Reported practice · r/Kintsugi

Sourcing kintsugi materials in Japan: kit pricing, individual purchases, and travel restrictions

A beginner in Kyoto asks whether a 21,980-yen starter kit (including 0.2 g gold powder) is fairly priced, and what materials are worth buying in Japan versus obtaining back home. The thread also surfaces practical constraints around air travel with urushi, solvents, and abrasive materials.

This page is written from one discussion thread. It records what practitioners reported and what they linked it to — not documented workshop practice. Every claim below links to the comment it rests on, so you can read it in context.

Safety

Raw urushi (ki-urushi) is a potent skin sensitiser; the allergic reaction is delayed, often appearing 24–72 hours after contact. Handle with care and avoid prolonged skin contact, especially on the hands and forearms.

Turpentine and camphor are both prohibited on aircraft in any quantity and should be left at home when travelling internationally.

What the thread establishes

The answer.

The kit is a fair entry point, but purchasing components individually at a specialist shop yields more lacquer, clay powder, and brushes for the same or lower cost. Several Kyoto and Tokyo suppliers are named, with one shop (Tsutsumi Asakichi) singled out for English-speaking service and a broader range of kintsugi-specific tools. The most Japan-specific items to prioritise are animal-hair brushes, crystal toishi (grindstones), tokusa, and charcoal for polishing, all of which are difficult or impossible to source abroad. Travelers must leave turpentine and camphor at home, as neither is permitted on aircraft in any quantity, and some charcoal varieties face shipping restrictions. Urushi itself can be carried in checked luggage without issue. International shipping from the named shops is available and reportedly fast.

—

What goes wrongThe principal practical failure mode is arriving in Japan without knowing which materials are uniquely available there and which are subject to aviation restrictions. One commenter reports difficulty finding needed items while in the country, and another regrets not purchasing charcoal for polishing before departure. A language barrier at the shop (observed two years prior on a weekday) compounded the difficulty for a non-English-speaking companion. Additionally, whetstones purchased for polishing were found to scratch the glaze on ceramic pieces, a problem the crystal toishi are said to avoid.

What recovers itBuy the hard-to-find or travel-restricted items (brushes, crystal toishi, tokusa, charcoal, urushi for glass) while in Japan and source the remainder (sandpaper, hobby knife, masking tape, filtering paper) back home. If time is short, order from the named shops internationally; shipping to eastern Canada was reported as a week or less. For polishing glazed ceramics, substitute crystal toishi or tokusa for whetstones to avoid scratching the surface.

Assemble a kintsugi material list at a Japanese specialist shop

Purchase the following individually (prices cited from one shop's website): refined lacquer (jō ki-urushi) 30 g; black roiro-urushi 30 g; red lacquer (ask the shop, not listed online); tonoko 100 g; jinoko 100 g; one wooden and three plastic spatulas; masking tape; dozuriko and migakiko powder 20 g each; a maki-e brush; a flat brush; a ke-bō; and 0.1–0.2 g flat gold powder. Add crystal toishi in the same grits as the kit's sandpaper plus a few 400-grit stones, tokusa, and filtering paper. If repairing glass or high-fired porcelain, request urushi formulated for glass. A hobby knife with spare blades is useful and available at Japanese hardware stores. Total for the listed items with 0.2 g of the pricier gold was approximately 14,131 yen, well under the 21,980-yen kit price.

the comment this came from ↗

Check aviation restrictions before packing

Leave turpentine and camphor at home; neither is permitted on aircraft in any quantity. Urushi may be carried in checked luggage. Charcoal for polishing faces variable restrictions: softer finishing-grade charcoal can sometimes be shipped by a vendor, while harder varieties and any charcoal infused with flammable liquids are prohibited. Confirm with the specific vendor and airline before attempting to transport abrasive charcoal.

the comment this came from ↗the comment this came from ↗the comment this came from ↗

··Reported

What was reported

A 21,980-yen kintsugi starter kit containing 0.2 g gold powder is a fair price for a beginner, though the same budget buys more lacquer and clay powder when components are purchased individually. ↗
Gold powder for kintsugi is commonly sold in 1 g packages costing roughly 150 USD; smaller quantities (0.1 g) are available at specialist shops at proportionally higher per-gram cost. ↗↗
Silver powder or no metal at all (urushitsugi) are viable alternatives to gold for a kintsugi repair. ↗
Japanese animal-hair brushes are preferred over Western brushes for kintsugi work and are difficult to source outside Japan. ↗
Crystal toishi are recommended over sandpaper for kintsugi because they scratch the glaze less and are hard to find outside Japan; a 400-grit stone is useful for working on sabi. ↗
A vendor in Tokyo (Watanabe Shoten, Ueno) is a recommended source for metal powders and polishing charcoal; the commenter personally prefers sanding with charcoal. ↗
The named Kyoto and Tokyo shops offer international shipping at reasonable cost, with delivery to eastern Canada in a week or less. ↗
Turpentine and camphor are not permitted on aircraft in any quantity; camphor is noted as less pungent than turpentine and difficult to obtain outside Japan. ↗↗
Urushi can be carried in checked luggage without issue. ↗
Charcoal for polishing faces variable aviation and shipping restrictions; softer finishing-grade charcoal may be shippable by a vendor while harder varieties are not, and the regulatory basis is not fully clear to the commenter. ↗
One shop owner (Tsutsumi Asakichi) is reported to speak English and be helpful, though he may not always be present; other staff are also described as lovely. ↗↗

Limits of this source

What the thread does not answer.

The exact regulatory basis for why some charcoal varieties can be shipped by air while others cannot is not fully resolved; one commenter suspects a misreading of the rules regarding charcoal intended for cooking.
Whether whetstones (as distinct from crystal toishi) can be legally carried on a plane, even in checked luggage, remains uncertain to the commenter who experienced the issue.
The thread does not establish a definitive cure time, humidity range, or temperature for the urushi used in kintsugi repairs; all of that is left to the practitioner's own research.

Read the documented methods →