What this trite imagery misses out on is the fact that kintsukuroi requires a lot of work to repair a piece like that. It takes a lot of time, a lot of effort, a great deal of investment. Sometimes parts of the original are damaged beyond repair, and you have to instead painstakingly create entirely new ones.
It’s still not the same. Maybe it’s something more beautiful. But it’s not the fact that it broke that makes it beautiful. It’s the work put into it. It’s the fact that people made the effort to salvage it, because it was worth salvaging, because it was important enough to salvage. It’s the care that makes the beauty.
An apology can’t always fix what has been broken. That doesn’t mean it’s not irreparable, sometimes you can go on to rebuild and repair. But it won’t ever be the same as it was again.
I really appreciate this addition because I’ve always hated the “more beautiful for having been broken” thing. Being broken sucks and I hate all those tragic romantic sensitivities that try to make it what it’s not. These pieces are beautiful because they’re repaired with effort put in to making them shine.
truly one of the funniest things about lotr to me is how much hostility
the hobbits, a race of cheerful, fun-loving farm people, bear towards
gandalf for absolutely NO reason except that he kills their chill vibe
the hobbits of the shire whenever they hear gandalf is in town: