• We should use life concept to think of that which offers us greatest sense of fulfilment
It is said that the people of Japan are some of the humans on the planet who live long. In fact, the word supercentenarian in English does two things. It means a human whose age is more than a century. Also, it implies that such a feat is not a tiny one.
One such human hails from Japan. She is considered by the Guinness World Book of Records as the oldest human being alive. She turned 118 years old in January. Her name is Kane Tanaka.
So what is the trick to living such a long life? What ought one do today to sustain the life of their being for such a stretch? Advice abounds online and offline on tips and tidbits on what can enhance life. Religion is often cited and, among Christians, the idea of honour to parents as an elixir against short lives.
Yet, in the Land of the Rising Sun, the poetic name for Japan, exceptional Mrs Tanaka could be relying on a concept that is well known in Japanese culture, art and philosophy.
The life concept of Ikigai is as old as Japan itself. Some have said it is at the centre of Japanese secret to long life.
Think of it as the junction where what you love in life meets what you excel in. It is the point where your meaning of existence in this life comes out most neatly. This makes it as useful as our own African notion of Ubuntu — we are because others are.
It is said the intersectional notion of Ikigai bears four aspects of life that hem it in. Passion and vocation, as well as profession and mission, form the quadrangular pillars of this oriental life concept of Ikigai. In this life, art comes out as an obvious platform where Ikigai can be appreciated clearly.
When we saunter into any Maasai market to wonder at the skills of the carvers and stoneworkers, we see it all. Think of a wooden carving of a moran. How intricate and stunning it is.
Ikigai is there in the passion with which the contours and corners have been given shape by chisel, skill and more. Sculpting is almost always a vocation of higher calls. The mission of enhancing the beauty of life with wood can at times be a profession that makes many an artist earn bread, practically.
Speaking at an inspirational occasion at Karatina University recently, the eloquent Dr Julius Itunga invoked the same concept of Ikigai as a life principle that can see us through the challenges of our times.
We should use it to think of that which offers us the greatest sense of fulfilment. To him, here is a concept that prompts us on how best to sculpt meaning out of a human life.
We should use it to think also about the big picture of life and how we fit into it. We should set goals to help us transform vision into reality. We should do so as we formulate success factors that can help us bridge the gap between our imperfect world and our perfection attempts for our sake and society.
Mentorship and leadership interests should be cornerstones of our quests for both long and meaningful lives today. We should study those who have made it in that which interests us, with life itself included.
If Kane Tanaka is a reference point, then Ikigai of her homeland is our cardinal point to borrow from the East. We need to look at our lives as do the sculptors to the sculpture of their hands. We should do so with passion and strive to attain perfection akin to that of art.
We often see our lives as the trip between life and death. But our life is also a vocation, an existence whose beauty is in how it fits positively in structures of lives of others surrounding us.
We should pursue our professions with a deep sense of mission, and these have to be clear and beneficial to both the self as well as others. Why does art strike us as impressive no matter the medium or matter that makes it?
Perhaps because it speaks the universal language of Ikigai, balance in life.
For such balance in life to be noted and adopted, it will be necessary for each one of us to discover the reason why we exist or the meaning of our lives here on earth, in Africa, in our country.
It matters not whether such lives go beyond a century in length, or find their depths in art, religion or work. One can read more on the concept of Ikigai from a book by Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles titled, Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life (2016).
Dr Makokha teaches Literature and Theatre at Kenyatta University. He is a seasoned youth mentor, too.