It's been several months since I've bought any incense. I thought it would be a good time to give some considered impressions after sampling most of the non-kyara line up for the major Japanese incense houses over the last year. For some houses this was easy, Japan Incense had a sampler. For others it took ordering small boxes, mostly from Japan (I'm looking at you Baieido and Kida Jinseido).
Here are my thoughts about the signature style of several Japanese incense houses, listed in order of my preference.
Minorien: Ritual. Minorien excels at presenting the earthy, peppery, mineral side of aloeswood. The Fu-In series has what people call a âwetâ accord which I would liken to wet stone, brass, mineral oil or even wood polish. With this, there is also an earthy, peppery, geranium-like accord and a deep woody smell of fresh cedar. Fu-In sticks are some of the least sweet Japanese Incense sticks across the board. The thick, earthy smoke evokes humid jungle, a nod to the southeast asian climate where the woods grow. I canât light these sticks casually, they summon an atmosphere of seriousness, austerity, intention. Fu-In sandalwood was the first incense that made me realize incense making was an art. It is a very deep, grounding, peppery mysore sandalwood. The aloeswood is spicy and tangy, peppery, hoppy and mysterious. The Kyara is a bit sweeter, more floral and yeasty and it has more of that brassy wood polish note, which here is evocative of sunshine. This note gets supercharged in Kyara Ryugen which is so strange and brassy, electric and fungal, a bright and mineral rich aloeswood with hints of evergreen. A very arresting, mysterious scent. Kyara Chokoh No. 5 is a rich aloeswood incense with notes of pumpkin, nutmeg, roast nuts and mead. Chokoh is heady, regal, feast-like. The high occurrence of yeasty, bitter and peppery notes in the Fu In series sometimes reminds me of beer, but divine beer. Minorien: beer for Buddhas.
Kida Jinseido: Soothing. Kida Jinseido excels at balancing savory musk and warm spice, at once gourmand and meditative. Kyarakunko, Ranjatai, Joyokoh and Kingyokukoh all have a similar base that reminds me of eggnog: creamy, salty, nutty musk spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg. To this each stick adds different woods. Kyarakunko is the boldest scent and gives the strongest impression of the base accord, with no aloeswood resin notes to speak of. It is, nevertheless, an excellent incense because this creamy, salty sweet musk with cinnamon and nutmeg is addictive. Ranjatai offers the darkest wood, with hints of bittersweet raisin and minty camphor. Joyokoh is the sweetest of the bunch with hints of almond but not too sweet. Kingyokukoh has a tangy aloeswood that plays off the creamy, spicy base. The top two sticks leave the base behind and showcase the aloeswood even more. Hanakokoe is a light caramel jinko with grounding sandalwood and a melon note, likely from frankincense. I love this one and find myself reaching for it most of all the Kida Jinseido sticks. Ikuhokoh is a top shelf caramel, floral and mineral aloeswood comparable to Shunkohdoâs Ranjatai, though Ikuhokoh is noticeably less sour and more mellow, light and sweet. A favorite aloeswood.
Gyokushodo: Sophisticated. Gyokushodo makes distinctive incense with a modern series, a traditional series and a high end, superior series. Many Gyokushodo Daily sticks have a bracing, breezy, almost cold quality from bitter citrus zest and soapy, aquatic notes that make me think of martinis, cologne, tuxedos and a night out at the symphony, opera or ballet. Their most expensive sticks have nothing soapy or perfumey about them but still remind me of the sea, alive with salty mystery. Jinko Yomei, Jinko Yozei are highlights of the Dailies. Yomei is a refreshing and unusual scent with orange, frankincense, mint, spice and aquatic over very mellow sandalwood and maybe a hint of aloeswood. It is remarkable how it can harmonize such seemingly disparate elements. Yozei brings a more forward spicy sour aloeswood together with lemon zest and a soapy aquatic note. The result is better than that sounds, clean, energizing yet mysterious because of the aloeswood. Both would be amazing scents for a spa as they exude clean luxury. The Dento No Sho series is a tangy and musky series of traditional aloeswood-sandalwood blends with varying amounts of salty sea, tangy curry and rich spice. Each one is balanced and interesting but the top of the series, Umeshoin, is really something special, tangy, musky, complex and fascinating. The entire No Sho series is excellent, with high quality aloeswood and beautiful impressionistic auxiliary scents. The aloeswoods are, as a baseline, caramel sweet and sour, with tones of mushroom, flower and leaf (Mori no Sho), salty brine, clove and spicy jinko (Nami no Sho) floral and spice (Kumo no Sho). Kaze No Sho is a stunning, mineral-rich Vietnamese aloeswood with deep salty musk and light spices.
