Ingredients
 The
various ingredients which include wood powders, plants, spices and
essential oils are mixed together with a plant based gel and water.
The resulting paste is then pressed into a mould out of which the
sticks are cut up, dried and packaged.
There are two types of precious wood which are the main ingredients
of high quality Japanese incense:
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Agarwood (Aquilaria Agallocha)
This is as expensive as gold and nicknamed Jinkoh (‘ the
drowned perfume’). This is the most valuable ingreient
used to make Japanese incense. It is not the wood itself which
is used but the part which has the richest sap, produced by
the tree’s reaction to a fungoid growth, which develps
a marvellous perfume. It grows in India, the Bhutan, Myanmar,
Malaysia, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand. It is much sought after
throughout the world and is considered the most precious aromatic
substance. |
Agarwood |
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Sandalwood (Santalum album).
This grows naturally in Indonesia, Australia and India, The wood
of this shrub and the essential oil extracted from it are one of
the basic ingredients of Japanese incense.
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Japanese Juda Tree (Cercidiphyllum Japonicum)
The bark of this Japanese tree, which is completely odourless
is used as an inert binding agent to manufacture high quality
incense sticks. |
Japanese Judah Tree |
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Other common ingredients are:
Cinnamon
The bark of the cinnamon tree, an evergreen from Ceylon, Java and theAntilles.
Cassia
The dried bark of young shoots of a type of laurel found in the north of
Myanmar.
Myrrh
The resin of a shrub found in Africa and the Arab countries.
Star Aniseed
Cloves
Musk
Originally it came from the glands of a deer in the North of India but
now taken from various plants such as Hibiscus, Nardostachys, Ferula, Carduus
and Mimulus.
Benzoin Gum
A resin extracted from the Styrax Benzoin of Asia.
Patchouli
A type of mint from the East of India.
Camphor
A resin from the Borneo camphor tree.
Frankincense
The incense of the bible taken from the Boswelia tree found in Ethiopia
and Somalia.
Eucalyptus
Aromatic leaves are taken from this tree found throughout Australiasia
Kansho
the rhizome of a plant from the East of India
Haisokoh
The root of a plant from the South of China
Kara Mokkoh
The root of a plant from East Asia
Rei Ryokoh
A mint flavoured herb from central Asia
Daioh
The root of a Tibetan shrub.
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