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Business|Meet Japan’s Original Decluttering Guru (No, Not That One)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/16/business/hideko-yamashita-decluttering-danshari.html
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Before Marie Kondo captured the world’s attention with her exhortations to rid ourselves of items that did not “spark joy,” there was another Japanese guru of decluttering.
Her name is Hideko Yamashita. And while Ms. Yamashita, 70, has never reached Ms. Kondo’s level of Netflix-induced fame, she is widely credited in Japan with spearheading the modern movement of decluttering our homes — or, as it has come to be called overseas, “kondo-ing.”
The two women, born three decades apart in Tokyo, both preach the idea that households amass too much stuff. Letting go of unnecessary items and creating minimalist, tidier spaces, they argue, can enhance mental well-being.
Ms. Yamashita said she admired Ms. Kondo, 40, for taking these ideas to the Western world. A spokeswoman for Ms. Kondo acknowledged in a statement that Ms. Yamashita had been a leading figure in the tidying trend for years, but said Ms. Kondo had established her own philosophies.
More than two decades ago, Ms. Yamashita began offering seminars in Japan on danshari, the Japanese art of decluttering. In 2009, her book “The New Tidying Up Method: Danshari” — published more than a year before Ms. Kondo’s “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” hit shelves — propelled her to fame.
Ms. Yamashita hosts a weekly television show that is widely viewed in Japan, taking on some of the country’s most maximalist homes. She also runs a school where she trains students — mostly women, middle age and older — on how to become professional decluttering experts.
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