Kintsugi— The Art of Repairing a Soul
Is it possible to synthesize the loss and improve through repair?
There is an old story. In the late 15th century, Ashikaga Yoshimasa (1436–1490 AD), a Japanese military dictator, sent his damaged teapot to China to exchange it with another one. “However, as celadon porcelain ware of such a high quality was no longer available in China then, the bowl was sent back to the shogun with the crack merely fastened with a clamp. The bowl became valued even more highly because of this large clamp, which looked like a locust and the bowl was named Bakōhan (large-locust clamp).”
The teapot had now become more aesthetically pleasing than before because repair had added to its beauty. For Japanese craftsmen, it opened a new perspective about aesthetics.
Many historians believe that this was how Kintsugi or Kintsukuroi came into being, an art of repairing pottery by mending the breakage with lacquer mixed with gold, silver, or platinum and resin. The idea is that the repair of this disfiguration is the beauty of that broken thing. And the pottery, in turn, becomes more valuable than the unbroken one.
How can something broken be considered beautiful? Kintsugi says, by being open and vulnerable.
