as unique beings. Despite the common perception that individuals within an ethnic group share homogeneous traits, a closer look reveals the richness of individual differences —similar to the distinctiveness found even in identical twins.

The Art of Individuality in Pursuing Ikigai

• In pursuing ikigai, the Japanese employ subtle tricks to preserve individuality amidst societal harmony, exemplifying the art of being oneself.
• There are some historical reasons for this. In the Edo era (1603-1867), the Tokugawa Shogunate issued executive orders to maintain social stability, emphasising the avoidance of luxury to curb the growing asymmetry between classes. To comply, rich merchants discreetly enjoyed luxuries, employing tactics like using costly materials on the inside of attire while maintaining a subdued appearance—a testament to Japan’s wisdom in balancing outward modesty with inner individuality.
• This historical example highlights the Japanese belief in discovering and actively developing individual uniqueness rather than merely preserving it. Defining ikigai as an individual in harmony with society alleviates the stress of competition.

Ikigai and happiness stem from self-acceptance, but recognition from others, while a bonus, can be counterproductive if misinterpreted. Metacognition, observing oneself from an external perspective, aids in acknowledging flaws and gaining fresh insights.

The ultimate secret of ikigai lies in accepting oneself, and embracing unique features. There’s no universal approach; each person must navigate the forest of their distinctive individualities.

Find Your own Ikigai

The Five Pillars of ikigai Reflective Questions:

• Do you find newfound insights to navigate life’s challenges?
• Are you inclined to take incremental steps, valuing the process over immediate external rewards?
• Can you perceive the essential connection between harmony and sustainability?
• Do you sense a greater ease in embracing your unique qualities and being more tolerant of others’ idiosyncrasies?
• Has your perspective shifted towards finding joy in life’s small pleasures?

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Book Review Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life

The japanese term “ikigai” or the “art of living” refers to the practice of living a purposeful life with respect to a person’s sense of self..

The Japanese term “ikigai” or the “art of living” refers to the practice of living a purposeful life with respect to a person’s sense of self. The book Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life , written by Francesc Miralles and Hector Garcia Puigcerver, discusses this idea from the author’s visit to a town in Japan called Okinawa, home to the largest population of centenarians in the world. Aqueen Ekka reviews the book.

Authors- Hector Garcia Puigcerver and Francesc Miralles Published by- Penguin Books Language- English Pages- 208

The fascinating thing regarding the Okinawa province is the longevity and healthy living of the villagers. Puicerver and Miralles interviewed the locals in order to understand the true meaning of the word “ikigai” . The book is a perfectly encapsulated blend of cultures which is very practical, as it has fully justified the epitome of a self-help book.

Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life, as a whole, provides a daily dosage of how to embrace and obtain a healthier and happier way of life through discovering our individual ikigai with experiences, practices and tips for a sophisticated yet harmonious lifestyle. Various aspects of our lives are addressed in this book- such as the importance of flow, the importance of friendships, the reason for living and finding a source of motivation.

The book provides a ten-point compressed rule of ikigai:

Stay active; don’t retire.

Take it slow.

Don’t fill your stomach.

Surround yourself with good friends.

Get in shape for your next birthday.

Reconnect with nature.

Give thanks.

Live in the moment.

Follow your ikigai .

It has been observed that the villagers of Okinawa abide by these rules due to which the centenarians have discovered that there exist extremely low rates of heart disease and dementia among these villagers.

The second element of the book lays down the significance of mental health, which is often neglected by laymen. The book provides tips as to how one can activate the brain, which is often restricted solely to routine and patterns, therefore, lacking flexibility. It suggests activities like social interaction and mind games, which can be beneficial as a workout for the brain.

It also states that avoiding stress is essential for a healthy lifestyle. Necessary scientific studies have also been introduced, which show that stress, in the long run, impacts the healthy cells in our body, thereby leading to premature ageing. It presents Yoga as a remedy which would calm the body and mind.

