A Reason for Living

Updated 2026-07-30

A Reason for Living is the English translation of the Japanese concept ikigai (生き甲斐), which refers to a motivating force or sense of purpose that gives a person meaning in life. The term is well-established in both Japanese culture and cross-cultural psychology.

Etymology and Definition

The Oxford English Dictionary defines ikigai as "a motivating force; something or someone that gives a person a sense of purpose or a reason for living." The Japanese term is a compound of two words: iki (生き, meaning "life" or "alive") and kai (甲斐, meaning "effect" or "result"), which together convey the meaning of "a reason for living [being alive]," "a meaning for life," or "what makes life worth living." It is analogous to the French term raison d'être ("reason for being").

Origin and Development

The concept was first popularized by Japanese psychiatrist and academic Mieko Kamiya in her 1966 book On the Meaning of Life (生きがいについて, Ikigai ni tsuite). Kamiya explored ikigai as a psychological construct central to human well-being, distinguishing it from mere happiness or pleasure.

Characteristics

According to Japanese psychologist Katsuya Inoue, ikigai consists of two aspects: (1) sources or objects that bring value or meaning to life, and (2) a feeling that one's life has value or meaning because of the existence of that source or object. Inoue classified ikigai into three categories:

Social ikigai – forms accepted by society, such as volunteer work and community activities.
Non-social ikigai – not directly related to society, such as faith or self-discipline.
Anti-social ikigai – motivation derived from dark emotions, such as a desire for revenge.

Activities that generate ikigai are typically perceived as spontaneous and undertaken willingly, making them personal and dependent on an individual's inner self.

Relation to Health and Longevity

Research has examined the relationship between ikigai and health outcomes. Studies such as the Ohsaki Study (2008) and the Japan Collaborative Cohort Study (2009) found that individuals who reported a sense of ikigai had lower all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality rates. National Geographic reporter Dan Buettner suggested that ikigai may be one of the factors contributing to the longevity of people in Okinawa, Japan, where many residents continue working at activities they enjoy well into old age.

Popularization Outside Japan

In the 2010s, ikigai gained international attention through books such as Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles (2017). A popular but non-Japanese Venn diagram—depicting ikigai as the intersection of "what you love," "what you are good at," "what the world needs," and "what you can be paid for"—has been widely circulated in Western media, though scholars note that this diagram does not originate in Japan and has been described as "catchy but misleading."