Kintsugi

The Japanese art of repairing broken pottery so the repair remains visible, traditionally with lacquer and powdered metal.

Reach for it when naming the craft itself or a carefully qualified metaphor for visible repair

She practiced kintsugi, tracing the bowl's repaired seams with gold.

• everyday

  repair art

  creative repair is the broad topic

  not when Repair art is vague; it leaves the specific technique unnamed.

• warm

  visible mending

  the repair is intentionally shown rather than concealed

  not when Visible mending usually refers to textiles and lacks kintsugi's materials and tradition.

• professional

  ceramic restoration

  technical repair of pottery is the actual service

  not when Restoration often aims to hide damage, unlike kintsugi's visible seams.

• literary

  golden repair

  a brief plain-language gloss is needed

  not when Golden repair is descriptive but not the established name of the Japanese craft.

• literary

  mottainai

  a Japanese ethic of regret over waste is the real subject

  not when Mottainai is a distinct concept and cannot substitute for the pottery practice.

• discard
• concealment
• destruction

• art of kintsugi

  The art of kintsugi made the bowl's history part of its beauty.

• traditional kintsugi

  Traditional kintsugi requires patience while each lacquer layer cures.

• kintsugi repair

  The kintsugi repair followed the vessel's old fracture line.

Kintsugi is a specific Japanese craft, not a generic slogan that all trauma makes a person stronger. Metaphorical use should avoid romanticizing harm.

• Wiktionary, English noun borrowed from Japanese: repairing pottery with lacquer and powdered gold or another metal ↗opens in a new tab · retrieved 2026-07-26

The definition and the example on this page are written here. The dictionaries above ground which meaning is being described, not the wording.