The third segment of this book enlightens us about a technique known as Morita therapy . It was primarily introduced to relieve anxiety and obsessive behaviour. The therapy requires the individual to cultivate new emotions by accepting their feelings and mannerisms. The book in this segment provides a detailed explanation of how this therapy functions, which can be practically applied by an individual to attain one’s ikigai .

The fourth segment of this book focuses on the “flow” concept. The flow concept revolves around enjoying the smaller joys of life, in a manner that sustains concentration so that the person doesn’t get bored in doing it. In addition to this, the importance of surpassing levels of difficulty has also been addressed, and how flow can be acquired through new thrilling activities which drive us to discover new traits and aspects of us. This book encourages small gestures to establish and preserve friendships, such as greeting a stranger with a smile that can directly impact an individual’s longevity.

Suggestions for a Healthy Life

Towards the end, the book talks about the Okinawan diet, which is variegated, self-sourced and cooked. We are introduced to the Okinawan tradition, hara hachi bu, which suggests that one should finish eating once they are eighty per cent full. The book also mentions various beverages consumed by the centenarians, like green tea, white tea and shikuwasa (traditional Japanese fruit), which contain high antioxidant levels and cater to a healthy and long life. The Okinawans’ belief in exercise leads them to practice Radio Taiso, which is a warm-up exercise . The authors disclose these lifestyle habits with the purpose of inspiring urban and semi-urban people to adopt these traits.

Pursuing activities that enhance and increase the vibration of an individual could increase their lifespan and quality of life. The goal of the book is not to preach or patronise the reader in their current lifestyle choices. Instead, it plainly points out to us that a disciplined and healthy lifestyle is a real possibility. It supports each idea with common sense, anecdotal or scientific evidence and reminds us that if the locals of a small town in Japan can do it, so can we.

Conclusion: A Guide to Happiness and Mental Well-being

In the words of Neil Pasricha , bestselling author of The Happiness Equation :

“Ikigai gently unlocks simple secrets we can all use to live long, meaningful, happy lives. Science-based studies weave beautifully into an honest, straight-talking conversation you won’t be able to put down. Warm, patient, and kind, this book pulls you gently along your own journey rather than pushing you from behind.”

Overall, this book is truly uplifting. The reader is intrigued by the simplicity and calming tone it offers, and it captures the attention of the reader till the end. The book unleashes the Japanese Zen philosophy, inspiring the readers to search and discover their individual ikigai . Through this book, the authors aim to encourage healthy, content and purposeful living among people.

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An Appraisal

Alice Munro, a Literary Alchemist Who Made Great Fiction From Humble Lives

The Nobel Prize-winning author specialized in exacting short stories that were novelistic in scope, spanning decades with intimacy and precision.

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By Gregory Cowles

Gregory Cowles is a senior editor at the Book Review.

The first story in her first book evoked her father’s life. The last story in her last book evoked her mother’s death. In between, across 14 collections and more than 40 years, Alice Munro showed us in one dazzling short story after another that the humble facts of a single person’s experience, subjected to the alchemy of language and imagination and psychological insight, could provide the raw material for great literature.

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And not just any person, but a girl from the sticks. It mattered that Munro, who died on Monday night at the age of 92, hailed from rural southwestern Ontario, since so many of her stories, set in small towns on or around Lake Huron, were marked by the ambitions of a bright girl eager to leave, upon whom nothing is lost. There was the narrator of “Boys and Girls,” who tells herself bedtime stories about a world “that presented opportunities for courage, boldness and self-sacrifice, as mine never did.” There was Rose, from “The Beggar Maid,” who wins a college scholarship and leaves her working-class family behind. And there was Del Jordan, from “Lives of Girls and Women” — Munro’s second book, and the closest thing she ever wrote to a novel — who casts a jaundiced eye on her town’s provincial customs as she takes the first fateful steps toward becoming a writer.

