Kintsugi (金継ぎ)- The Art of Fixing Broken Pottery and Reuse

Kintsugi (金継ぎ)- The Art of Fixing Broken Pottery and Reuse

I was supposed to be in Japan now, but because of the COVID-19 outbreak, my flight was cancelled and I am still in Canada. 

Although we are not going to Japan this summer, I wanted to do something that we might have done in Tokyo. So we decided to fix the lid of our rice cooking pot, which Jess dropped and broke.

Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with lacquer that is dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum, a method that is similar to the Maki-e technique.

It is interesting that Marie Kondo-san is teaching North Americans how to declutter, but Japanese people also have the concept, Mottainai.

Mottainai is a Japanese term used to convey a sense of regret over waste. It is a term also used to encourage individuals to reduce, reuse and recycle, as well as show gratitude and avoid waste whenever possible.

With that being said, we love the rice cooking pot. We don't use an electric rice cooker at all, and cooking rice in the pot is something we enjoy and love, so we felt mottainai and sent the lid to the master of Kintsugi, our mom of Tokyo, Yoshiko-sensei.

And this came back!

The great part of Kintsugi is that it actually makes broken pottery look way nicer than before. All the gold lines give character to the pot and we will love this pot for a long time.

Yoshiko-sensei has a pottery studio in Tokyo. We love her craft and Jess was learning pottery from her. Also, we are big fans of her food! Her creativity never stops :) 

So when this crazy time ends, and if you have a chance to go to Tokyo, bring along your broken pottery and fix it with Yoshiko-sensei.  She has classes for tourists(one day tryout) and you can return home with your favorite pottery intact! You can find her information below.

Kuge Kraft

Website: https://www.teshigotoya-kuge.com/
Instagram: @yoshikokuge
Email: info@teshigotoya-kuge.com | kankuro.shu@gmail.com (English)
Phone: 166−0015東京都杉並区成田東1−34−10
Address: 1-34-10 Narita-higashi, Suginami-ku, Tokyo 166‑0015

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