Ikigai' in Older Japanese People: Letter From... Japan

Age and Ageing 1999; 28: 323–324 䉷 1999, British Geriatrics Society

LETTER FROM...JAPAN

‘Ikigai’ in older Japanese people

In the twenty-first century, Japan will become an appear after basic desires for affection, respect, safety
extremely aged society, where about one-quarter of the etc. have been satisfied. Ikigai, which is the highest
population is elderly [1]. To enable older people to level of desire, may be considered to be essentially the
achieve better health and fulfilling lives, the Ministry of processes of cultivating one’s inner potential or that
Health and Welfare has introduced National Health which makes one’s life significant. Maslow called the
Promotion (Active 80 Health Plan), which encourages a desire of humans to live a more rich and active living
healthy life style and a sense that life is worth living ‘‘growth motivation’’, which has some features in
(ikigai). Ikigai should contribute to health in older common with ikigai. What Allport [4] called ‘‘bursting
people, because it is closely related to creativity and is forth of drives full of life energy’’’ or ‘‘mysterious
indispensable to well-being. excitability of the protoplasm’’ may be also be close to
The word ‘ikigai’ is usually used to indicate the ikigai. Cantril [5] says that people can intuitively
source of value in one’s life or the things that make evaluate the worth of each experience which seems
one’s life worthwhile (for example, one might say: to be equivalent to the feeling of ikigai.
‘‘This child is my ikigai’’). Secondly, the word is used to Despite the emphasis on ikigai in Japan, especially
refer to mental and spiritual circumstances under in older people, the extent to which it affects
which individuals feel that their lives are valuable. functional, social and psychological well-being is
There is a difference between ikigai and the sense of rarely considered. This could partly be because ikigai
well-being. Ikigai is a more concerned with the future: is a complex process and its role in mental and physical
for example, even when one feels that one’s present life conditions difficult to measure. The lack of ikigai is
is dark, possessing a desire or goal for the future allows associated with poor general health and is an indepen-
one to feel ikigai. dent risk factor for intellectual dysfunctioning [6–8].
Ikigai gives individuals a sense of a life worth living. Furthermore, the lack of ikigai is related to the
It is not necessarily related to economic status. mortality of older people [7, 8].
Behaviours which make one feel ikigai are not actions The desire for what the Japanese call ikigai is a
which individuals are forced to take, but they are universal human experience. We must recognize that
spontaneous activities which people undertake willingly. old people can lead fulfilling and worthwhile lives and
Ikigai is personal; it reflects the inner self of an consider ikigai as an integral component of the health
individual and expresses that faithfully. and well-being in old age.
It establishes a unique mental world in which the
individual can feel at ease. NORIYUKI NAKANISHI
People may find ikigai in one or more areas of life. Department of Public Health,
For example, they may experience pleasure of living Osaka University Medical School,
through work, family or communication with neigh- 2–2 Yamada-oka, Suita-shi,
bours. Kamiya has proposed that people have seven Osaka 565–0871, Japan.
needs associated with ikigai, including the need for a Fax: (+81) 6 6879 3919
fulfilling existence, the need for change and growth,
the need for future perspectives, the need for receiving
responses, the need for freedom, the need for self-
actualization and the need for significance and value
[2]. Needs associated with ikigai are not simply equal to References
the desires for biological satisfaction or the desires of
1. Health and Welfare Statistics Association. Kokumin eisei no doko
humans as social creatures. They are individual desires 1997 (Trends in the nation’s health, 1997; in Japanese). Tokyo: Kosei
of humans as spiritual beings. Needless to say, people no shihyo, 1997.
may have needs other than these seven, and the
2. Kamiya M. Ikigai (in Japanese). Tokyo: Misuzu Shobo, 1966.
strength and combination of needs vary between
different individuals. In some cases, needs are related 3. Maslow AH. The Farther Reaches of Human Nature. New York: The
to each other in a complex manner: some may be fused Viking Press, 1971.
with others. Several needs can be met by a single ikigai 4. Allport GW. Becoming: Basic Considerations for a Psychology of
object. Personality. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1955.
According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs [3], high- 5. Cantril H. The ‘Why’ of Man’s Experience. New York: Macmillan,
level desires, such as self-actualization and significance, 1950.
323
Letter from....Japan
6. Nakanishi N, Tatara K, Takashima Y et al. The association of health 8. Nakanishi N, Tatara K, Ikeda K, Hino Y, Yamada A, Nishioka C.
management with the health of elderly people. Age Ageing 1995; 24: Relation between intellectual dysfunctioning and mortality in
334–40. community-residing older people. J Am Geriatr Soc 1998; 46: 583–9.
7. Nakanishi N, Tatara K, Takatorige T, Murakami S, Shinsho FV.
Effects of preventive health services on survival of the elderly living in
a community in Osaka, Japan. J Epidemiol Comm Health 1997; 51:
199–204. Received 21 July 1998; accepted 3 August 1998
324

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Age and Ageing 1999; 28: 323–324 䉷 1999, British Geriatrics Society

‘Ikigai’ in older Japanese people

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