Does it seem reductive or limiting to derive a kind of artist’s statement from the title of that early book? It shouldn’t. Munro was hardly a doctrinaire feminist, but with implacable authority and command she demonstrated throughout her career that the lives of girls and women were as rich, as tumultuous, as dramatic and as important as the lives of men and boys. Her plots were rife with incident: the threatened suicide in the barn, the actual murder at the lake, the ambivalent sexual encounter, the power dynamics of desire. For a writer whose book titles gestured repeatedly at love (“The Progress of Love,” “The Love of a Good Woman,” “Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage”), her narratives recoiled from sentimentality. Tucked into the stately columns of The New Yorker, where she was a steady presence for decades, they were far likelier to depict the disruptions and snowballing consequences of petty grudges, careless cruelties and base impulses: the gossip that mattered.

Munro’s stories traveled not as the crow flies but as the mind does. You got the feeling that, if the GPS ever offered her a shorter route, she would decline. Capable of dizzying swerves in a line or a line break, her stories often spanned decades with intimacy and sweep; that’s partly what critics meant when they wrote of the novelistic scope she brought to short fiction.

Her sentences rarely strutted or flaunted or declared themselves; but they also never clanked or stumbled — she was an exacting and precise stylist rather than a showy one, who wrote with steely control and applied her ambitions not to language but to theme and structure. (This was a conscious choice on her part: “In my earlier days I was prone to a lot of flowery prose,” she told an interviewer when she won the Nobel Prize in 2013. “I gradually learned to take a lot of that out.”) In the middle of her career her stories started to grow roomier and more contemplative, even essayistic; they could feel aimless until you approached the final pages and recognized with a jolt that they had in fact been constructed all along as intricately and deviously as a Sudoku puzzle, every piece falling neatly into place.

There was a signature Munro tone: skeptical, ruminative, given to a crucial and artful ambiguity that could feel particularly Midwestern. Consider “The Bear Came Over the Mountain,” which — thanks in part to Sarah Polley’s Oscar-nominated film adaptation, “ Away From Her ” (2006) — may be Munro’s most famous story; it details a woman’s descent into senility and her philandering husband’s attempt to come to terms with her attachment to a male resident at her nursing home. Here the husband is on a visit, confronting the limits of his knowledge and the need to make peace with uncertainty, in a characteristically Munrovian passage:

She treated him with a distracted, social sort of kindness that was successful in holding him back from the most obvious, the most necessary question. He could not demand of her whether she did or did not remember him as her husband of nearly 50 years. He got the impression that she would be embarrassed by such a question — embarrassed not for herself but for him. She would have laughed in a fluttery way and mortified him with her politeness and bewilderment, and somehow she would have ended up not saying either yes or no. Or she would have said either one in a way that gave not the least satisfaction.

Like her contemporary Philip Roth — another realist who was comfortable blurring lines — Munro devised multilayered plots that were explicitly autobiographical and at the same time determined to deflect or undermine that impulse. This tension dovetailed happily with her frequent themes of the unreliability of memory and the gap between art and life. Her stories tracked the details of her lived experience both faithfully and cannily, cagily, so that any attempt at a dispassionate biography (notably, Robert Thacker’s scholarly and substantial “Alice Munro: Writing Her Lives,” from 2005) felt at once invasive and redundant. She had been in front of us all along.

Until, suddenly, she wasn’t. That she went silent after her book “Dear Life” was published in 2012, a year before she won the Nobel, makes her passing now seem all the more startling — a second death, in a way that calls to mind her habit of circling back to recognizable moments and images in her work. At least three times she revisited the death of her mother in fiction, first in “The Peace of Utrecht,” then in “Friend of My Youth” and again in the title story that concludes “Dear Life”: “The person I would really have liked to talk to then was my mother,” the narrator says near the end of that story, in an understated gut punch of an epitaph that now applies equally well to Munro herself, but she “was no longer available.”

