Kintsugi-The Centuries Old Ritual of Repair

KINTSUGI BOWL

We are thrilled to have found an extraordinary local craftsman in Japan to partner up with to bring you these one-of-a-kind Kintsugi bowls. From his workshop in the town of Shigaraki-world famous for high-quality ceramics-he follows centuries of tradition to create these unique and authentic pieces of ceramic craftsmanship for Matcha Moments. The Kintsugi bowl is truly an embodiment of Japanese art and philosophy that we are now happy to share with you.   

The art of Kintsugi by our craftsmen

Our Kintsugi bowls are handmade of red clay from the area of Shigaraki which is famous for high-quality ceramics in Japan. The gold work in our Kintsugi bowls uses clay and real gold.

Our special craftsmen from Japan carefully hand-make and hand-paint the Kintsugi bowl that’s why each piece is unique and varies in its appearance.

Kintsugi bowl  is the ideal match for your daily calming ritual of preparing and drinking matcha tea for the traditional Japanese tea ceremony. Not only these bowls are aesthetically beautiful, but their golden joints are a reminder of the power of healing and the beauty of embracing the flaws and celebrate them.

But what is the story behind these beautifully crafted Kintsugi bowls?

A centuries-old ritual of repair

Somethings are too precious to let go of. But what if they break? When the things we love break it leaves us in a dilemma to decide if we should let go of them and replace them with something new? Or should we try to fix it? But what if it doesn’t stay the same?

The answer is, it probably won’t stay the same but surprisingly it could become even better with its beautifully perfect imperfections and flaws. There might be a way to make things even better than before they were broken by simply embracing the flaws as something to cherish. This indeed is the depiction of a Kintsugi Bowl. The art of Kintsugi is about mending our beloved items instead of replacing them with something that might not spark the same joy.

What is the meaning of Kintsugi?

The word Kintsugi is a combination of two Japanese words, Kin which means ‘gold’, and Tsugi which means ‘join’. The word kintsugi literally means ‘gold joining’ or ‘the art of gold joinery’. The art of Kintsugi is built on the idea of giving the broken objects a new second life by mending them with gold (or silver or platinum). By repairing it, we actually revive the object into something even more beautiful and stronger.

Who invented the technique of Kintsugi?

The technique of mending with gold (also known as Kintsugi) originated in Japan under the shogunate of Ashigaka Yoshimasa in the late 15^th century. Yoshimasa was fond of collecting and surrounding himself with art, artists, and poets in his temple palace Ginkaku-ji. The legend has it that Yoshimasa always used his favorite and the most precious bowl “Chawan” for the tea ceremonies, which unfortunately broke one day.

The broken “Chawan” bowl was immediately sent back to the skillful Chinese ceramist where it came from. The Chinese ceramist repaired it with their standard process of fixing the broken parts with iron staples. Yoshimasa was extremely disappointed with the results and the bowl was then given to the Japanese craftsmen to find a better and more aesthetic solution and that’s when the art of Kintsugi was invented.

The Japanese craftsmen used the philosophy of Wabi-Sabi which emphasizes the thought of finding beauty in every aspect of imperfection in nature and embraces the “imperfect, impermanent and incomplete”.

Yoshimasa not only praised the uniquely mended bowl but also loved to see how it has been given a new life with its imperfections that are now full of beauty.