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KINTSUGI
金継ぎMend it with gold
0 cm
01 / 04
Black Raku
Lift the bowl up, then let go.
Tap a piece to bring it home.
0 / 0
Touch a crack to pour the gold.
Mended. Drag to turn it in the light.
Mei 銘
How to mend 金継ぎ
Break
Drag the bowl up and let go. The higher the drop, the more pieces.
Gather
Tap each piece to bring it home.
Gild
Touch a crack and the gold flows out from there. Touch more cracks to pour faster.
Look
Drag anywhere else to turn the view. Pinch or scroll to zoom.
Kintsugi means “golden joinery”. The pieces are glued with urushi, the sap of the lacquer tree, and the seams are dusted with powdered gold.
The story goes that the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa sent a cracked celadon bowl to China for repair. It came back held with metal staples, so Japanese craftsmen found a more beautiful way. That bowl, Bakōhan, is in the Tokyo National Museum.
The break is not hidden. It becomes part of the bowl’s story, and mended bowls are often given a poetic name.
Space next step · ←→ bowls · M sound · H hide the buttons
Simplified: real kintsugi takes weeks or months, curing layer after layer of lacquer in a humid cabinet. Here the pieces hold by magic and the gold flows on its own.