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Originally established in 1941 to commemorate the anniversary Emperor Meiji's safe return to the port of Yokohama, Marine Day celebrates Japan's proud history as a maritime nation and gives thanks for the bounty of the sea. Unlike previous emperors who seldom left the imperial palace and were rarely seen, Meiji frequently toured Japan, as he did aboard the aptly named Meiji-Maru, a state of the art two-masted topsail iron steamship built in 1874 for Japan by Scotland, on his 1876 tour of Japan's northern most island, Hokkaido. At the time Japan was rapidly modernizing under Meiji rule, and would leap in a mere three decades from having effectively no navy in 1868 to having a naval fleet rivaled only by Great Britain and the United States. Coinciding with the end of the rainy season, Marine Day is now held on the third Monday in July, and Japanese celebrate their island nation's proud maritime traditions by enjoying the summer holiday at the beach or during one of the many ocean-themed festivals through the country. In Shunsui, Gyokushodo calls to mind a fragrant day at the beach among the dune grass of Marine Day holidays.
Shunsui is part of Gyokushodo's Traditional Fragrance Series that employs abundant amounts of the finest aromatic ingredients and precious fragrant woods, blended using a unique method that has been handed down for generations. Described as "combining premium spicy Vietnamese aloeswood with traditional aromatic ingredients such as kiakō, clove, benzoin, camphor, patchouli, and reiryokoh," Shunsui is touted as a "traditional masterwork" that faithfully adheres to Japanese fragrance tradition, providing an outstanding example of quintessential Japanese incense.
Shunsui's dune grass green stick is sharp and spicy, filled with the sweet earthy notes of clove mingled with vanillic overtones of benzoin. A light camphor cools the warm mixture, adding an interesting juxtaposition between earthy and airy elements like a sea breeze on a warm summer day. There is a deliciousness to Shunsui's unlit stick, like a delicacy to be savored, as its warm sweetness is tinged with a savory element that ties the fragrance of the stick together in a neat well balanced fragrant bow. Although the unlit stick is not indicative of an incense once lit, Shunsui's dormant stick is highly enjoyable.
Alight the sweetness of the unlit stick vanishes into an earthy bitter aloeswood note with salty overtones, all others initially taking a supporting role. Shunsui's sweetness seen earlier moderates, becoming less vanilla and more faint, blended within the woody top notes like a subtle green overtone carried on the breeze. A dry sweet-grass fragrance builds rounding out Shunsui's sweetness as the more traditional aromatics like reiryokoh and patchouli warm in the mix. As the wood and aromatic notes blend, Shunsui matures into a rich, earthy blend of dry sweetness tinged with subtle hints of caramel and the bitterness of fine macha tea.
Shunsui's aloeswood note is robust with a salty bitterness, its sharp edges polished by the rich earthy grassy sweetness. Gyokushodo notes first among Shunsui's ingredients kaikō (onycha) - sea shell fragrance made from the dried and powdered operculum of mollusks. A highly traditional ingredient used since the beginning of Japan's incense traditions, kaikō is primarily used in incense as a fixative to prolong and enhance the fragrance of other aromatics in the mix. In Shunsui, kaikō seems to both amplify its aloeswood's presence while also adding a light salty overtone of the sea. Regardless whether wood or sea shell is driving its salty tones, the addition of a savory component only deepens the complexity of Shunsui's earthy aloeswood tones.
In time Shunsui takes on a distinct clarity, the cacophony of notes coalescing into a wonderfully unique fragrance blending several tastes of the Gomi. Was this the fragrance prized by the Heian courtier or imperial court of Nara? Such is the long traditions it is drawing from with its classical ingredients. There is a subtle beauty to Shunsui that exceeds the sum of its various aromatics; Sweet, spicy, bitter, grassy, earthy, with hints of the sea, caramel, and camphor cool merge into one memory, a blue sky filled with puffy clouds lazily drifting over the dune grass on the sea shore. It is no wonder that Zen often used fragrance to express inexpressible glimpses of Buddha nature, as the picture it creates in the mind surpasses words and letters.
Shunsui's after-note reverts from the bitterness of the burn to a sweeter warmth filled with light hints of caramel and the ripe sweetness of maple syrup. The earthiness of the burn turns toward a sweet-grass greenness in the afterglow, like tall grass swaying in a summer breeze. Yet the savory note remains, coming and going as it ebbs like the tide of the sea it brings to mind.
Wonderfully rich and complex, highlighting a bitter-salty aloeswood base with subtle dry grassy sweetness, Gyokushodo Shunsui is an excellent example of quintessential traditional Japanese incense as clear as the summer sky at the beach.
A white gull
dots an azure sky,
summer waves lapping the shore.
Gyokushodo Shunsui is available in the following size:
150-stick box
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Learn more about how Japanese traditions and incense blend in the book: The Fragrant Path: A Guide to the Japanese Art of Incense. Filled with practical suggestions, useful tips, and an exploration of the history, selection, use, and appreciation of this uniquely Japanese art form, The Fragrant Path offers a rare, comprehensive look into the Japanese art of incense in the first in-depth English-language book on the subject in nearly three decades.
