Introduction

The earliest record of incense appreciation comes from AD 595 when it was reported that ‘aloeswood’ had drifted ashore on the island of Awaji. Unaware of its properties the islanders burnt it as firewood until they became aware of its tremendous perfume. They presented it to the Empress. It was named ‘jinkoh’ or the ‘drowned perfume.’ Two large pieces of Jinkoh are still preserved in the Nara temple in Japan. The largest piece was a gift to the temple by an Empress in AD 756 and is popluarly called ‘Ranjatai’.

Initially incense would have been used in religious contexts, particularily in Buddhism, but by the 1300’s incense was already being burnt just for pleasure and was not linked to formal settings. Over the course of time it has been elevated into an art form which we can see beautifully represented in the ‘Koh-Do’ or ‘Way of Incense’. Koh-Do is similar to the famous tea and flower ceremonies and involves a kind of game where participants ‘listen’ to the fragrances of specially blended types of high quality incense. The process became known as ‘listening to incense’ as it was clearly felt that appreciating a certain fragrance was a similar process to listening to a piece of music with its different instruments and voices. It is interesting to note that nowadays perfumers describe and classify perfumes in terms of notes. A perfume has a ‘bass note’ which is the general sense of the fragrance and then various ‘high notes’ which are subtle nuances.

The range of incense and related products presented here tries to embrace the quality, subtlety and beauty of Japan. There is incense that can be burnt everyday, high quality incense for special occasions and a range of elegant holders made in the traditional style.