The Book of Incense: Enjoying the Traditional Art of Japanese Scents

I like to make herbal incense and I got this book in hopes of refining my drying technique to get consistently straight sticks that wouldn't break. The preview photos had a picture of a japanese incense factory and I wanted a closer look at that. I did find the photos useful. However, there is not much discussion of the particulars of incense making. This book is more like an overview about the cultural aspects of using incense. It is definitely not a how to make incense book. I loved the stories of koh (incense) and learning more about this aspect of japanese traditions. I am American and we just don't have anything like that. Maybe beer lovers, with the many and varied ingredients and types of brews, but nothing on a huge cultural level the way that incense is to the japanese. There are instructions for several koh games which shed a lot more light on why one might want to engage in such an activity. Basically this is passing around an incense pot and the guests take turns "listening to" (smelling) the aromas. The goals might be, for example, to smell individual components and then try to pick them out in blends, figuring out the ratio of one ingredient to another, or to experience a place or concept as expressed through scent. This type of pasttime sort of lingers on the border between sophisticated snob and deep geek, but it is actually pretty fun once you succeed in talking other people into doing this with you. If you are "into" fragrance and incense, you would probably enjoy this book. If you are planning an excursion to Japan where you will be interacting with the residents on a personal (ie, not tourist) level, this would probably be important to read. If you are wanting instruction on making incense, you would probably be better reading Carl Neal's book or joining the yahoo group Incense_Exchange.

I haven't finished the book yet, but it is what I expected and wanted. It gives a good background of incense use in Japan, the ingredients, and the development of kodo.

I recently found a hardback copy of this book and what a difference. I loved the paperback, but having the photos in color was a great improvement. Now I have a much better idea what the ingredients used in Japanese incense really look like.I am sooooo! grateful to Kiyoko Morita for introducing me to Japanese incense. I had so many misconceptions about Japanese incense prior to reading this book. I always thought it was expensive, but I found out when you do the math it's really cheaper than most Joss stick type incense.Recently I have started trying the Kodo method of burning pure aloes wood, and having my friends come over to play the incense games. It wasn't as difficult as I had been led to believe.If you haven't read this book and you love aromatic things then you are in for a real treat. Do yourself a favor and don't miss the experience.

After using incense for many years I found Japanese incense is the best among all. They only use herbs, spice and wood without any sythetic materials. The scents are very subtle and pleasing. This book takes you through the history of Japanese incense. Your find that the most comment joss stick incense only has one houndred year history. Before then, Japanese burn woodchips, kneaded incense and granulated incense. From this, the book of incense takes you to a wonderful world of koh-do, incense ceremony.Maybe you have heard of tea ceremony before. Incense ceremony is even more poetic, elegant and fun. This book explain how the ceremony is set up with pictures of beautiful utensils and instruments.If you are a incense lover and want to experience a higher level of enjoying incense, the book of incense is a must read.