Eight Million Ways to Happiness : Wisdom from the Heart of Japan

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Publish date: 2026
Pages: 368
Language: English

Subjects: Biography & Autobiography, Memoirs, Religion, Buddhism, Rituals & Practice, Shintoism, Self-Help, Travel, Asia, East, Japan

'Yoda shows how we might ease our own suffering and reawaken a profound appreciation of the beauty of the world' RUTH OZEKI, Women's Prize-winning and Booker Prize-shortlisted author

Everyone is in the pursuit of happiness, but few know how to attain it. Millions around the world have turned to Japan for advice on finding their Ikigai, or summoning The Courage to Be Disliked. But hidden in plain sight are Japan's unique spiritual traditions, which infuse so much of the country's culture and mindset. Without Japan's spiritual sustenance, Jiro wouldn't dream of sushi; Studio Ghibli films wouldn't spirit us away; and Marie Kondo wouldn't spark joy.

For Hiroko Yoda, these traditions helped pull her from the loneliness that followed a period of grief and loss. In Eight Million Ways to Happiness, she offers the culmination of her decade-long odyssey into the spiritual heart of her homeland, from Shinto to Buddhism to Shugendo and beyond. Follow Hiroko as she trains as a Shinto shrine-dancer, ascends holy mountains with Shugendo ascetics and meets one of Japan's last living itako, a traditional mystic. The result is a unique portrait of spirituality the way Japanese experience it, packed with life lessons for us all.