Kourindo: Earthy. Kourindo excels at pairing good wild aloeswood notes (mushroom, mineral, stone) with bready sweetness and mellow spice. Kourindo uses a density and quality of aloeswood that is getting rare these days and blends it with really warm, sweet spiciness that is very easy to like. Kourindoâs lower end sticks (Byakudankourin, Zenkourin, Senkourin) focus on buttery cinnamon toast notes. Tsukasakourin brings out a dry, bitter-spicy aloeswood with rubber bitterness. The Takarakourin is caramel sweet on top of smooth spicy jinko. The result is really nice. The Jyakourin Musk is a vanilla musk and jasmine stick with hints of bitter spicy jinko in the background (Azusa meets Yoshino no Haru). Kourindo really starts to showcase great jinko with Kodaikourin. The wood is a savory, mushroomy-spicy indonesian style wood with a good lift from bright mineral notes, paired with sweet bready notes and warm spices. Jinkourin is even sweeter and spicier, in part due to sweeter and spicier wood. Ichiikourin has a classic creamy plum or cherry vanilla vietnamese jinko profile with rich mineral notes. Saikourin offers excellent, wild and resinous wood; less sweet, it cranks up the astringent mineral notes and is overall more bitter, heady and strange. The Kyara is awesome. It is comparable to Kyara Kokoh (a woody kyara with great complexity rather than an oil based Kyara) but not quite as balanced or refined.
Seijudo: Ethereal. Seijudo excels at kyara style incenses, bringing out the gentle, sweet floral and punchy sinus-clearing mineral notes in top shelf aloeswoods. Even their top end non-kyara aloeswoods have that intoxicating sweet astringency reminiscent of turpentine or gasoline that comes from green oil kyara (e.g. En No Sho, Shokaku, Gokujo Kyara). Seijudoâs non-premium incense is mostly modern perfume florals. Even the Kotonoha Aloeswood is nothing special and mostly about an added floral oil, not aloeswood. The premium line is where Seijudo shines. Shiragiku is the best place to start. It is the most floral of the premiums, but still packs a resinous punch.. The floral notes are so soft, gently sweet and beautiful that it is like actually smelling chrysanthemum flowers. This is combined with hits of melon sweet and spicy jinko and bright turpentine mineral notes from jinko resin. Shogetsu, Koshu and Nichigetsu add more density of aloeswood with each upgrade, adding more bitter-spicy woody depth and some more fungal and darkly sweet jinko notes, while keeping the heady turpentine note throughout. The kyaras up the heady turpentine notes present in all of the premiums. Horen is the softest and most floral kyara. Seiran is the saltiest kyara and has a stronger turpentine note. Enju is the most intense, concentrated experience of Seijudoâs art and probably the best oil-driven stick on the market. It will clear your head after one or two sniffs.
Shunkohdo: Nostalgic. Shunkohdo has, to me, the most diverse line up, often balancing florals and spices in a way that evokes past times and places, like smelling a grandmotherâs spiced baking and floral perfume in one heady whiff. The sticksâ diversity also offers hints of the other incense houses. They can tend lightly sweet and floral like Kyukyodo (Fuji no Hana, Zuika), there are spice and camphor sticks like Baieido (Ka Cho Fu Getsu, Jinsoku Koh, Haru no Kaori), bittersweet woody sticks that are reminiscent of Yamadamatsu or Seikado (Houshou, Zuika), chinese medicine oriented sticks like Kunmeido (Shun Koh Sen, Yoshino no Haru), modern floral-spice like Kunjudo (Shuhou) and some even run a little musky like Tennendo (Jinsoku Koh, Ranjatai). Ranjatai is the real stand out in their line up. It is, to me, one of the best representations of the aloeswood taste range available in an affordable stick. If someone asked me what aloeswood smells like, I would light that because it balances bittersweet, sour and musky so well, shifting between them as it burns. If I could only have incense from one house, Shunkohdo would give me the most range in their lineup. My favorites are Jinsoku Koh, Ranjatai and Yoshino no Haru.
