Meet Japan’s original decluttering guru (no, not that one)

Hideko Yamashita pushes her clients to examine what overabundance and obsession do to their emotional states.

Hideko Yamashita, who has taught classes in the Japanese art of decluttering. The New York Times

River Akira Davis and Hisako Ueno

Jan 22, 2025 – 5.00am

Email LinkedIn Twitter Facebook

Subscribe to gift this article

Gift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.

Subscribe now

Already a subscriber?

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”.