世間 (seken) refers to the stakeholders and (referent) groups whose views about you shape your reputation and standing in the communities you belong to or aspire to belong to.
According to sociologist Eiko Ikegami, 世間 (seken) first appears in the writings of Hojo Shigetoki in the 13th century. The term 世間体 (sekentei) is used in a similar way in modern Japan.
Shigetoki used the term at a time when the Hojo were still figuring out how to make sense of their new role as the most powerful family in Japan. To maintain their dominance, they had to build and maintain their standing with at least three groups of stakeholders with different standards and demands: other warrior families, the courtiers and common people. As I’ve described elsewhere, the Hojo used a diverse combination of strategies to build and maintain their standing in relation to these disparate groups. Shigetoki seems to have had a keen sense of the importance of the 世間 to the success of the Kamakura Bakufu.
After the Meiji Restoration and again after WW2, some scholars and social critics have used the term 世間 as an illustration of what was wrong with traditional Japanese society. They claim that terms like 世間 point to a lack of a mature unitary self that can separate itself from society. Other scholars have countered that this criticism doesn’t account for the mechanisms through which selves are actually developed in Japan – or anywhere else.
After the Meiji Restoration and again after WW2, some critics have used the term 世間 as an illustration of what is wrong with traditional Japanese society. They claim that terms like 世間 point to a lack of a mature unitary self that can separate itself from society. Others have pushed back against this position, saying that it doesn’t properly consider the nuances of how selves are developed in Japan or anywhere else.
I part with many commentators in that I see 世間 as describing a universal phenomenon which is just easier to recognize in Japan. To be human is to have a 世間.
世間 is an essential part of the social context in which we become individuals – sometimes by adapting to it; sometimes by resisting it; sometimes by influencing or changing it…
Your 世間 is an essential part of makes you you.
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From an A.I. supported search on the roots of the term 世間 :
Seken (世間) refers to the traditional concept of “the world” or “society” as a web of specific human relationships and social obligations. Unlike the modern, abstract term for society (shakai), seken is a concrete network of relatives, neighbors, and colleagues that exerts significant social pressure on individuals.
Historical Development
Buddhist Origins (7th Century): The term originated as a translation of Buddhist concepts to describe the “changing, impermanent world” of suffering, as opposed to the enlightened state. It categorized the world into the physical environment and the living beings within it.
Traditional Community (Ancient to Edo Period): Over centuries, it evolved into a native concept representing the total network of social relations surrounding an individual. In rural and traditional settings, seken functioned as a moral authority where “the eyes of the world” (seken no me) dictated behavior through unwritten rules.
Meiji Period and Modernization: When Western concepts of “society” were introduced, the word shakai was coined. While shakai is used in formal writing to describe a collection of individuals with rights, seken remains the dominant term in daily conversation to describe the interpersonal reality where individual dignity often yields to group harmony.
Historical scholars like Abe Kinya have argued that Japan’s modernization is incomplete because seken—with its emphasis on honne (true feelings) vs. tatemae (public face)—still functions as the primary regulator of Japanese behavior, often overriding the modern legalistic “shakai”.
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Agency (主体性) + Purpose (志) + Growth (成長) + Connection (繋がり) + Contribution (貢献) = Meaning (意義)
In the space between you and me awaits all that will ever be.
人と人の間に全てのもと
© Dana Cogan, 2026, all rights reserved.