Danshari – Japanese concept of decluttering or minimalism

Fume Sasaki – the minimalist guru

The king of danshari is Fumio Sasaki, 37, Japan’s most radical minimalist, who lives in a 30 square meter room that houses all his 150 positions. His book “Goodbye, Things: On Minimalist Living” is destined to become a bestseller, similar to the queen of decluttering Marie Kondo’s New York Times’ bestseller “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up” which is published in 38 countries.

Marie Kondo

Marie Kondo, the queen of decluttering suggests opening all windows, in the morning, to clear ‘chi‘, a stagnant energy that has accumulated overnight. Another of her tips is: “If you’re ever unsure of what to do, choose the thing or action that sparks joy.”. Every evening, Marie Kondo uses a kind of transferring positive energy activity, which in Japan is called “te-ate” (literally, “to apply hands”) where she takes each item of her clothing in her hands and folds it neatly like origami. Marie doesn’t have a TV and has a few interests outside tidying.

Most advice Marie Kondo give is quite good except this one: to limit the number of books you own to 30, which she says it’s her preference. That’s nonsense. Research suggests that books displayed in your home are good for you – the more the better. Also, there is a Japanese concept of tsundoku which means ‘too many books to read or reading pile or letting reading materials pile up without reading them’. If you feel that you’re overwhelmed by the pile of books you have to read – learn speed reading.

Less is more – danshari mantra

The danshari minimalist lifestyle of ‘less is more’ has many advocates from Buddhist or zen monks to Steve Jobs (who only wore black polo necks, jeans and trainers) to shopaholics. Bookshops in Japan have a special section dedicated to danshari. It’s interesting that this trend is coming from Japan which is renowned for its consumerism. It’s yin and yang of things. Danshari is similar to another Japanese concept of wabi. Wabi’s definition comes from a Zen master, Daisetsu T. Suzuki (1871-1966) who said “Wabi is to be satisfied with a little hut, a room of two or three tatami mats . . . and with a dish of vegetables picked in the neighbouring fields, and perhaps to be listening to the pattering of a gentle spring rainfall. . . .” (find out more about wabi-sabi and forest bathing shinrin-yoku).

How to start your danshari practice

1) Commit to your new minimalist lifestyle.
2) Don’t focus on what you’re losing – focus on what you will gain – i.e. space, freedom and energy. The goal of danshari is not to have fewer things – the goal is to be happy with yourself (as opposed to owning things).
3) Start getting rid of things that you don’t need. Start with the obvious junk such as broken things or clothes that you haven’t worn for ages and so on… Act now – there is never a perfect moment.

Take your time

The good news is that you can take the time go get rid of things. Fumio Sasaki took a year to get rid of most of his possessions. Now he owns: two identical white shirts, three grey sweaters, tow pair of jeans, a leather jacket, an overcoat, an anorak, four sets of underpants,  socks and t-shirts as well as a cupboard of kitchen basic stuff, MacBook Air, an iPhone, a Kindle, a few bags and suitcases and a few other things and a scanner – a top tool for minimalists (you can digitise all your books and paperwork and remember most of the things can be replaced so don’t be intimidated by the ‘fear of regret’).

More and more people are catching danshari or ‘get-rid-of-everything’ disease which may be an ultimate cure for the modern disease of ‘excess’ and consumerism.

PS

But if you like clutter and mess – don’t worry – read my blog about the benefits of clutter and mess.

“Since my house burned down
I now have a better view
of the rising moon”
Mizuta Masahide

The post Danshari – The Ultimate Decluttering Discipline from Japan appeared first on Feng Shui London UK • The Capital Feng Shui Consultant.

Clutter is good for you…

A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder-How Crammed Closets, Cluttered Offices, and On-the-Fly Planning Make the World a Better Place
By Eric Abrahamson and David H. Freedman
Weidenfeld & Nelson 2006; ISBN 978-0-297-85204-

A clutter-free environment can cost you
The inefficiency of tidiness. In praise of mess. Why keeping tidy can be bad feng shui. Tidiness and order are so ordinary. The new maximalism means messy home.

This book may not change people’s lives unless they tend towards being messy. Clutter, untidiness and hoarding, are not bad habits, the authors argue, but often more sensible than meticulous planning, storage and purging of possessions.

That is because being tidy is more costly

An improvised storage system (important papers close to the keyboard on your desk, the rest haphazardly distributed in loosely related piles on every flat surface possible) takes very little time to manage. Filing every bit of paper in precise colour-coded categories and a system of cross-referencing, will certainly take longer and will not save time.

The authors of this book search the furthest reaches of psychology, management studies, biology, music and art (art depends on mess; remember Tracy Emin’s messy bed) and physics to show why a bit of disorder is good for you. Mainly, it creates much more room for coincidence and synchronicity. Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin because he was notoriously untidy, and didn’t clean a petri dish, thus allowing fungal spores to get to work on bacteria.

Albert Einstein said, “If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, what then is an empty desk?” 

And Einstein makes a good role model here not simply because he is so widely accepted as having been highly effective at his job, but also because he might be regarded as a sort of godfather of the science of useful mess. When Robert Fogel, Nobel laureate found his desk becoming massively piled, he simply installed a second desk behind him that now competes in towering clutter with the first. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out why it makes perfect sense to keep a messy desk. Thought and work are unpredictable, varying and ambiguous – they are messy. Why shouldn’t your desk be messy too?

