Mieko Kamiya – The Mother of IKIGAI
Mieko Kamiya – A True Heroine
For us, Mieko Kamiya is a heroine. In Japan and beyond, however, she has remained largely unknown. This is also true of her work in the middle of the last century. Yet she laid the foundations of ikigai research and ikigai psychology.
The ikigai is very much in vogue today - due to a confusion with a Venn diagram by the Spaniard Andrés Zuzunaga, many believe that this is the Japanese ikigai.
About Mieko Kamiya
Mieko Kamiya was a Japanese psychologist and social worker who dedicated her life to helping those in need. In the 1950s, she began researching the concept of ikigai and developed the science of ikigai psychology. She focused on understanding how people can find fulfillment and purpose in their lives. She argued that an individual's ikigai could be found through self-reflection, self-awareness, and connecting with others in meaningful ways.
Kamiya's work was groundbreaking at the time, as she was one of the first researchers to explore ikigai. Her research was influenced by her personal life experience and tragedies (“how can we find meaning after loosing our meaning?”), her clinical research and work with leprocy patients and her international studies (abroad) of medicine and psychology.
Kamiya has been largely forgotten in Japan, yet her contributions are still relevant today. Her research is often cited by modern-day practitioners of ikigai psychology and her writings have become popular among those seeking to understand their own ikigai. For this reason, Mieko Kamiya remains a true heroine - a pioneer of self-care and personal fulfillment who has greatly impacted our understanding of what it means to lead a happy life.
What we can learn from Mieko Kamiya today
Mieko Kamiya, through her work as a psychotherapist and researcher, brings us close to the original ikigai in a very personal and at the same time scientific way. We can see a big picture of ikigai from her biography, her work "ikigai-ni-tsuite", from her personal accounts, self-doubts and through her rich cultural and spiritual experiences in the USA, Europe and Japan.
At the same time, it remains a challenge to translate ikigai into our Western world and to transpose ikigai philosophy into our context. Hereby a reduction of complexity is threatening, which is completed in the error to the Venn diagram of Andrés Zuzunaga.
Mieko Kamiya herself wrote on the challenge of translating ikigai:
„It seems that the word ikigai exists only in the Japanese language. The fact that this word exists should indicate that the goal to live, its meaning and value within the daily life of the Japanese soul has been problematized. According to the dictionary, ikigai means “the will and power necessary for one to live in this world, happiness to be alive, benefit, effectiveness.”
When we try to translate it into English, German, French etc, it seems that there is no other way to define it other than “worth living” or “value or meaning to live”. “
Mieko' Kamiya’s research on IKIGAI bridges Japanese and European psychology
Mieko Kamiya developed the concept of Ikigai as the source of meaning. She defined Ikigai-kan as the mental state or feeling that we experience, when Ikigai is present. She directly associated Ikigai-kan with the “sense of meaning” by Viktor Frankl. This gives us many insights:
We know, Mieko Kamiya was a talent with languages. She translated Greek writings from Marcus Aurelius, French writings from Michel Foucault and wrote in her diary poems and prayers in German language.
She had access to many international writings and authors.
Her worldview was “cosmopolitan” and included cultural perspectives from living in the U.S. and in Europe and Switzerland.
She was aware of Viktor Frankl’s logotherapy, as we can see from her analogy about Ikigai-kan and sense-of-meaning
Mieko developed seven dimensions that lead to a strong IKIGAI-sense. We combined her framework with the 5 (or 6) pillars by Kenchiro Mogi and developed an own IKIGAI model from that, which you can learn and adapt in our IKIGAI courses.
„There are two ways to use the word “ikigai.” It can refer to the source or object of life’s value, as in “This child is my ikigai,” or it can refer to the mental state of feeling ikigai. The latter is what Frankl calls the “sense of meaning.” I will call it “Ikigai-Kan” to distinguish it from the former “Ikigai” itself.
“
Mieko Kamiya’s life
Mieko led an eventful life and died young at the age of 65.
As a young woman, she experienced a great loss herself, which resulted in a life crisis. Later, however, she felt that she could express everything she had experienced and bring her different experiences together in writing. Perhaps that is why she recorded about the ikigai that it can take years to find.
You can find much more about Mieko Kamiya's life story, her struggles, dark and bright times in our Ikigai book and our IKIGAI online course.
SOURCES AND REFERENCES (December 2022):
Asano, K.; Fido, D.; Kotera, Y. (2019): English translation and validation of the Ikigai-9 in a UK sample. In: International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, Issue 18 (1).
Grant, A. (2021): There's a name for the blah you feel. It's Called Languishing, last checked: 27/05/2021.
Kemp, N. (2022): IKIGAI-KAN: Feel a Life Worth Living
Kono S. & Walker, G. J. (2020a): Theorizing Ikigai or Life Worth Living Among Japanese University Students: A Mixed-Methods Approach. In: Journal of Happiness Studies, Issue 21 (1).
Kono S. & Walker, G. J. (2020b): Theorizing the interpersonal aspect of ikigai ("life worth living") among Japanese university students: A mixed-methods approach. In: International Journal of Wellbeing, Issue 10 (2), pp. 101-123.
Luke, E. (2014): Textbook of logotherapy, conception of man and methods. 4th edition, Munich/Vienna: Profil Verlag GmbH.
Matthews, Gordon, What Makes Life Worth Living? How Japanese and Americans Make Sense of Their Worlds, 1996.
Matthews, Gordon, The Pursuit of a Life Worth Living in Japan and the United States, Vol. 35, No. 1 (Winter, 1996), pp. 51-62 (12 pages), Published By: University of Pittsburgh of the Commonwealth System of Higher Education.
Miralles, F. & García, R. (2016): Ikigai - Becoming a healthy and happy hundred. Berlin: Ullstein Buchverlage GmbH / Allegria Verlag.
Mitsuhashi, Y. (2017): Ikigai. A Japanese concept for improving work and life, last checked: 27.05.2021.
