Koboku - fragrant wood - to the Japanese is more than just the foundation on which the majority of Japanese incense is built. It's rare and fragrant properties posses historic, cultural, and spiritual association that transcend the simple commodity of incense, transporting the listener beyond the sense of smell.
Known for its ability to calm the mind, Byakudan (Sandalwood) is one of the oldest known fragrant woods. Considered sacred in many religions, including some schools of Buddhism that brought incense to Japan, Byakudan is often the primary ingredient of many Japanese incense recipes.
Byakudan is harvested from the heartwood and roots of Santalum album (Indian Sandalwood) native to India and southeast Asia. Taking up to 15-20 years to reach harvest, or 60-80 years to reach full maturity, wild Santalum album are considered a vulnerable threatened species due to over harvesting and outright poaching. In commercial plantations, the tree is usually uprooted during the rainy season when the soil is soft and concentrations of sandalwood oil are highest, especially in the roots. Sapwood is lighter in color and not considered fragrant. Byakudan heartwood and roots have a reddish color and are valued for their warm, creamy, slightly sweet, fragrance.
Known by many different names - Aloeswood, Agarwood, Eaglewood, Oud - Jinko has a wonderfully rich fragrance that can vary from sweet to spicy to sour to hot to bitter - or a mixture of these.
Jinko is formed within several species of the evergreen Aquilaria tree native to northern India, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
Naturally resonated wood is very rare, with estimates of as few as one-percent of wild Aquilaria trees eventually producing resin. Due to increasing demand, dwindling natural supply, and its increasingly rare nature, all Aquilaria species are listed as a threatened with trade heavily monitored and restricted.
Traditionally considered the highest grade of Aloeswood, Kyara is the most rare of koboku, and the most prized. Worth more per ounce than gold, Kyara is one of the most fragrant and rare substances on earth. No one is quite certain how Kyara is formed, and there is debate that it may not even be a form of Aloewood, but instead completely distinct in its own right. Kyara is also sourced from a smaller area than Aloeswood - Vietnam, Cambodia and Southern China exclusively.
Kyara is exceedingly rare and wonderfully fragrant. World supplies of Kyara continue to diminish and costs continue to increase.
Although Byakudan and Jinko get the most attention in Japanese incense, Hinoki should not be overlooked. Used for centuries to build imperial palaces, temples and Shinto shrines, HInoki is considered sacred to the Japanese. Whereas Byakudan and Jinko are imported commodities, Hinoki is a Japan native. Tall and slow-growing, Hinoki is a variety of evergreen cypress that reaches heights of up to 115 feet and three feet in diameter at maturity.
In the production of incense, Makko refers specifically to Tabu-no-ki, the powdered bark of Machilus thunbergii, the Japanese Bay tree. This powdered bark forms the binder that holds the fragrant materials together and allows them to be extruded into sticks or formed into cones. In general, all blended Japanese incense is a mixture of fragrant woods, spices, and Tabu-no-ki as a binder.
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