kintsugi

{{Short description|Japanese pottery repair method with gold laquer}}

File:Tea bowl, Korea, Joseon dynasty, 16th century AD, Mishima-hakeme type, buncheong ware, stoneware with white engobe and translucent, greenish-gray glaze, gold lacquer - Ethnological Museum, Berlin - DSC02061.JPG {{transliteration|ja|hakeme}}-type tea bowl with kintsugi gold lacquer, 16th century]]

File:Dish with hollyhock design, Nabeshima ware, Edo period, 18th century, overglaze enamel - Tokyo National Museum - DSC06022.JPG dish with hollyhock design, over-glaze enamel, 18th century, Edo period]]

Kintsugi (/kɪnˈtsuːɡi/, Japanese: 金継ぎ, [kʲint͡sɯɡʲi], lit. "golden joinery"), also known as {{nihongo3|"golden repair"|金繕い|kintsukuroi}},{{Cite web |date=October 28, 2022 |title=Definition of kintsugi |url=http://www.definition-of.com/kintsugi |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221004191710/https://www.definition-of.com/kintsugi |archive-date=October 4, 2022 |access-date=October 28, 2022 |website=Definition-Of}} is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with urushi lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. The method is similar to the {{transliteration|ja|maki-e}} technique.{{Citation | first = Blake | last = Gopnik | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/02/AR2009030202723.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107144916/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/02/AR2009030202723.html | title = At Freer, Aesthetic Is Simply Smashing | newspaper = The Washington Post | date = March 3, 2009 | archive-date=November 7, 2012}}.{{Citation | publisher = Smithsonian | contribution-url = http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/current/GoldenSeams.htm# | contribution = Golden Seams: The Japanese Art of Mending Ceramics | title = Freer Gallery of Art | access-date = 3 March 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090317021839/http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/current/GoldenSeams.htm|archive-date=2009-03-17| title-link = Freer Gallery of Art }}.{{Cite web |title=Daijisen - 金継ぎとは - コトバンク |url=http://kotobank.jp/word/%E9%87%91%E7%B6%99%E3%81%8E |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211123213002/https://kotobank.jp/word/%E9%87%91%E7%B6%99%E3%81%8E-481548 |archive-date=November 23, 2021 |access-date=October 28, 2022 |website=Kotobank}} As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise.{{Cite news|url=http://mymodernmet.com/kintsugi-kintsukuroi/|title=Kintsugi: The Centuries-Old Art of Repairing Broken Pottery with Gold|date=2017-04-25|work=My Modern Met|access-date=2017-07-12|language=en-US|archive-date=October 10, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181010052523/https://mymodernmet.com/kintsugi-kintsukuroi/|url-status=live}}

History

Lacquerware is a longstanding tradition in Japan{{Cite web|url = https://www.nytimes.com/1985/09/22/travel/shopper-s-world-japan-s-ancient-art-of-lacquerware.html|title = Japan's Ancient Art of Lacquerware|date = September 22, 1985|website = New York Times|last = Ota|first = Alan K.|access-date = February 10, 2017|archive-date = May 3, 2020|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200503165708/https://www.nytimes.com/1985/09/22/travel/shopper-s-world-japan-s-ancient-art-of-lacquerware.html|url-status = live}}{{Cite web|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/04/arts/design/04lacq.html|title = A Craft Polished to the Lofty Heights of Art|date = April 4, 2008|website = New York Times|last = Ken|first = Johnson|access-date = April 5, 2014|archive-date = May 3, 2020|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200503165754/https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/04/arts/design/04lacq.html|url-status = live}} and, at some point, kintsugi may have been combined with {{transliteration|ja|maki-e}} as a replacement for other ceramic repair techniques. While the process is associated with Japanese craftsmen, the technique was also applied to ceramic pieces of other origins including China, Vietnam, and Korea.{{Cite web |url=http://www.si.edu/Exhibitions/Details/Golden-Seams-The-Japanese-Art-of-Mending-Ceramics-4567 |title=Golden Seams: The Japanese Art of Mending Ceramics |date=November 8, 2008 |work=Smithsonian |access-date=2014-04-05 |archive-date=March 14, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170314183854/http://www.si.edu/Exhibitions/Details/Golden-Seams-The-Japanese-Art-of-Mending-Ceramics-4567 |url-status=live }}

