Do you wish your home had more storage space? Do you find yourself hanging on to things just because they might come in useful one day?

If so, you should meet Hideko Yamashita, Japan¡¯s original ¡°Declutter Queen.¡± Yamashita¡¯s books have sold over 6 million copies worldwide, inspiring people of all ages and backgrounds to transform not only their homes but their lives. She also spreads the message of danshari (decluttering) on TV and radio, and is currently creating a danshari retreat in a wing of a Kagoshima Prefecture hotel ¡ª ¡°a space for resetting and restoring your mind and body based on danshari principles,¡± she says.

Yamashita has been writing books about danshari since 2009, years before Marie Kondo became an icon of tidiness. Yamashita¡¯s forthcoming book, ¡°¡± (Tuttle, May 2026), is her first book to be translated into English.

Drawing on a wealth of case studies, the book shows how danshari isn¡¯t just about tossing away your junk ¡ª it¡¯s a way of creating space in your life to find peace and joy while enhancing your mental and emotional well-being.

¡°Decluttering is about creating a place for yourself where you can return to your true self,¡± Yamashita, 71, says.

Some declutter gurus offer a simplistic ¡°tidy up and feel happy¡± approach. Yamashita goes much further: Her philosophy of danshari is grounded in yoga and Buddhism. Studying yoga during her student days, she encountered the practice of dankš­, shagyš­ and °ùŸ±²µ²âš­ ¡ª cutting off, discarding and separating ¡ª from which she took the first character of each word to create the term ¡°danshari.¡±

¡°It¡¯s a yoga training method for releasing mental attachments to regain inner freedom,¡± Yamashita says. ¡°Like yoga, decluttering is a physical daily practice that can be applied to modern life.¡±

The philosophy of danshari was born from the painful experience of struggling with overflowing closets in her own once-cluttered house.

¡°Having to face our things is like having to face ourselves,¡± Yamashita says. ¡°Letting go of objects is a way to let go of attachments, and in doing so we recover and grow.¡±

But tidying up is just the start, not the end. The goal is what she calls ¡°a sunny life.¡±

¡°That means living without being held back by regrets about the past or anxieties about the future, trusting the self that exists here and now.¡±

Ten years after starting danshari, Yamashita says she had a eureka moment during a visit to Mount Koya in Wakayama Prefecture, the center of Shingon Buddhism. There, she discovered what she calls the ¡°power of space.¡±

¡°At Mount Koya, I experienced the sensation that space itself...