Kintsugi workshop, in Kyoto, in gold.

You sit down in a studio near Gion and Kawaramachi, on the 4th floor of a building that also holds a curry restaurant called SPICE HOLIC, with a live guide in English and a group of up to 10. The work is simple to describe: you repair a cracked or chipped ceramic piece, a bowl or a plate, using lacquer and gold powder.

An experienced instructor explains the basic techniques as you go, and you also hear how kintsugi began and the Japanese idea of valuing imperfection. The listing names no skill requirement and describes an instructor guiding you through the basic techniques.

At the end the repaired piece is a souvenir you take away. The listing names gold powder but gives no purity, no lacquer type and no setting time, so ask the instructor when you arrive and about care afterwards. Plate options and upgrades cost extra, and food and drinks are not included. If you want the wider context of the craft first, our guide to what kintsugi means covers it.

The studio is described as being near Gion and Kawaramachi, in the old center where visitors already spend time, which suits a kintsugi experience in Kyoto built around a walk. The meeting point is the 4th floor of a building that also holds the curry restaurant SPICE HOLIC, so look for that name at street level.

The Kyoto City Tourism Association suggests riding the JR Nara Line to Tofukuji Station and transferring to the Keihan Line for Kiyomizu or Gion. Its one-day subway and bus ticket covers all subway and city bus lines, plus Kyoto Bus, Keihan Bus and West Japan JR Bus, excluding some routes.

A chopstick workshop meets one minute on foot from the Yasaka Pagoda in Gion, which makes a second craft stop easy to add before or after the class. Our craft workshops guide has a map of the stations and landmarks that anchor the area.

The binder is urushi, a lacquer made from the sap of the urushi tree. It is toxic, belongs to the poison ivy family, and irritates the skin and throat of sensitive people, so mention any sensitivity to the instructor. Gold powder is the classic finish but costs much more than brass powder, which museum conservators use for practice.

In the traditional method, the metal powder goes on before the urushi has completely dried, and the lacquer then needs another week in a humid chamber to set completely. No visitor class lasts that long, so a short session is a compressed version of the craft rather than a copy of it.

A museum conservator says it takes a lifetime to become a master of kintsugi. Go in knowing that: you are learning the principle and the feel of the brush, and taking home something you made, not training to become a restorer. That is a perfectly good reason to book.