Kintsugi, meaning golden joinery, is the Japanese art of mending broken pottery with urushi lacquer mixed with powdered gold, silver or platinum. The lacquer is applied along the cracks, and the metal dust makes the seams glow, so the repair is shown rather than hidden. The method is related to maki-e, the Japanese technique of decorating lacquerware with metal powder. As a philosophy, kintsugi treats breakage and repair as part of an object's life story. Practitioners often say a repaired bowl can be more valuable than an unbroken one, because its history becomes visible.

The Edo period ran from the early 1600s to 1868, when the Tokugawa shogunate ruled Japan and around 300 regional daimyo, or feudal lords, governed their domains. After Tokugawa Ieyasu won the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, the shogunate ended the chaos of the Sengoku period and kept the country largely at peace. The regime enforced a strict social order, required the daimyo to spend time in the capital, and pursued isolationist foreign policy. Meanwhile, towns grew, the economy expanded and popular arts such as woodblock prints, theatre and literature flourished among ordinary townspeople.