Along with the tea ceremony, one more ceremony that had developed at that time was O-koh. Similar to the tea ceremony, in O-koh the host and guests were seated in a tearoom to appreciate the smell of heated agarwood. Agarwood is a natural material made out of aged-resinous wood from forests in Indonesia and Vietnam. The process in which the agarwood is created takes many years of natural transformation from a resinous wood bulk to the final agarwood form. Even today, researchers don’t really know exactly how it forms. It can’t be manufactured artificially, so it’s a very precious material. The current price of agarwood is $500 per gram, which makes it more expensive than gold! No wonder there was a sign that said “no pictures” on the display window for the agarwood we saw on our tour. Agarwood’s leftovers are a common ingredient in Japanese incense, and small blocks of agarwood are also used in some ceremonies in Japan, like marriages and funerals.
Today, incense has many uses in Japan: for temples, ceremonies, as an offering for spirits, or just to make a certain atmosphere: some ryokan light incense in the front yard in order to welcome costumers in. Incense has various smells, and in Japan, the color implies the smell. For example, blue is a more “fresh” kind of smell, whereas red and orange imply “warmer” smells. Funny enough, incense aren’t colored if they are designated for export, since costumers from overseas usually prefer their natural color—interesting, right?
2 Comments
Elsa
February 2, 2019 at 12:37 pmThat’s such an intetesting article, thank you for sharing! Going to a workshop to learn about Japanese incense in Kyoto soon, your article was a great introduction to know more in English before focusing on difficult subjects in Japanese 😁
bluevagabond
March 21, 2019 at 7:27 pmSo happy you enjoyed it!
If you get the chance to read – the book is really recommended (: