Hikari (光) Is the Japanese Concept of 'Living With Light' — Here's How I Bring It Into Homes as an Interior Designer

A Japanese living room with a vase of stems on a side table, a gray couch, a sliding rice paper screen, and a bench with a pillow and a display case of ceramics.

Japan’s climate spans extremes, from punishing summer sun and monsoon humidity to some of the heaviest snowfalls on earth. These conditions demanded a sophisticated relationship with light long before modern glazing. Enter hikari (光).

In Japanese design, hikari (光) refers to natural light. Be it sunlight, directional, or the light of the world. But there is a second word, akari (明かり), for the warm, intimate glow of a lantern or candle.