Kintsugi became closely associated with ceramic vessels used for {{transliteration|ja|chanoyu}} (Japanese tea ceremony). One theory is that kintsugi may have originated when Japanese {{transliteration|ja|shōgun}} Ashikaga Yoshimasa sent a damaged Chinese tea bowl back to China for repairs in the late 15th century. When it was returned, repaired with simple metal staples, it may have prompted Japanese craftsmen to look for a more aesthetically pleasing means of repair. On the other hand, according to Bakōhan Saōki (record of tea-bowl with a 'large-locust' clamp), such "ugliness" was considered inspirational and Zen-like, as it connoted beauty in broken things. The bowl thus became highly valued due to the large metal staples, which looked like a locust, and the bowl was named {{transliteration|ja|'bakōhan}} ("large-locust clamp").{{cite web |url=https://emuseum.nich.go.jp/detail?langId=en&webView=0&content_base_id=100886&content_part_id=0&content_pict_id=0 |title=Celadon porcelain bowl, named Bakōhan |author= |website=e-Museum - National Treasures & Important Cultural Properties |publisher=National Institutes for Cultural Heritage |access-date=2023-04-02 |archive-date=August 23, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230823010358/https://emuseum.nich.go.jp/detail?content_base_id=100886&langId=en |url-status=live }}

Collectors became so enamored of the new art that some were accused of deliberately smashing valuable pottery so it could be repaired with the gold seams of kintsugi. It is also possible that a pottery piece was chosen for deformities it had acquired during production, then deliberately broken and repaired, instead of being discarded.

Philosophy

File:Korea, Goryeo period - Wine Ewer with Incised Scroll Design - 1928.172 - Cleveland Museum of Art.tif wine ewer with spout and handle repaired with gold lacquer by a Japanese collector in the early 20th century.]]

As a philosophy, kintsugi is similar to the Japanese philosophy of {{transliteration|ja|wabi-sabi}}, an embracing of the flawed or imperfect.{{Cite web|url=http://makezine.com/2015/08/17/kintsugi-japanese-art-recognizing-beauty-broken-things/|title=Kintsugi Is Recognizing Beauty in Broken Things {{!}} Make|date=2015-08-17|website=Make: DIY Projects and Ideas for Makers|access-date=2017-07-12|archive-date=August 2, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802162513/https://makezine.com/2015/08/17/kintsugi-japanese-art-recognizing-beauty-broken-things/|url-status=live}} Japanese aesthetics values marks of wear from the use of an object. This can be seen as a rationale for keeping an object around even after it has broken; it can also be understood as a justification of kintsugi itself, highlighting cracks and repairs as events in the life of an object, rather than allowing its service to end at the time of its damage or breakage.{{Cite journal |last=Roma |first=Caterina |date=April 2013 |title=Kintsugi |journal=Ceramic Review |issue=260 |pages=63}} The philosophy of kintsugi can also be seen as a variant of the adage, "Waste not, want not".{{citation |title = Exploring Japanese Art and Aesthetic as inspiration for emotionally durable design |url = http://www.designedasia.com/2012/Full_Papers/Exploring%20Japanese%20Art%20and%20Aesthetic.pdf |last = Kwan |first = Pui Ying |access-date = April 6, 2014 |archive-date = February 12, 2020 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200212091315/http://www.designedasia.com/2012/Full_Papers/Exploring |url-status = live}}

Kintsugi can relate to the Japanese philosophy of {{Nihongo3|"no mind"|無心|mushin}}, which encompasses the concepts of non-attachment, acceptance of change, and fate as aspects of human life.{{Cite book |last=Bartlett |first=Christy |url=http://swisschado.ch/publications-en/know-how-en/63-flickwerk-the-aesthetics-of-mended-japanese-ceramics |title=Flickwerk: The Aesthetics of Mended Japanese Ceramics |last2=Iten |first2=Charly |last3=Holland |first3=James-Henry |publisher=Cornell University |year=2008 |isbn=9783930090211 |location=Ithaca, NY |oclc=605712918 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202144513/http://swisschado.ch/publications-en/know-how-en/63-flickwerk-the-aesthetics-of-mended-japanese-ceramics |archive-date=2023-12-02}}

