Kintsugi: the art of repairing with awareness
Kintsugi: the art of repairing with awareness
What is Kintsugi? How can this art form inspire us in everyday life? How important is it to also repair ourselves? What can online therapy do?
In Japan, the art of kintsugi, created at the end of the 1400s, literally means “to repair with gold” (from kin = gold; and tsugi = to repair, to put back together).
The tradition originates from an ancient Japanese legend dating back to the feudal period. Here, Ashikaga Yoshimasa, the eighth shōgun (a title given to the military leaders who ruled Japan), accidentally broke into a thousand pieces a ceramic tea set to which he was particularly attached.
Yoshimasa, hoping to have it repaired, sent it to China to be fixed. However, at that time, repairs were not elegant at all: they were done with metal bindings, certainly ill-suited to the fine ceramic of the tea set. Moreover, beyond aesthetics, the repair did not hold and the governor’s cup shattered again. It was therefore to be thrown away.
Yoshimasa, however, wanted to make one last attempt, this time entrusting his beloved object to Japanese craftsmen. Struck by his tenacity to repair that cherished tea set, they restored it, transforming it into a unique and rare jewel. The craftsmen joined the cracks of the ceramic with a special lacquer called urushi, made of resin and gold powder, making them shine and giving new life to that tea set.
Kintsugi: repairing the wounds of the soul
In a broader and metaphorical sense, we can see kintsugi as the art of repairing and healing with the gold of awareness—even our spiritual, physical, and emotional wounds (as author Selene C. Williams also states in her work entitled “Kintsugi”)—bringing them new light.
Nowadays, people tend far too easily to throw away what is old to make room for the new, often doing so almost compulsively, out of boredom or the desire to have something more, something different, or something more efficient. This tendency also stems from having unlearned how to give proper value to things or people. If we recognized the value of an object or a person, just as the Japanese governor did with his beloved tea set, we would certainly think twice before discarding it, since we saw value in it. Repairing thus becomes the art of restoring value to things—whether it is a ceramic teapot or relationships and feelings.
Often, Selene Williams explains, we are culturally programmed to distance ourselves from everything imperfect (including voids, shortcomings, fears). Yet the challenge is precisely to transform fragility into beauty. Accepting that life is imperfect, and likewise transitory, can lead us to a more humble, serene, and aware vision of life, one that embraces human imperfection and its complexity, recognizing its beauty. The exhausting pursuit of perfection, on the other hand, is an illusion that inevitably leads to suffering and dissatisfaction, making us blind to the true value of things and life.
Most human beings, full of insecurities and fragilities, fail to see the opportunity in kintsugi to fill the cracks of our psyche with the shining gold of awareness. We often flee from the true essence of the soul, so imperfect and seemingly fragile. Yet fleeing brings pain: one risks becoming a victim of one’s own mind and emotions (or soul), rather than recognizing them as allies, bearers of a greater message. Cracks, shadows, fractures, even irrationality (when events occur before which we feel extremely powerless), are therefore not evil, but a starting point—something that can be repaired, healed, and valued, filled with the gold of awareness.
What online therapy can do
Online therapy can help analyze more broadly and deeply the cracks and wounds of our soul. It can help evaluate how and when they were really created, understand their value, their most intimate and hidden message—the decisive one—that, with new awareness and a new vision, will allow us, like kintsugi, to transform fragilities into pure gold of awareness for our life and well-being.
For information, contact Dr. Jessica Zecchini
Email: consulenza@jessicazecchini.it, WhatsApp: 370 32 173 351
