Posted by Click here to get a free newsletter Zen and a Way of sustainable prosperity: Balance, financial success, and sustainability with the secrets of the Japanese Omi-merchants.
Zenzai is another hygge in Japanese winter. It is sweet soup made of Azuki beans with mochi and it warms you up after coming back from outside. This day I cycled to the center of our town with my son in a cold windy weather, so having this Zenzai at a Kura cafe was out of this world.
But my son went for the cake.
This cafe used to be a Kura(warehouse) which belonged to an Omi-Hino-merchant. In Hino town, we are having Hino-Hinamatsuri-Kiko for one month starting last weekend, February 11th, and it will be on this weekend, too.
To get the detail, you can see the site below.
http://sajikimado.gozaru.jp/hinohinamturikikouhtm.html
I am sorry, it is in Japanese only.
You can read the link below to see the access to Hino in English.
Visiting the Land of Omi-merchants Part 2: Hino
Anyway, let me talk about Ikigai. By the way, cycling with my son was Ikigai for me, even it was freezing outside. He did very well because we cycled for about 2 km and he only started riding a bicycle last spring.
I said true happiness should involve the Sanpo-Yoshi element in one way or another. What do I mean by that?
Sanpo-Yoshi means the seller is happy, the buyer is happy, and the society in general is happy. Therefore when you conduct your business it is good to design it to satisfy all three parties. It applies to life in general, too. When you think of happiness, it is good to gratify yourself, the people you associate with, and the society all together.
For example, cycling with my son pleases me, my son, and the society since it is environmentally friendly. That’s to me is a real Ikigai. It is worth doing it.
Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life kind of glorified Japan a little too much.(Another word the authors were being nice-huh)
It is true that many Japanese live long and it is a lot to do with our healthy lifestyle and some of the centenarians live with Ikigai, having a purpose in life. Yes, you can learn a lot from Japanese people when it comes to health and longevity. Nevertheless, as far as happiness is concerned, I am not sure if we are a good role model. A lot of us are happy, and many of us have mental strength to feel happy regardless of our circumstance, which is a useful skill to master. And yet, what if this very skill is causing our nation to be unhappy as a society?
I’ll explain it in the next post.
Omi-merchant's way of Sustainable Prosperity 