Listening to Yamadamatsu Shikun

August is one of the busiest months for travel in Japan, as many people return home to honor their ancestors during Obon お盆. Celebrated for more than 500 years, Obon is tied to the ancient lunar calendar, and occurs each year in the beginning weeks of August. During Obon, it is believed that the spirits of our ancestors return from the afterlife to this world to visit the living. Businesses close for the week as people return to their hometowns where incense is lit to revere their ancestors at their family altars and grave sites, creating the largest demand for incense all year. Used for its deep spiritual and calming fragrance, aloeswood is a favorite to welcome one's ancestors during this time. In Yamadamatsu Shikun, aloeswood takes on a deeply spiritual spiciness perfect for late summer's waning heat and humidity of Obon's festivities. 

Part of Yamadamastu's High Grade series that highlights the full range of Japanese of fragrant woods, Shikun features earthy and spicy aloeswood tones. Described as "rich, sour, fruity, and full of honeyed sweetness with a spicy and sharp Aloeswood base," Shikun is a robust aloeswood with a woody texture at home in the summer heat of August, worthy of revering one's ancestors.

Unlit, Shikun's earthy brown stick is sharp with sweet overtones. A fruity citrus note mingles with sweeter honey and caramel notes, like offerings on the family alter of oranges and chocolates. This is mixed with a sharper sour note that is spicy and alive, giving a personality to the unlit stick of warmth and humor, like the wink of a older relative shared with a child unnoticed by her parents. In the background, savory and clean notes bubble up and disappear quickly, giving Shikun's unlit stick a playful quality.

Once lit, Shikun begins with warmth and sweetness, filled with rich creamy caramel topped with spice. At the start, Shikun's fragrance rises from the stick, hovering several feet above the burning ember, a woody aloeswood tone growing as it fills the space. Rich, ancient, and earthy, yet tempered with a soft creaminess, it's tone is like that of an cherished elder, wizened with age, treasured by his grandchildren. In time this is contrasted with notes of spicy sourness, again earthy but with more of a resinous character; the elder showing his more demanding side toward his children.

Shikun offers a glimpse into ancient wisdom of our elders, sharing the miracle of nature that aloeswood is, if we only listen deeply enough. Doing so opens a door to a rich earthy wood that grows in its sour and spicy personality balanced by a soft sweetness like honeyed treats. Like any revered elder at a family gathering, Shikun offers warmth and sweetness, spicy retorts, and the wisdom that the young often mistake for bitterness. There is even a spicy medicinal note that reminds of grandpa's aching back, with the woodiness of a well worn wooden cane at his side.

Shikun does not need you to like it. It's too old for that. It stands on its own, it's personality secure with age. Yet there is both strength and softness to Shikun's earthy woodiness. Its aloeswood tone is clear and spicy, yet tempered with a light sweetness. It is filled with a bitterness like that of rich green tea, yet there is a sweeter honey quality to it that provides a sweet-grass mixed with a caramel tone. It is striking, yet not overpowering; wise in its display of character, all its tones soft, gentle, and well balanced. It's spiciness is sharp, yet the rough edges are smoothed by time and age, mixing ancient wood with almost milk chocolate tones at times, providing a creamy dry woody sweetness. Like any of our ancestors, it is complex; a collection of personality traits that meld together to create a unique fragrance that creates a personality equally unique and revered.

Skiun's after-note turns quickly sweeter and softer, more of a memory than the robust fragrance of the burn. The spiciness of its aloeswood continues on, only now less sharp with more dry sweetness than the sourness during its heyday. This is not a pronounced after-note; it is transparent and ethereal, and quickly steps to the background, ceding way for the activity of the younger generation to fill the space. Yet it remains, there when looked for, offering the legacy of its ancient wisdom in a subtle sour bitterness that remains like the memories of those who have come before us.

With an ancient and warm fragrance, Shikun is woody and unfiltered like I remember many of my grandparents' generation. It has a personality that reminds us of those we've descended from and the wisdom they have left behind for us, if only we listen to the mysteries of nature that aloeswood presents. Shikun is a perfect to welcome ancestors home for Obon, and ideal for Aloeswood enthusiasts.

Frozen in black in white,
100 summers ago;
smiling as though yesterday.

Yamadamatsu Shikun is available in the following sizes:
100-Stick Box
300-Stick Box

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