Marie Kondo is a interior design consultant and author. She has attained fame by giving advise to people looking to simplify their dwellings and rooms, with one book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, published in more than 30 countries. In 2018 a TV series debuted on Netflix, Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, debuted.
Born on October 9, 1984 in Tokyo, Japan, her zodiac sign is Libra.
Marie Kondo Religion
Marie cites her religious belief as Shintoism but not in a hardline way.
“I don’t particularly have specific religious connotations to Shintoism in my daily life, but it is true that I did have a part-time job at a Shinto shrine when I was younger, so I think that is what that has to do with it. It is reflected in some ways,” Marie explains.
“So Shintoism, for me, is not particularly a religion in my life, but it is a natural habit in our daily life. Shintoism, for Japanese people, is not the same religious feeling as a lot of American people might feel, but is pretty much blended into our daily lifestyle or habits. It influences me, but not as strongly as you might think.”
Kondo has always loved tidying and began as a child, she told Googlers in 2015, though she became serious about it as a teenager reading her mother’s Japanese magazines about organizing. She also worked part-time at a Shinto shrine as an administrative assistant. At age 19 in college, she started an organizing business to earn extra money.
“Shintoism, for me, is not particularly a religion in my life, but it is a natural habit in our daily life,” Kondo told a reddit user in 2015. “Shintoism, for Japanese people, is not the same religious feeling as a lot of American people might feel, but is pretty much blended into our daily lifestyle or habits.”
Most Japanese people, like Kondo, don’t consider themselves religious, though they follow many Shinto and Buddhist customs. Confucianism and Taoism (from China) also have an influence, and to a lesser degree because it’s seen as a Western religion, Christianity.
Shintoism is concerned mostly with life on earth, teaching that natural objects contain various gods (called kamis) and ancestors with supernatural powers. Shinto followers don’t believe in a Supreme Being, and there’s hardly a belief system to adhere to. Instead, Shintoism is about performing rituals to revere kamis and the divinities in them.
Many Japanese visit Shinto shrines to pray for good luck, business success, good exam results, fertility, health, and general happiness. In a recent PBS documentary, Sacred, a young Japanese couple visits an offbeat Shinto shrine surrounded by penis statues, and leaves a penis charm on a shelf next to others, with a written wish for a child.
Marie Kondo Relationships
Kondo is married to Takumi Kawahara. They have two children.
“She’s still only six months, but when she’s a little older, of course, I’ll teach her how to tidy. Even now, when I’m folding clothes, she watches how it’s done.”
A post shared by Marie Kondo (@mariekondo) on Jan 27, 2016 at 10:08am PST
Marie Kondo On Cleaning Up & Organizing Your Life
“A lot of people hit a roadblock because they feel they have to throw something away, but that’s not the point. It’s about understanding what needs to go versus what’s important to you.”