{{ quote

| Not only is there no attempt to hide the damage, but the repair is literally illuminated... a kind of physical expression of the spirit of mushin....Mushin is often literally translated as "no mind," but carries connotations of fully existing within the moment, of non-attachment, of equanimity amid changing conditions. ...The vicissitudes of existence over time, to which all humans are susceptible, could not be clearer than in the breaks, the knocks, and the shattering to which ceramic ware too is subject. This poignancy or aesthetic of existence has been known in Japan as mono no aware, a compassionate sensitivity, or perhaps identification with, [things] outside oneself.|

| author = Christy Bartlett

| source = Flickwerk: The Aesthetics of Mended Japanese Ceramics

}}

Materials and types of joinery

There are a few major styles or types of kintsugi:

{{Nihongo|Crack|ひび}}, the use of gold dust and resin or lacquer to attach broken pieces with minimal overlap or fill-in from missing pieces
{{Nihongo|Piece method|欠けの金継ぎ例}}; if a replacement ceramic fragment is not available and the entirety of the addition is gold or gold/lacquer compound
{{Nihongo|Joint call|呼び継ぎ}}, the use of a similarly shaped but non-matching fragment to replace a missing piece from the original vessel creating a patchwork effect{{Cite web|url = http://matome.naver.jp/odai/2136989780569618901|title = Gold joint (mending gold) What is it?|access-date = 2014-04-02|date = 2013-05-04|language = ja|archive-date = May 20, 2020|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200520205507/https://matome.naver.jp/odai/2136989780569618901|url-status = dead}}{{User-generated source|date=March 2025}}{{User-generated source|date=March 2025}}

The key materials of kintsugi are: ki urushi (pure urushiol-based lacquer), bengara urushi (iron red urushi), mugi urushi (a mixture of 50% ki urushi and 50% wheat flour), sabi urushi (a mixture of ki urushi with two kinds of clay), and a storage compartment referred to as a furo ("bath" in Japanese) where the mended pottery can rest at 90% humidity for between 2 days to 2 weeks as the urushi hardens. Traditionally, a wooden cupboard and bowls of hot water were used as the furo. Alternatively, thick cardboard boxes are sometimes used as the furo as they create a steady atmosphere of humidity or large vessels filled with rice, beans, or sand into which the mended pottery is submerged.{{Cite book |last=Kemske |first=Bonnie |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1247084472 |title=Kintsugi: The Poetic Mend |publisher=Herbert Press |year=2021 |isbn=978-1912217991 |pages=84–95 |oclc=1247084472 |access-date=September 12, 2022 |archive-date=August 23, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230823010402/https://worldcat.org/title/1247084472 |url-status=live }}

Influence

Kintsugi is the general concept of highlighting or emphasizing imperfections, visualizing mends and seams as an additive or an area to celebrate or focus on, rather than absence or missing pieces.

Modern artists and designers experiment with the ancient technique as a means of analyzing the idea of loss, synthesis, and improvement through destruction and repair or rebirth.{{Cite web|url = http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/smashing-idea-to-put-it-together-again-20110226-1b990.html|title = Smashing idea to put it together again|date = February 27, 2011|last = Taylor|first = Andrew|website = Sydney Morning Herald|access-date = April 6, 2014|archive-date = July 15, 2020|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200715134608/https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/smashing-idea-to-put-it-together-again-20110226-1b990.html|url-status = live}} Through an artistic lens, a Kintsugi object is permanently both evidence of crisis and cure.{{Cite journal |last=Keulemans |first=Guy |date=2016-01-02 |title=The Geo-cultural Conditions of Kintsugi |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17496772.2016.1183946 |journal=The Journal of Modern Craft |language=en |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=15–34 |doi=10.1080/17496772.2016.1183946 |issn=1749-6772|url-access=subscription }}

While originally ignored as a separate art form, kintsugi and related repair methods have been featured at exhibitions at the Freer Gallery at the Smithsonian, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art.{{cite news|last=Lippke|first=Andrea Codrington|date=December 15, 2010|title=In Make-Do Objects, Collectors Find Beauty Beyond Repair|newspaper=New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/garden/16makedo.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0|access-date=2014-04-05|archive-date=July 14, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200714064923/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/garden/16makedo.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=http://museum.cornell.edu/exhibitions/aesthetics-mended-japanese-ceramics|title=The Aesthetics of Mended Japanese Ceramics {{!}} Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art|website=museum.cornell.edu|language=en|access-date=2017-09-23|archive-date=May 3, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200503191109/http://museum.cornell.edu/exhibitions/aesthetics-mended-japanese-ceramics|url-status=live}}

