Kodo is the art of appreciating scent. Like tea ceremony, flower arrangement, and Noh, it was born in the Muromachi period. What can we feel when we "listen" to scents?

Experience a different time and space created by incense

Kodo involves burning a precious agarwood tree called agarwood and ``listening'' to its scent. The word "hear" is usually used for sounds, but it can also be used for scents. However, instead of just smelling something, when you perceive something through scent.

At Yakushiji Temple's Tokyo branch temple in Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo, lessons in the Shino-ryu style of incense (monkou) are being held. A practice called Kumika began in a hall where about a dozen people were seated. Kumiko can be described as a ``game'' where you first listen to and memorize several types of incense, and then guess which incense will be served.

``Today is a combination of shochikubai and pine incense,'' Sohitsu Hachiya, a young master of Shino-ryu incense, begins to explain. Sosuke is the eldest son and successor of the 20th head of the Shino school, Sougen Hachiya. He frequently travels between his head office in Nagoya, Tokyo, and Kyoto to teach. He has also been appointed as a cultural exchange envoy by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, and is working to spread Kodo not only in Japan but also overseas, including France and China.

The kumiko that was being performed that day used sensations that are not normally experienced. The name ``pine, bamboo, and plum'' comes from the three types of fragrant trees that are named pine, bamboo, and plum. The fragrant wood is cut into pieces about 1mm thick and 7mm long. The aroma is produced by placing it on a mica plate called Ginba and heating it. The silver leaf rests in the middle of the ashes of the incense burner, and beneath the ashes is a small piece of lit charcoal called a kotandan. Thin holes are cut into the ash, and the heat that passes through the holes heats the fragrant wood, creating the scent.

The incense burner, the host, must pass the incense burner to the guests while the heat is good. The scent of the same fragrant wood changes depending on the heat. The host places the fragrant wood on top of the silver leaves and first checks the incense himself in front of the renju. He names the first incense stick ``Matsu'' and passes the incense burner around to the group. Next is ``bamboo,'' and lastly, ``plum'' incense is passed around. Once the three types of incense have been dispensed, the next incense whose name has been hidden is dispensed. Guess which incense was given before.

“Shukko,” the incense burner says, and the incense burner is turned. The renshu write the incense's name on the paper they have and hand it over to the shippitsu. When writing, write down everyone's names and the order of the incense, and mark the names of the incense that you answered correctly. Despite the subtle differences between the scents, there were multiple people who answered correctly on this day. Usually, the scents around us come to us, but when we concentrate on a scent and try to remember its characteristics, we begin to sense various elements within it. But it's difficult to remember. When I asked Young Sosho how he remembers scents, he said he compared them to other images, such as visuals.

Shino-ryu incense is a method of appreciating incense that was created by Munenobu Shino, one of the comrades who served the Ashikaga shogunate, about 500 years ago. The Dohoshu were the leaders of the Higashiyama culture who mastered tea ceremony, flower arranging, and Noh, and Munenobu Shino, the founder of Shino-ryu Kodo, was a close vassal of Yoshinori Ashikaga, Yoshinori Yoshinori, and Yoshimasa. When the third generation of the Shino school retired, Sougo Hachiya inherited it. The fragrant wood produced by accidental damage to certain trees was a valuable item that could only be obtained by the upper echelons of society. The fragrant wood, which can only be found in Southeast Asia such as Vietnam, Laos, and Indonesia, was prized in China and was introduced to Japan. It is said that Hong Kong got its name because it was a port where fragrant trees gathered. As the dynasties changed, Chinese incense declined and continued only in Japan, but in modern times people are starting to practice it in China and Korea as well.

The young master says: ``Fragrance has the role of connecting people with heaven.In ancient times, incense was always burned at the enthronement ceremony of the emperor, and scent is an integral part of everyday life, from religions such as Buddhism and Christianity. I regularly communicate with the natural world through scents.By calmly facing fragrant trees and surrendering to their scents, I feel that I am alive, and the scents teach me the importance and gratitude of life. There are things that make you feel like you're in heaven, and there are things that bring you to tears for some reason.It brings you even a little closer to the wisdom of nature, which is impossible to reach with the shallow "human" mind. I will continue to practice hard today.If you practice incense while your mind is disturbed, you will not be able to get a good scent.Listening to incense is also about knowing yourself.

As the young master says, ``Kodo is the culmination of Japanese beauty and artistic culture,'' in the future, we will move away from finance and materialism, and in the future, it is the intangible things such as beauty, heart, and soul that are truly important. I think we need to realize this on our own.

→ Listen to the scent. Learn from Kodo “Shino-ryu” (Part 2)

(Titles omitted)

Souhitsu Hachiya

He was born as the eldest son of Sogen Hachiya, the 2002th head of the Shino school of incense, which has passed down incense for 2004 years to XNUMX generations since the Muromachi period. Since XNUMX, he has been working under the tutelage of Daishi Gyokudō of Daitokuji Shogen-in Temple, and in XNUMX received the title ``Ichishiken'' and the sect name ``Sōji'' from Gyokudō Rōdaishi, making him the XNUMXst successor to the head of the family. (Wakasoshi). Currently, as the next iemoto, he is holding lectures from kindergartens to universities across the country, and is also actively teaching and giving lectures at overseas schools such as Paris, London, and Beijing. He also engages in tree-planting activities to pass on rare ``fragrant trees'' to future generations. Agency for Cultural Affairs Overseas Cultural Envoy Honorary member of the French Perfumers Association Sommelier d'honneur (honorary sommelier) of the Japan Sommelier Association Secretary of the Japan Cultural Design Forum

[Shinoryu Kodo Event Schedule]

April 9th ​​(Thursday) Kasama Inari Shrine Annual Festival Incense Offering Ceremony

April 25th (Sat) - August 23rd (Sun) (First half: April 25th (Saturday) - June 14th (Sunday), second half: June 17th (Wednesday) - August 23rd (Sunday)) Special exhibition "Incense World/KODO - 500 years of inheritance of Shino-ryu incense tradition - Head Temple Zojoji Temple Treasure Exhibition Room

*Please note that incense experience sessions and lectures will be held during the event. Details can be found on the Shinoryu website.

25/XNUMX (Sat) Incense offering ceremony to pray for the success of the Aoi Festival at Kamigamo Shrine

26/XNUMX (Sun) Yakushiji East Tower Memorial Service Incense Offering Ceremony

May 16th (Sat) Zojoji Temple Incense Offering Ceremony *Ranjōdai is offered to Lord Tokugawa Ieyasu.

October 10th (Thursday) Yakushiji Tenmu Memorial Incense Offering Ceremony

10/XNUMX (Friday) Kasuga Taisha Chyo Festival Incense Offering Ceremony