America’s professional organisers, a thriving and lucrative cult of tidiness coaches, are merchants of guilt, not productivity boosters

Benjamin Franklin, an early advocate for the highly effective, advised, “Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.” Franklin practised what he preached, assiduously avoiding, for example, the time-wasting habit of interacting with his wife and son for much of his life.

Considering how little evidence the pros layout to support the claim that being organised is worth the effort, the world seems to put a lot of energy into fretting about being messy

People tend to worry about cluttered homes too much and often for no good reason (unless they’re into feng shui rigid rules). A mess is often in the eye of the beholder. The key insight of the book is that disorganisation is a human condition. Also messiness according to the book can confer six key benefits: flexibility, completeness, resonance, invention, efficiency and robustness. To reap the benefits try being a little messier in some way, and see if there’s an improvement in the above qualities. If there is, try a little more.

The book has two weaknesses

Firstly, it overstates the case for tidiness in some environments—surgery, a dinner table or income tax returns—is overwhelming. Secondly, the book is a bit repetitive and disorganised. Even readers who love mess in their own lives don’t necessarily like it in others.

The book doesn’t mention feng shui, but it reminded me of a story William Spear once told me. He was looking for a best Chinese restaurant in a particular area and thought that if he could walk behind all the restaurants and look at the kitchens, this would help him to decide where to eat. After careful inspection he found one where the kitchen was very orderly, everyone was focused and working in harmony – he went there to have dinner, and it was the worst Chinese he has ever had!

The most important organising feng shui tool for your home is a magnet!

One useful tip I picked up from the book. In seconds it will convert your fridge into a messy, invaluable repository of photographs, essential bills, shopping lists, stamps, business cards, paper cuttings, etc.

This book has the potential to free you (and consequently some of your clients, if you’re a feng shui consultant), from the myth that clutter is bad feng shui and restore the yin and yang balance (where it’s all good) and common sense in the world of order. It is a must-read for every feng shui consultant.

Messy How to be Creative and Resilient in a Tidy-Minded World by Tim Harford is another book that talks about the mess and comes with the warning: this book will mess up your life and in the process help you become more creative and resilient as the title suggests.

But if you want to declutter your home, workplace and your life find out about Danshari – The Ultimate Decluttering Discipline from Japan

Or if you want to know what clutter represents read this blog What Your Clutter Is Trying to Tell You: Uncover the Message in the Mess and Reclaim Your Life by Kerri Richardson

Reviewed by Jan Cisek

Smart people are messy

It will be difficult to convince your mum, but research confirms that if you’re messy, it might mean that you’re smart. Researchers at the University of Minnesota conducted a study that explained that if you are not tidy, it simply means that your brain is occupied with more important matters. As if that was not enough, the conclusion of the scientists is that a somewhat messy environment inspires greater creativity.

Alexander Fleming: How Messiness Led to a Medical Breakthrough

When we think of great scientific discoveries, we often imagine pristine laboratories, meticulously organised research, and methodical precision. Alexander Fleming, however, defied that stereotype. The bacteriologist, famous for discovering penicillin, worked in a laboratory so chaotic that it played a direct role in one of the most transformative medical breakthroughs in history.

A Laboratory in Disarray

Fleming’s lab in London was infamously untidy. Dirty petri dishes, unwashed glassware, and scattered research materials filled the space, creating an environment that many would consider unsuitable for scientific work. His laissez-faire approach to lab maintenance was so pronounced that TIME magazine once described him as someone remarkably at ease with mould and bacteria. Some even joked that his most significant discoveries stemmed less from rigorous methodology and more from sheer negligence.

The Accidental Discovery of Penicillin

In September 1928, Fleming’s characteristic disorder paved the way for a groundbreaking revelation. Before leaving for a two-week vacation in Scotland, he neglected to clean up, leaving petri dishes coated with Staphylococcus bacteria sitting in the open. Upon his return, he noticed something extraordinary—one of the dishes had developed an unusual mould that was killing the surrounding bacteria.

A more fastidious scientist might have discarded the “contaminated” dish without a second thought. But Fleming’s curiosity prompted him to investigate further, leading to the identification of Penicillium notatum, the mould responsible for producing what would become the world’s first widely used antibiotic.

The Impact of a Cluttered Mind

Fleming’s unorthodox approach to research—embracing, rather than avoiding, mess—ultimately revolutionised modern medicine. His accidental yet astute observation of penicillin’s antibacterial properties has since saved millions of lives, transforming the treatment of infections forever. As some have humorously noted, his career serves as a testament to the idea that a cluttered workspace might just be the hallmark of an observant and brilliant mind.

Interestingly, this wasn’t the only instance of Fleming’s unconventional methods. He was known to deliberately contaminate culture plates to observe bacterial behaviour and, on one occasion, even swabbed his own nasal mucus onto a plate to study microbial interactions.

While most researchers strive for order and precision, Fleming’s story reminds us that sometimes, breakthroughs emerge not from careful planning, but from an openness to the unexpected—even if it comes from an untidy lab.

The post A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder-How Crammed Closets, Cluttered Offices, and On-the-Fly Planning Make the World a Better Place By Eric Abrahamson and David H. Freedman appeared first on Feng Shui London UK • The Capital Feng Shui Consultant.