Frequently asked questions

Ikigai is a Japanese concept that translates roughly to 'a reason for being'. It covers what you love, what you are good at, what is needed of you, and what sustains you. It is not about productivity or optimization, but about a steady sense that your days have direction and worth.

The assessment is a structured series of questions covering the four scales: Love, Gift, Need and Sustain. Your responses produce a classification and a set of independently scored readings that map how your week distributes time and attention.

Your archetype describes how your four readings relate to one another. It works as a mirror rather than a label, a way of seeing the patterns already in your week so you can work with them deliberately. Each archetype carries its own guidance, references and daily practices.

Yes. The framework draws on peer reviewed work, including Kamiya (1966), the longitudinal Ohsaki study by Sone et al. (2008), the Japan Collaborative Cohort findings from Tanno et al. (2009), the outcome wide analysis by Okuzono et al. (2022) in The Lancet, validated measurement scales such as the Ikigai-9 (Imai et al., 2012; Fido et al., 2020), and reviews by Kotera et al. (2021). The annotated bibliography sits in Catalog Research.

The report is a detailed analysis of your results. It includes your full classification, scale by scale readings, archetype pairings, and three deeper assessments covering Shadow, Values and Energy. It is included in your $19 lifetime access alongside all dashboard tools.

Your full report, the Rhythm Builder, the Go Deeper assessments and Archetype Pairings. One payment, lifetime access, no subscriptions and no recurring charges.

The twelve archetypes blend two sources: the seven pillars framework developed by Mieko Kamiya, and the four circle model that popularized ikigai in the West. Together they translate the theory into readable profiles that make patterns easier to recognize and act on.

Your report and tools are personalized and delivered the moment you purchase, so all sales are final. Your readings, classification, practices and guided content are generated immediately and cannot be un-delivered or returned. If you have a legitimate billing concern, write to hello@theikigaitest.com and we will look at it. A change of mind, dissatisfaction with your result, or not using the tools after purchase are not grounds for a refund.

If a charge was made in error, such as a duplicate payment or a technical failure that prevented access, write to hello@theikigaitest.com within 7 days and we will review it in good faith. Please contact us before filing a dispute with your bank. We keep detailed records of every transaction, delivery and sign in, and will provide that evidence in the event of a chargeback.

Each account is linked to one assessment. That is deliberate: the value is in working with what your reading showed rather than chasing a different result. If your circumstances change substantially, write to us.

Your responses are stored securely and reachable only by you. We do not sell your data, share it with third parties, or use it for advertising. The Privacy Policy sets out the detail.

A small team working at the meeting point of Japanese scholarship and careful software. We think tools for self observation should be calm, precise and grounded in real research.

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