Ep. 4 — Kintsugi: mending with lacquer and gold

It's All Japanese to Me · Oct 5, 2026 · 3m · transcript

Today’s word is “kintsugi,” joining with gold. I look at what a Japanese dictionary says about it: the pieces are held together with urushi lacquer, the gold is on the surface, and the seams are called “keshiki,” a landscape. I also share how I see kintsugi myself, as something that shows a piece is one of a kind.

Sources:

* Kotobank, “Kintsugi” (Digital Daijisen, Japanese)

* Merriam-Webster, “kintsugi”

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