Examples of contemporary artists and designers who incorporate kintsugi techniques, aesthetics, and philosophies in their work include:

British artist Charlotte Bailey, who was inspired by kintsugi to create textile works involving the repair of broken vases; her practice involves covering the shards with fabric and stitching them back together using gold metallic thread.{{Cite web|date=2016-04-28|title=Artist Mimics Japanese 'Kintsugi' Technique to Repair Broken Vases with Embroidery|url=https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2016/04/embroidery-kintsugi-charlotte-bailey/|access-date=2021-10-19|website=Colossal|language=en|archive-date=August 23, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230823010439/https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2016/04/embroidery-kintsugi-charlotte-bailey/|url-status=live}}
American artist Karen LaMonte, who creates monumental sculptures of women’s clothing worn by seemingly invisible human figures; when a kiln explosion broke a number of these works, LaMonte used kintsugi techniques to repair the ceramic sculptures with gold.{{Cite journal|last=Elman|first=Leslie Gilbert|date=July 2019|title=Monumental Femininity|url=https://gpgallery.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Todays-Master-LaMonte-finished-5-29-19.pdf|journal=Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine|access-date=November 4, 2021|archive-date=August 23, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230823010430/https://gpgallery.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Todays-Master-LaMonte-finished-5-29-19.pdf|url-status=live}}{{Cite journal|last=Fasolino|first=Chris|date=February 2021|title=World of Glass|url=https://issuu.com/vbmag/docs/february_2021_full_digital_edition|journal=Vero Beach Magazine|pages=142|access-date=November 4, 2021|archive-date=August 23, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230823010421/https://issuu.com/vbmag/docs/february_2021_full_digital_edition|url-status=live}}
New York designer George Inaki Root, who worked with Japanese artisans to create a line for his jewelry company Milamore entitled "Kintsugi"; Root told Forbes that the designs were inspired by themes of beauty and brokenness, and his longstanding connection to kintsugi philosophies.{{Cite web|last=Shirley|first=Kristen|title=Milamore Modernizes An Ancient Japanese Art, Kintsugi, In Its Jewelry|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristenshirley/2021/09/24/milamore-modernizes-an-ancient-japanese-art-kintsugi-in-its-jewelry/|access-date=2021-10-19|website=Forbes|language=en|archive-date=August 23, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230823010358/https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristenshirley/2021/09/24/milamore-modernizes-an-ancient-japanese-art-kintsugi-in-its-jewelry/|url-status=live}}
Los Angeles artist Victor Solomon, who was inspired by kintsugi practices and philosophies to create "Kintsugi Court", a fractured public basketball court in South Los Angeles he repaired with gold-dusted resin. The project was finished in 2020 to coincide with the restart of the NBA season, which had been paused due to the Covid-19 pandemic.{{Cite web|date=2020-08-18|title=Victor Solomon mends dilapidated LA basketball court using Japanese art of Kintsugi|url=https://www.dezeen.com/2020/08/18/victor-solomon-kintsugi-court-basketball/|access-date=2021-10-19|website=Dezeen|language=en|archive-date=August 23, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230823011433/https://www.dezeen.com/2020/08/18/victor-solomon-kintsugi-court-basketball/|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|date=2020-08-06|title=Artist Uses Japanese Art of Kintsugi to Fill in Basketball Court's Cracks With Gold|url=https://mymodernmet.com/victor-solomon-kintsugi-court/|access-date=2021-10-19|website=My Modern Met|language=en|archive-date=August 23, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230823011443/https://mymodernmet.com/victor-solomon-kintsugi-court/|url-status=live}}
Japanese contemporary kintsugi artist, Kunio Nakamura

The sealed cracks on the bodies of the Pokémon Poltchageist and Sinistcha are based on the process of kintsugi.{{Cite web |date=August 22, 2023 |title=チャデス |script-title=ja:Chadesu |trans-title=Poltchageist |url=https://www.pokemon.co.jp/ex/sv_dlc/ja/pokemon/230822_01/ |access-date=March 24, 2025 |website=『ポケットモンスタースカーレット・バイオレットゼロの秘宝』公式サイト |language=ja}}

