Kintsugi
The story of Kintsugi dates back to the 15th century, when the Japanese shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa broke his most beloved Chinese tea bowls, sending the mug to China to heal them. However, when he received the tea bowl set, he was extremely disappointed by those ugly rough seams. Ashikaga Yoshimasa would assign the Japanese craftsmen to find a way to fix it and he was extremely satisfied with the result.
With the meaning of "combined with gold", broken ceramics will be welded with a lacquer line and precious metals, namely gold, silver, and platinum. Looking at the art of Kintsugi one can immediately see its transforming power.
"kintsugi" by martinjhoward2 is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
"2010_09_ars1" by tinowa is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
"Kintsugi Project" by Steenaire is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Kintsugi Project" by Steenaire is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Cleaned up seams" by Pomax is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Although the vase's original form was lost forever, through Kintsugi's alchemy, the beautiful nature of the vase not only continued to exist but also grew stronger.
This art also has an eastern and western philosophy: If such astonishing beauty could emerge from the fragments of the vase, a similar transformation could happen with us.
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The art of Kintsugi also shows us that no one is perfect in this life, but life scars can make us shine like bowls healed from gold powder.
