Iyashikei


Iyashikei is a genre specific to Japanese works, primarily manga and anime. It is a sub-genre of slice of life, portraying characters living out peaceful lives in calming environments, and is intended to have a healing effect on the audience. The word iyashikei means "healing-type" in Japanese.

Origins

Iyashikei first emerged as a distinct sub-genre in 1995, in the wake of the Great Hanshin earthquake and the Tokyo subway sarin attack. These traumatic events, combined with the economic recession, would lead to what scholar Paul Roquet calls the iyashi trend, or healing boom. The trauma suffered by the Japanese public provided "the emotional context for the emergence of calm as a lucrative and marketable feeling."

List of ''iyashikei'' works