The Japan News by The Yomiuri Shimbun
KINTSUGI REPAIR TECHNIQUE ENJOYS NEW GOLDEN AGE
Kintsugi, a traditional technique that uses lacquer and gold powder to repair cracked or chipped ceramics, is enjoying a renaissance among amateur artisans. As people spend more time at home due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, some have been reassessing the uses and importance of their possessions.
Kintsugi is thought to have originated in the Muromachi period (13361573), accompanying a rise in popularity of the tea ceremony. As part of the kintsugi process, the damaged parts of a ceramic piece are glued together or
lled with lacquer and the seams are then decorated with gold powder. If the humidity and other conditions are right, lacquer can be even stronger than adhesives, allowing items to be used long a er being repaired.
e Tsutsumi Asakichi Urushi lacquer shop in Kyoto, which has been trading since the Meiji era (1868-1912), began selling home-use kintsugi kits for ¥13,750 in March 2019. e kits contain tubes of lacquer and gold powder as well as gloves to protect users’ hands from the lacquer.
As of January 2020, the shop had sold only a few sets a month, but sales took o in February following the arrival of the coronavirus. e store also posted online videos featuring a young lacquer artist explaining how to use the kits. Currently, the shop sells between 100 and 200 kits each month.
“People have fewer opportunities to use lacquerware in their daily lives, so we hope to provide them with a chance to experience the wonderful culture of repair and the natural materials involved,” a representative of the shop said.
Tokyu Hands variety stores also sell kintsugi sets aimed at novices, priced in the ¥6,000-¥8,000 range. Sales of the kits have nearly tripled since April 2020, compared to pre-pandemic gures.
Kintsugi has featured in women’s magazines and served as the topic of multiple books. e technique even formed part of the plot in a 2020 TV drama starring the late Haruma Miura.
Courses that teach kintsugi are also gaining in popularity. Yuzo Eto, a lacquer artist from Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, who worked on the restoration of Kasugataisha shrine in Nara, teaches kintsugi at about 20 locations in Hyogo and Osaka prefectures. He has become more and more busy since he started teaching about seven years ago. Now, almost all his classes are full.
In November, eight women took part in one of his classes at the Co-op Culture Seikatsu-Bunka Center in
Kobe. Eto, 39, provided personalized instructions, such as advising one woman to put more lacquer on the tip of her brush. A chorus of happy voices rang out when the students dusted the nished objects with gold powder. One student, Makiko Kimura, a homemaker in Itami, Hyogo Prefecture, was restoring a small serving dish used by her late mother. “It’s wasn’t expensive, but I didn’t want to throw it away just because it was cracked,” said Kimura.
Eto added: “Another charming aspect of kintsugi is that the items transform into something new. If more people repair things, it will help raise awareness of the SDGs [Sustainable Development Goals] and help reduce waste.”