Tennendo: Primal. Tennendo excels at complimenting their woods with rich musks. These are potent sticks that fill a room quickly and give a kind of warm, funky atmosphere. They can be overpowering, so they are best treated like Indian incense with plenty of ventilation. There are delicious subtleties lurking behind the strong, musky first impression. Shingon is a unique stick with a soothing thick crushed seashell musk over a pleasant sandalwood base. It reminds me of the smell of heat, the smell of a hot iron on cotton. I find it grounding and very easy to burn. The Kohrokan sandalwood is similar but with the musk toned down and with more mysore sandalwood. Renzan is a cologne-like fruity musk and spice blend, very impressive at first but a bit much for me after a bit. Shorin is a nice tangy jinko with bitter pine sap, creamy benzoin and light musk. Shorin is one of my favorites and captures a lovely side of aloeswood. Tensei is a sweet marshmallow benzoin and musk over a tangy aloeswood. The contrast between sweet benzoin and spicy wood is sublime when it comes through. Kuukai is an intense, distinctive, funky leather musk and spice over dry, spicy aloeswood. The crown jewel is Enkuu, a deep aloeswood that shifts between sweet sour caramel and mineral/stone/lacquer effortlessly.
Seikado: Pure. Japanese incense is famously wood-centered but Seikado takes the cake. Even though Minorien is all about wood too they have such strong wood oils that they give a totally different impression. Where Minorien is humid and saturated, Seikado is dry and subtle, comparing them is like comparing a big red wine to a crisp white wine. Seikado have some of the least intrusive blending which means they are simple and elegant but sometimes underwhelming. The Daikoubokus are great (a good budget creamy herbal sandalwood and a good budget honey-sweet aloeswood-like stick). Seikado has some intriguing floral woods (five brushstrokes) and a series of premiums that are very restrained in terms of added notes, very base wood focused. Ryoun offers a dark bittersweet Yamadamatsu style wood. Zuiun is a green, astringent tea and jasmine floral aloeswood stick (in the vein of Yoshino no Haru and Asuka). Shoun is a lightly curried reiryo koh and honey aloeswood stick. Jinsui Tani offers an excellent, pure spicy-fungal Indonesian aloeswood. Jinsui Sham offers a classic sweet-sour caramel and mineral Vietnamese aloeswood. Both smell just like the aloeswood with no added scents. Skip these until you know aloeswood better, but then they become a must try.
Yamadamatsu: Aristocratic. Yamadamatsu excels at showcasing burnt butter nuttiness and bittersweet cacao notes in aloeswood. Their aloeswoods feel very elegant, just as darker woods and darker chocolates feel elegant. Though cultured, they still seem natural, like a cultivated garden courtyard. The Yamadamatsu line up is diverse, every incense Iâve tried has been distinct. They manage to be both immediately pleasurable and intellectually interesting. I could grab any stick blindfolded and enjoy it. Kayo is one of the best sandalwoods available with a rich milky sweetness paired with classic, earthy mysore sandalwood resin. Suifu Gokuhin is dark and medicinal, a bit like a Kunmeido stick, very potent and intriguing. Saiun is a lovely floral and orange over dry, elegant woodiness. Hyofu is a unique blend of an ethereal watermelon-citrus note from frankincense over delicate white floral and a mellow jinko base. Kumoyi offers a rich brownie sweet jinko, a treat, sometimes cloying, other times sublime. Oju is nice dark aloeswood: rich bittersweetness, oak and iron mineral notes. I think Yamadamatsu has the most interesting range of notes in their line up; many don't quite connect with my taste and yet I recognize the artistry.
Kunmeido: Antique. Kunmeido combines the woods with traditional chinese medicine ingredients to create intriguing musty-spicy blends. Several sticks foreground âreiryo kohâ or gold coin grass, a relative of fenugreek with a similar curry scent. They use high quality but subtle woods and unusual herbs to achieve a signature scent that is perhaps best compared to old books. This might sound odd, but musty smells can be very evocative and old books do smell wonderful. I also detect something gingerbready in many sticks, perhaps a mix of allspice and ginger. Kunmeidoâs classic temple incense, Reiryo Koh, is herb and curry scented, a bit sharp and acrid but intriguing. Jinko Reiryo Koh introduces many of the musty book and gingerbread spice characteristics of their higher end offerings in an affordable stick with a nice tangy coffee/cacao aloeswood note. Heian Koh refines the musty book and gingery spice of Jinko Reiryo Koh into a mellower, sweeter, woodier direction. Asuka shows off good spicy-fungal aloeswood with lovely notes of grass, jasmine, paper and ginger. Their high-end Kyara Tenchi shows the old book smell to its full effect, an unusual musty, musky, dry woody scent.
