Kintsugi: what the Japanese art of repairing with gold teaches us

Eastern philosophy has much to teach, with its ancient roots and its focus on all that is spiritual and symbolic. In this sense, the Japanese pottery repair technique called kintsugi becomes an approach to life to be treasured.

Let's see what it is and what ideas for personal improvement we can draw from it!

What is kintsugi and how to practice it

The kintsugi or kintsukuroi, literally translated, is “the practice of repairing with gold”. It is, in fact, a very ancient do-it-yourself technique, used mainly with ceramic objects, so dear to the Japanese tradition.

Just think of the bowls used in the traditional tea ceremony, which every family jealously preserves and treats with care. If one of the pieces of the tea service were to fall and break, the Japanese mentality does not think about throwing it away and replacing it, as is typical of a certain Western consumerist culture.

On the contrary,what is broken can be recovered and made even more beautiful, precious and unique than before, thanks to the use of special glues and lacquers based on precious materials, such as gold and silver.

The cracks and splits between the various pieces of ceramic, recomposed, become golden veins, a brilliant lattice that radiates light and beauty.

As if to say that imperfections and scars should not be covered or hidden, on the contrary: they are highlighted, underlined.

We are not “broken”, we are just constantly changing

Precisely for this reason the kintsugi is considered the perfect metaphor for the concept of resilienza, which we talked about recently.

In an abstract sense, that teacup is us, with our wounds, our voids, the cracks in the body and soul that life leaves on us, day after day.

But these elements, although they may seem negative at first glance, are actually what makes us who we are. We are the synthesis of our experiences, positive and negative.

We are not our scars, but our scars help define who we are.

And they make us better, if they know how to "fix" and "repair" us with positivity and self-awareness (with gold, in a certain sense), then we will emerge changed, stronger, unique and unrepeatable than everyone else.

For further information:

• https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20210107-kintsugi-japans-ancient-art-of-embracing-imperfection
• https://harvardreview.org/content/kintsugi/
• https://www.lifegate.it/kintsugi-larte-delle-preziose-cicatrici