
金継ぎ
What is Kintsugi?
Kintsugi is the traditional Japanese technique of using lacquer and gold to repair damaged parts of ceramics that are chipped or cracked.
Gold is used only for the final touches. If silver is used instead of gold, it is called “Gin-tsugi.” There are also some other methods, such as “Urushi- tsugi” (which uses lacquer without any metals), “Tomo-tsugi” (which uses a color of lacquer that matches the damaged pottery), and “Yobi-tsugi” (which uses pieces from different ceramics to fill in the chipped area).
Archeologists found his method of using lacquer to fix pottery in the excavated earthenware from Japan’s Neolithic Jomon Period. However, the current method of using gold and other materials as a decoration developed with the spread of the tea ceremony culture during the Muromachi period (around the 14 th –16 thc century). It was an era when people did not have nearly as many possessions as we do today, so they valued their things and repaired them for continuous use. Furthermore, from the tea ceremony perspective, the repair marks were seen as a thing of beauty that added to the items’ aesthetic value.
Kintsugi, is sometimes called Kin-tsukuroi or simply Naoshi, but “Kintsugi” is the word most often used. Our shop’s name ZEN is taken from the character 繕-Tsukuroi which means to mend or fix, and is also read “ZEN”.