Related techniques

File:Staple repairs.jpg

Staple repair is another technique used to repair broken ceramic pieces,{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/18/arts/design/repaired-china-the-potter-john-bennett-schoolgirl-rugs.html|url-access=subscription|title = It's as Good as Glue: Mending Shattered China|access-date = 2014-04-05|last = Kahn|first = Eve|date = January 17, 2013|newspaper = New York Times|archive-date = May 3, 2020|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200503215109/https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/18/arts/design/repaired-china-the-potter-john-bennett-schoolgirl-rugs.html|url-status = live}} where small holes are drilled on either side of a crack and metal staples are bent to hold the pieces together.{{citation |title = Stapled Repairs on Chine; Confessions of a curious collector |date = February 2012 |url = https://www.antiquesjournal.com/flipbooks/neajfeb12/index.html |journal=Antiques Journal |access-date=2014-04-05 |pages=37–40 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140407074754/https://www.antiquesjournal.com/flipbooks/neajfeb12/index.html|archive-date = 2014-04-07 |url-status=dead}} Staple repair was used in Europe (in ancient Greece, England and Russia among others), South America,{{cite object |title=Elliptical nose ring |date=nd |orig-date= Quimbaya style, Colómbia, Middle Cauca River region, Late Period, 700–1600 |museum=Gold Museum |id=O16113 |location=Bogotá |url=https://babel.banrepcultural.org/digital/pdf.js/web/viewer.html?file=/digital/api/collection/p17054coll18/id/424/download#page=46 |access-date=2023-11-19}} and China as a repair technique for particularly valuable pieces.

Yobitsugi (meaning "invite connection"{{Cite web |last=Westall |first=Mark |date=2022-10-05 |title=YOBITSUGI: Beyond Repair |url=https://fadmagazine.com/2022/10/05/yobitsugi-beyond-repair/ |access-date=2023-12-05 |website=FAD Magazine |language=en-GB}}) is similar to kintsugi, except that pieces from visibly different broken objects are put together, patchwork-style, to form one whole one, e.g., pieces of a blue plate to repair a white plate.{{Cite book |last=Kemske |first=Bonnie |title=Kintsugi: The Poetic Mend |date=2021-02-18 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-78994-000-8 |pages=43, 74 |language=en}}

Tomotsugi is similar, but uses broken pieces taken from matching objects, e.g., if two matching plates have been broken, some of the pieces can be combined to form a single plate.{{Cite book |last=Hori |first=Michihiro |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=krNLEAAAQBAJ&dq=yobitsugi&pg=PT51 |title=A Beginner's Guide to Kintsugi: The Japanese Art of Repairing Pottery and Glass |date=2022-04-26 |publisher=Tuttle Publishing |isbn=978-1-4629-2292-5 |pages=70 |language=en}}

References

External links

{{Commons category inline}}
Video: [https://www.linktv.org/shows/made-by-hand/kintsugi-the-art-of-broken-pieces "Kintsugi: The Art of Repairing and Bringing New Life to Broken Items"] from Link TV
Exhibition: Flickwerk: The Aesthetics of Mended Japanese Ceramics at Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Ithaca NY 2008. Exhibition page {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221208014946/https://museum.cornell.edu/exhibitions/aesthetics-mended-japanese-ceramics |date=2022-12-08}}.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-uZiszbo7M Kintsugi: The Art of Broken] by Audrey Harris | TEDxJanpath (video on YouTube)
[http://vimeo.com/54219830 Kintsugi: The Meaning of Mending] by [http://vimeo.com/adamfulford Adam Fulford] (video on Vimeo)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBUTQkaSSTY EASTERN PHILOSOPHY - Kintsugi] by [http://www.theschooloflife.com|The School of Life] (video on YouTube)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4g4hm2UtBs The Art of Kintsugi | Transformation through Brokenness & Restoration] by Klaus Motoki Tonn [https://finde-zukunft.de/blog/narben-aus-gold-nbspkintsugi-als-metapher-fr-unser-leben Finde Zukunft] (video on YouTube)
[https://cotoacademy.com/kintsugi-the-japanese-art-of-mending-broken-pottery-with-gold/ Kintsugi the Japanese art of mending broken pottery with gold]