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 Yamashita, 70, has never reached 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”.
