Your Cart is Empty
For over 1,400 years, the Japanese art of incense has painted the air, its fragrant wisps of smoke like the soft monochromatic hues of a sumi ink painting. More than a utilitarian commodity, incense is one of Japan’s most comprehensive art forms—an expression of Japanese culture and a reflection of the poetic, literary, spiritual, and historic events that shaped its refinement.
It is no wonder that Japanese incense manufacturers display such artistry in their creations. Many prominent incense houses trace their origins back over five centuries, with even modern companies having a lineage of one hundred years or more. The manufacture of Japanese incense is not merely a means of commerce for these companies. As skilled artisans, their ability to work fragrant notes back and forth, into and out of awareness, using a limited number of woods and aromatics, allows them to create an almost-unlimited range of fragrances. With roots in a time ruled by the samurai, Japanese incense houses have a lineage they honor and seek to continue in today’s world.
More than simply an object of utility, incense, or kō (香), is deeply embedded in Japanese culture. Refined through the practices of imperial courtiers and shōguns alike, it has been used as a means of relaxation, purification, protection, and entertainment as well as a method of displaying refinement, social status, and power. The influential nineteenth-century writer Lafcadio Hearn, one of the first to introduce Japanese culture to the West, wrote of the prevalence of incense in Japan in his book In Ghostly Japan:
It is almost ubiquitous,—this perfume of incense. It makes one element of the faint but complex and never-to-be-forgotten odor of the Far East. It haunts the dwelling-house not less than the temple,—the home of the peasant not less than the yashiki of the prince.
This prevalence of incense represents the embodiment of centuries of rich cultural heritage. The refined arts of Chadō, or the Way of Tea (more commonly known as the tea ceremony), and Kadō, or the Way of Flowers (more well known as ikebana), are familiar to us in the West. But sitting at the pinnacle of the Japanese art of incense is Kōdō, the Way of Fragrance. The least known of Japan’s refined arts, Kōdō developed alongside the tea ceremony and the arrangement of flowers over five hundred years ago. As a comprehensive art, Kōdō draws upon not only expertise with rare and fragrant woods, but also a knowledge of classical poetry, literature, history, and choreography that was originally taught in tandem with the tea ceremony. Taking over thirty years to master, the incense ceremony is a rich cultural experience unique to the Japanese that goes well beyond the mere smelling of incense.
Arising from its spiritual roots imported with Buddhism, incense also embodies the Japanese spirit. Infused with Zen and a poetic reverence for the seasons, the Japanese art of incense transcends fragrance, opening us to a dialogue with the natural world. Produced by only 1 to 2 percent of a handful of tree species and taking over a hundred years to form, aloeswood—known in Japanese as jinkō—is considered a fragrant miracle of nature, prized for its spiritual significance as much as for its exceptional fragrance. Japanese incense is not smelled or sniffed; like the words of the Buddha, it is “listened” to with one’s whole being. Similar to the experience of sitting in meditation, listening to the rare and fragrant woods at the heart of the Japanese art of incense can open us to insights only nature can provide.
When we “listen” to Japanese incense, we listen to the whispers of nature and engage with emperors and shōguns, samurai and tea masters, merchants and courtiers through a shared experience that transcends time. The beauty of the Japanese art of incense lies in this ability to transport us in ways that are as inspiring as they are fragrant. Allowing us to touch the wisdom of nature directly, Japanese incense is capable of teaching us not only about its rare and fragrant ingredients but about ourselves as well.
****
This is an excerpt from 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.
