Why Kintsugi ?

 

Kint : golden
Sugi : joinery

Kintsugi is the japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum, a method similar to the maki-e technique.  As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise.

Before I answer why does I named this blog jacobiskintsugi.wordpress.com, I’d like to tell you the story about Kintsugi. Here it goes 😉

In the late 15th century or as the Japanese familiar with; Muromachi Period,  a Shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimasa (Yoshimitsu) sent a damaged Chinese tea bowl back to China for repairs. When it returned he was not satisfied since it was only repaired with ugly metal staples. So he ordered his craftsman to find an aesthetics way of repair. Therefore, the act of repair with “valuable” matters is invented, Kintsugi.

Since then everybody and especially collectors became so enamored with the new art that some are accused that they deliberately smashing valuable pottery so it could be repaired with a gold seam of kintsugi. We can conclude that Kintsugi; a broken pottery, is having more worth than a perfectfly carved pottery.

In a philosophy sense , Kintsugi is often associated with Japanese philosophy Wabi-Sabi, an embracing of the flawed or imperfect. Where it tells us that to cherishes what simple, unpretentious, and aged. Respect what is damaged, scar vulnerable, and hurt. To embrace our weakness, wounds, impermanent, and imperfection. While emblaze it with “golden significance”. 

I’d like to take on a quote by Ernest Hemingway in one of his works; A Farewell to Arms

” The world breaks everyone and afterwards many are strong in the broken places ”

In my perspective, I believed that pristine is less beautiful than the broken. The world as we know it is truly obsessed with perfection. From making the most symmetrical kind of design, became the perfect friend, girlfriend/ boyfriend, parents, and etc. (and probably blog? HAHA 😉). But the facts stated otherwise, that in this world we cannot truly achieve perfection. What we only capable of is to striving for perfection.

A person as we know it has their aptitude and flaws. Often though they’re “stuck” and became unmotivated because their flaws make them feel ashamed, depressed, and hopeless. That happen because that person want to be the perfect person. Kintsugi offers relief and a solution to the problem. To truly aware that our flaws is what make us so special. So there is no attempt to hiding the broken, but to embrace it and emblaze it with “golden significance”; to learn from our flaws.

Well that is the answers to the question Why Kintsugi? Please share what are your insights about this post, and I hope this post is beneficial to your well-being. Thanks for reading 😉