The Beauty Of Broken Objects: Urushi Kintsugi Workshop In Kyoto

Of all the traditional crafts in Japan, the art of ‘kintsugi’ might be one of the most poetic.

The concept is simple. Instead of discarding a broken piece of ceramic, it’s carefully repaired with lacquer and gold or silver, transforming an unnatural crack into an intentional work of art. In the process of restoration, the damage is celebrated instead of hidden.

It’s also incredibly practical. Kintsugi lets us hold onto the things that matter, whether that’s a valuable heirloom, a memento from a faraway place, or even just a favorite cup.

And in repairing it, we often come to love it even more – not in spite of its flaws, but because of them.

Kintsugi and Urushi

While the ‘kin’ in kintsugi means gold, its heart lies in something more humble: ‘urushi,’ the natural tree sap lacquer that’s used to hold the broken pieces together.

Natural urushi is both expensive and difficult to source due to difficulty of harvesting and producing the material.

During the harvest period, up to five small lines can be cut into a tree in one session to collect the sap. The tree needs about 5 days in between to recover before another five lines can be cut in a different area to repeat the process.

A lacquer tree will collectively yield only about 200ml of milky white urushi sap, in comparison to the 40 liters of maple syrup that can be extracted from a maple tree.

So yea, it’s quite difficult to harvest and produce.

The gold or silver is a graceful finale but it’s the urushi that is the foundation of kintsugi. Its use dating back over 10,000 years to the early Jomon civilization.

It’s this philosophy that something broken can become more beautiful that led me to Shikata Kizou Urushi, an unassuming lacquer shop that’s been operating since 1867.

There, Toshiyuki Shikata has opened up his private studio through a collaboration with Wabunka to share his craft and knowledge with a new generation that has developed an appreciation for the art form.

Shikata Kizou Urushi – A Kyoto Hidden Gem

The shop is tucked just off the busy main road in central Kyoto. Blink and you’d walk right past it. But in the world of traditional lacquerware and urushi artisans, this humble shop has well-deserved reputation for its restoration work as well as its supply and production business.

Inside, it’s like stepping back in time. The three women behind the counter are friendly and their smiles  seem to say without words: ‘have a look around on my own and we’re here if you have any questions.’

I already want to buy everything. My translator, Selina, meets me here and after a short chat, we walk the short distance to Shikata-san’s private workshop.

The Workshop: Learning to Repair and Reframe

Inside the cozy studio, rows of cracked ceramics lined the shelves like wounded soldiers waiting for triage. I am invited to pick two broken items to repair. A deep blue sake cup and a small dish catch my eye almost immediately.

Shikata-san gives me a brief history of urushi and what we’ll be handling.

Traditional kintsugi is an extremely slow and intricate process with steps that take weeks to months, depending on the repair. So for our workshop, Shikata-san explains that we will use a specially formulated resin that mimics urushi but cures more quickly to allow us to go through the different steps to completion.

Ware: To Join Broken Pieces

The sake cup with its large broken piece would be repaired using the ‘ware’ method, means meaning to join broken pieces.

It was simple enough to fit the two pieces but as soon as I applied the adhesive, the once-perfect fit between the fragments became a guessing game. The thickness of the resin, even as hair-thin layer, throws off the alignment.

As soon as the two separate components of the resin are mixed together and activated, I’m on the clock. I quickly affix the two parts together, only to quickly realize that it wasn’t quite a perfect fit. The overflow of resin hides this, but it would misalignment would be glaringly obvious once we remove the excess.

Under pressure, I adjust, press, readjust, and repeat this process several times back and forth until I accept that I would only get it ‘close enough’.

It was a good time to embrace the ‘wabi-sabi’ philosophy of beauty in the imperfection.

Sanding and Applying Urushi

Then came the slow, but satisfying work of scraping off the excess resin with a small razor. I take my time  and carefully cut close to the surface as possibly with the razor blade.

It was unexpectedly calming, my thoughts empty as I focused only on the blackened crack.

To avoid scraping too close to the rest of the cup, we use a piece of wet horsetail reed, a natural, gentle sandpaper, to finely grind away the resin.

Moving the reed back and forth over the crack, I sand away the last of the excess resin and can feel my uneven fitting of the two pieces. I’m slightly disappointed, but Shikata-san reassures me that it won’t be noticeable after the next step of applying the urushi.

This is done with an ultra-thin brush that I use to trace over the crack with an intermediate layer of black urushi. This step requires a completely steady hand with even pressure to paint on the urushi.

Gilding: Finishing With Gold and Silver

In the penultimate step, we prepare to apply the gold over the repaired line of the cup. I always thought the gold was painted on, but it’s actually a bonding of the gold to the urushi that gives kintsugi objects that raised liquid effect.

Using a soft brush, the gold is tapped on with a whisper-light movement that that felt like I was working with fairy dust. Carefully, I pushed the gold dust towards and over the urushi, replacing the black crack with a golden one. A cotton ball is used to push and polish the gold into the urushi to reveal its lustre.

Once cured, the gold will have bonded to the urushi for a fully hardened and shiny finish.

Hibi: To Highlight The Cracks

The second piece only had a superficial surface crack, so we could practice the ‘hibi’ technique of applying the urushi to fill in the crack. No joining, just tracing. With a delicate brush, I paint a thin line of urushi over the fracture, steadying my hand with each drawn out breath.

I could see why kintsugi is often described as meditative. There is no large distance to cover, so extra care is offered to ever millimeter.

This piece is finished in the same way, but with silver powder instead of gold, a cooler tone that gives it a quiet, moonlit elegance.

Curing The Urushi

To prepare for the final finish, Shikata-san carefully wraps and places both pieces into a wooden box lined with moistened paper towers and sealed it in a misted plastic bag. Urushi doesn’t dry with heat or air, but instead it cures by absorbing moisture.

These pieces need 2 – 3 weeks in its own mini sauna before they are fully hardened and ready to use.

Because I had a planned return to Kyoto before leaving, I opted to leave the box in the care of the shop while it cured, to be picked up on before my departure.

Restoring and Honoring An Object’s History

There’s a line from a Leonard Cohen song that goes, “there is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.”  While the art of kintsugi doesn’t quite let the light in, it turns the crack into a bright gold-veined highlight.

In a world that moves quickly and often tosses things out at the first sign of wear or imperfection, kintsugi offers an alternative to those nostalgic for something more lasting. Behind the craft, its philosophy encourages to look at the at the flaw in a broken object and honor its story, instead of hiding it away.

Back at home, the restored cup now sits proudly next to some of my most prized film cameras. It wasn’t mine when it was whole, but I have mine it whole and mine going forward.

Booking A Kintsugi Workshop

If you are in Kyoto, I can highly recommend booking the Urushi Kintsugi Workshop with Shikata-san. You can also find a similar kintsugi workshop in Tokyo and

Both these workshops last about 2 hours and allow you to experience start to finish kintsugi in a shortened workshop format that would otherwise take months.

Updated on May 12, 2025