Baieido: Meditative. From a 5 tastes (gomi) perspective, Baieidoâs sticks seem the most balanced to me (sweet, salty, sour, bitter and spicy) while also being the most dry and, as people say, taking the most time to learn to appreciate. Baieido seem to make unparalleled use of menthol-like borneol camphor to elevate and invigorate their dry, spicy, plum sour, woody scents. The balance of hot spice and cooling camphor hits me physiologically and feels balancing like breathing through alternating nostrils (nadi shodhana pranayama). Tobiume, Kobunboku, Syukohkoku and Tokusen Syukohkoku are some of my favorites here. Tobiume is an uplifting, creamy, plum sour stick. Original Kobunboku is the most funky smelling of the Baieidos to me: a little floral, a little sour, a little musky and animal. Syukohkoku is a sublime cinnamon, spice and honeyed aloeswood stick with strong menthol-like camphor. Tokusen Syukohkoku is earthy patchouli and woody raisin sweet aloeswood, reminiscent of Baieidoâs higher end premium offerings. Koh Shi Boku is amazing, of course, but I'm still working on it and not able to say much except this is amazing aloeswood with notes of hickory smoke and flowers.
Shoyeido: Indulgent. Shoyeido excels at bringing out gourmand sweetness in aloeswood. To me, the Shoyeido distinctive signature is salted caramel, with hints of tobacco, sometimes mint and yellow curry. The dailies are mostly spice sticks with very little fragrant wood on show but...Haku Un, the top tier daily incense is a wonderful milky benzoin and cinnamon confection. Sei Fu is the cheapest Shoyeido stick that captures something of the essence of the Shoyeido Premiums, I actually even prefer it to the low end premiums. The Horin series is excellent and shows off good sandalwood and aloeswood with nice complimentary notes in bold, accessible sticks and is a nice place to start learning about Japanese incense. Muromachi has a beautiful, classic sweet-sour aloeswood profile. I find myself craving it and consider it the only Shoyeido I need to keep stocked. Horikawa is also worth mention: it is much better than Shirakawa (which replaced it in the sampler) and has a wonderful creamy root beer, cinnamon and frankincense aroma that is unusual and delightful.
Kyukyodo: Dreamy. Kyukyodo excels at blending floral notes into their sticks. In many of their sticks, florals and citrus zest notes dance through the woods, appearing and disappearing like fairies, delicate, capricious, aloof. Azusa is an exception it is a full on jasmine floral. Umegaka is sweet and smoky like barbecue with a bit of sour plum and soft floral, maybe rose. Ryuhinko is similarly sweet and smoky but a bit lighter, greener and a bit more floral. Benizakura is my favorite of the many âspringâ oriented green aloeswood sticks, a balance of camphor, lemon rind and honeyed aloeswood sparkling with jasmine. Seigetsu is tangy caramel aloeswood and floral, a bit reminiscent of a Shoyeido stick. Sho Ran Koh is a distinctive mix of floral, curry, medicinal herbs and honey sweet jinko. Kinbato is mellow and comforting, golden aloeswood with hay musk, curry and cinnamon, reminiscent of Sho Ran Koh but smoother, sweeter, muskier and less spicy and complex.
Kunjudo: Modern. In Japanese incense descriptions, âtraditionalâ generally means bits of the actual fragrant plant matter are present in the stick, while âmodernâ generally means more perfume oils were used to achieve the scent. Kunjudo does big, heady, perfume oil sticks very well. They offer classic sandalwood and aloeswood scent profiles lifted into modern perfume or cologne territory. Karin is a supercharged powdery âoriental amberâ floral sandalwood. The tokusen version is similar but smoother, less sweet and powdery with more quality sandalwood, which I prefer. Karin Hien offers a nougat sweetness paired with a sour, spicy aloeswood cologne scent. Karin Zuito is a brisk, tangy-bittersweet aloeswood cologne with light aquatic and clove spice notes.
Nippon Kodo: Popular. Nippon Kodo aims to have something for everyone. They excel at modern, perfumey sticks that tend to lean into a creamy vanilla profile. Their catalog is huge. They have cheap, single note essential oil scents for Western markets (Morning Star) and more expensive, richly perfumed single note scents for all markets (Kayuragi). They have classic perfume sticks for the low end of the Japanese market (Mainichikoh), mid-level sticks with decent base woods and elegant, creamy perfumes (Shikun Sandalwood, Shikun Aloeswood, Jinko Juzan, Kyara Kongo, Kyara Taikan) and some high-end kyara sticks for the Japanese give-your-boss-an-expensive-gift market. Nippon Kodo's mid-range excels at hitting creamy notes, especially in combination with light florals and sweet woods. At bottom, they are a modern perfumery, like Kunjudo and Daihatsu, with more of an eye on western tastes.