Read by Greg Cowles

Audio produced by Sarah Diamond .

Gregory Cowles is the poetry editor of the Book Review and senior editor of the Books desk. More about Gregory Cowles

Can a great love story also be a great political novel?

Gustave Flaubert’s classic, “Sentimental Education,” tracks the amorous adventures of an ambitious young man in a fraught time surprisingly like our own.

Late May, with June weddings in the offing — this is love’s own sweet season, the time of year when people decide to reread “Pride and Prejudice.” Even though Jane Austen’s wit and psychological insight can be pitiless, that masterpiece remains one of literature’s sunniest, happiest books, complete with a fairy-tale ending. Still, the chief fact about love is that most of the time it doesn’t work out. For more realistic accounts of its passion and anguish, you need to turn to French fiction.

All the darker aspects of love can be found there: brokenhearted renunciation in Madame de Lafayette’s “The Princess of Cleves”; coldly calculated seduction in Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’s “Les Liaisons Dangereuses”; erotic weariness in Benjamin Constant’s “Adolphe”; the torments of jealousy in Marcel Proust’s “In Search of Lost Time.” To this list, one should add Gustave Flaubert’s “ Sentimental Education ,” the story of a young man’s lifelong infatuation with a married woman, now newly and superbly translated, introduced and annotated by Raymond N. MacKenzie, a professor of English at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn. While aspects of the book call to mind a male version of “Madame Bovary” (1857), it is far more ambitious in every way.

Published in 1869 in two volumes, the novel begins in 1850 when the 18-year-old Frédéric Moreau is returning by paddle-wheel from Paris to his provincial home in Nogent. Flaubert’s descriptions of the passing landscape evoke a world of calm and timeless rural beauty, until they are grossly interrupted when Frédéric notices a middle-age passenger flirting with a peasant girl, “his hand continually toying with a gold cross she wore across her breast.” A second, more important interruption occurs when Frédéric follows the man — his name is Jacques Arnoux — into the first-class lounge. At this point, Flaubert’s narrative pauses for a rare one-sentence paragraph: “It was like an apparition.”

The apparition — “wearing a big straw hat with pink ribbons that fluttered in the breeze behind her” — turns out to be Arnoux’s wife. Her hair is black and her skin dark, so that Frédéric thinks she might be Andalusian or even Creole. We never learn her exact age, but at this time she seems to be in her mid- to late 20s. Though her first name is Marie, the text always identifies her as simply Madame Arnoux.

Following this coup de foudre, Frédéric begins his pursuit of this virtuous, placidly beautiful woman by making friends with her vulgar, glad-handing husband. Jacques oversees a periodical devoted to the arts and operates a shady business in forged paintings. While he loves his wife and their little daughter in his fashion, he leaves them alone most evenings to dine out with cronies or spend time with his mistress Rosanette. Before long, Frédéric — who moves to Paris ostensibly to study law — has become one of his bosom buddies.

As the novel proceeds, Flaubert gradually expands its cast of important characters — there are at least 20 — to depict a significant cross-section of mid-19th-century Parisian society. These include Frédéric’s childhood friend Deslauriers, who dreams of editing a newspaper and becoming a power in the land; Sénécal, a fire-breathing socialist and would-be revolutionary; Pellerin, a painter who constantly likens his own work to that of the Old Masters; the writer Hussonnet, who claims that Balzac was overrated and Victor Hugo didn’t know the first thing about theater; and the ultrawealthy Monsieur Dambreuse. All these men, as well as Frédéric himself, will betray their ideals and one another.

While Frédéric’s on-again, off-again pursuit of the lonely Madame Arnoux drives “Sentimental Education,” Flaubert frames it with one of the most savage portraits of modern society and politics ever written. Employing pervasive irony and a characteristically impassive narrative voice, he presents the age as one of universal prostitution, a time when people do almost anything to gain, or preserve, money and power. Monsieur Dambreuse can stand as a representative example: “At different times he had lauded Napoleon, the Cossacks, Louis XVIII, 1830, the workers, all the different regimes, always worshiping Power, so much so that he would have paid for the privilege of selling himself.”

That last phrase suggests just how deeply contemporary this novel feels. Along with Madame Arnoux, who remains something of a cipher, the only truly admirable people in its many pages are a worker named Dussardier, who dies a Christ-like martyr to republican ideals; the abused courtesan Rosanette, who was sold at age 15 by her own mother; and, to some extent, a wealthy provincial girl named Louise Roque, who naively adores the shallow Frédéric. Shallow? In fact, “Sentimental Education” could easily bear the same subtitle as Thackeray’s “Vanity Fair,” which it somewhat resembles: “A novel without a hero.”

Almost soap-operatic in its abundance and variety of incident, this unrelenting indictment of modernity features orgiastic dinner parties, a duel, an altered will, lawsuits, a bankruptcy auction, a visit to the chateau of Fontainebleau, gushy romantic effusions, murder, the death of a baby and, not least, the revolution of 1848, which overthrew the reign of Louis Philippe for a short-lived republic, followed by a reactionary backlash in 1851 that brought Napoleon III to power. To Flaubert, though, the masses and the elites in this time of upheaval are equally brutish, and “the fanaticism of the wealthy counterbalanced the fury of the poor.”

He spares almost no one. At grand dinners, rich old men converse in platitudes and are married to wives “who could have passed for their granddaughters.” All of them, Flaubert writes, “would have sold out France or even the whole human race to protect their own fortunes, to spare themselves the least discomfort or difficulty, or simply out of sheer baseness, out of their instinctive worship of Power.” When the revolution appears a success, Monsieur Dambreuse suddenly claims to have always been a republican at heart, really a man of the people, despite his immense wealth. He even commissions a painting from Pellerin: “It represented the Republic, or perhaps Progress, or Civilization, in the figure of Jesus Christ driving a locomotive through a virgin forest.”

In Flaubert’s view, the rioters in the streets are equally disgusting. Mouthing political clichés, a crowd storms the palace and invades the royal chambers. Amid the chaos and violence, “a working-class man with a black beard sat on the throne, his shirt half open, clearly thinking this was hilarious.” At the same time, “ex-convicts thrust their arms into the beds of princesses, rolling around on them as consolation for not being able to rape the women.”

In such a world, a woman’s beauty or wealth alone matters. While Frédéric maintains that his heart belongs to Madame Arnoux, that doesn’t prevent him from toying with heiress Louise Roque’s affections or carrying on simultaneous affairs with both pretty Rosanette and the icily calculating Madame Dambreuse. He grows utterly shameless: “He repeated to one the solemn oath he had just made to the other, sent them similar bouquets, wrote to them both at the same time.” Worse still, to win Madame Dambreuse as his mistress, “he made new use of his old love. He described for her all the feelings Madame Arnoux had inspired in him, but pretended that she was the cause of them, all those languors, those fears, those dreams.” Can betrayal sink further?

Oh, yes it can. For this “moral history of the men of my generation” — as Flaubert once called the book in a letter — depicts endless self-delusion in virtually all its characters, and in the worst of them a form of mediocrity that combines corruption, meanness and ineptitude. And yet, even though “Sentimental Education” can be slow-going, the book is far from depressing: Flaubert’s style really does seduce one by its beauty. Moreover, this great masterpiece, often undervalued, rises to a penultimate chapter you will never forget — the final meeting of Frédéric and Madame Arnoux in the autumn of their lives. It is one of the most perfectly written, emotionally powerful scenes in all fiction.

Sentimental Education

The Story of a Young Man

By Gaustave Flaubert, translated from French by Raymond N. MacKenzie

University of Minnesota. 480 pp. $19.95, paperback.

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