In the Shino style, the scent of fragrant wood is based on the six kingdoms, including Kyara. The five tastes are classified into five flavors (sweet, bitter, spicy, sour, and salty), and after becoming an introductory student, the master will directly teach you the secrets of the five tastes. . When you feel the complexity of the scent, you will find that it calms your mind.

Listen to famous incense at the listening party. The scent takes you back to ancient times

In the world of incense, there are groups called monko-kai, which are held to appreciate the fragrance of fragrant wood.

One day, when I visited Monkokai, in addition to the famous incense seats, there were also dim sum seats, tea seats, and incense utensil exhibition seats, so I was able to spend the day experiencing the Higashiyama culture that was perfected during the Muromachi period. It turned out to be an elegant event.

The symposium was held in the hall of Shinbashi Kanedanaka, a long-established Japanese restaurant in Shinbashi. Five incense sticks are lit in a tatami room where about 1 people gather. The host is Sogen Yukosai, the 30th head of the family, and in the foreground is Sohitsu Ichishiken, a young master of Shino school of incense.

The young master arranges the incense utensils one after another and takes out a ``kobao'' from the Shinobukuro. A four-sided tray (yohobon), which is lacquered with a Shinobuga design associated with the Shino school, is purified with fukusa. A ``silver leaf'' (a small plate of mica) is placed on top of the ashes of the incense burner. Then, it's time to carefully open the incense package, grab the fragrant wood with wooden chopsticks, and place it on the silver leaf. When the incense wood begins to smell, the young master listens to it, then quietly announces the name of the incense, ``Ouchi,'' and passes it on to the renshu.

All actions are performed in silence, and the room is silent. The guests' eyes focused on the young master's hands, and as the incense burner turned, each of them concentrated on the scent.

In a sense, fragrant wood is a mass of ``healing power'' created when trees try to heal wounds, and it is something that happens in a world beyond the reach of humans, created by chance due to a combination of conditions. The respect for rare fragrant wood is reflected in each carefully crafted piece. The incense burners rotate one after another, filling the tatami room with fragrance. At the same time, the tatami room became a calm space.

The first kyara that was burnt on this day, ``Ouchi,'' is an incense wood said to have belonged to the third Muromachi shogun Yoshimitsu Ashikaga, and is one of the famous incense treasures of the head of the Shino school. It's a deep, quiet yet powerful scent. The appearance of the fragrant wood itself is not ordinary. Next, the famous incense "Awaji Island" was dedicated by the head of the family to Izanagi Shrine on Awaji Island, where it is said that the first fragrant wood was washed ashore.Finally, the head of the family dedicated the incense to the Emperor himself (when he was crown prince). The ``Takamatsu'' (name attached to the iemoto) that you heard was circulated among the Renshu.

It is said that incense has ten virtues. It (1) sharpens the senses, (2) cleanses the mind and body, (3) removes dirt, (4) wakes up sleepiness, (5) relieves loneliness, and (6) soothes the mind even in busy times. (7) Even if there are a lot of it, it won't get in the way, (8) Even a small amount will give off a fragrance, (9) It won't decay even after hundreds of years, and (10) It won't cause any harm even if used regularly.

Sosuke Wakasoshi says:

``To listen to incense is to become one with the fragrant trees and the natural world.Of course, if you are thinking about other things or your mind is disturbed while listening to incense, you will not be able to have a conversation with the natural world. On the other hand, it is possible to communicate with people who actually owned the fragrant wood in the past, such as Nobunaga, Ieyasu, and successive emperors through the scent. At the moment when you can become one with the people, there is an indescribable sense of tension in the air."

The word "listen" has been used in China to mean "to sense something with the five senses." You can feel a variety of scents, and by burning fragrant wood from hundreds of years ago, you can experience the same scent as it was back in the day. Incense is also an elegant time machine.

It takes a really long time to produce fragrant wood. Looking to the future of Kodo hundreds of years in the future, Wakasoshi is engaged in tree-planting activities in countries such as Vietnam, the country of origin of fragrant trees. He is thinking of activities that will make nature and humans smile at the same time, rather than just one or the other, such as increasing the greenery on the earth by planting trees and creating local employment.

“For example, the love that parents have for their children cannot be seen in tangible form, but it certainly exists. Electromagnetic waves are also invisible, but with the arrival of the 5G era, our lives are changing even more rapidly. The messages contained in scents are similar to this; they are invisible but exist, and in fact, trees communicate with each other by communicating their feelings with each other through scent. Isn't the time when we need to listen not from electromagnetic waves but from the voices of the earth?"

Showing the invisible - what incense can do is much more than I expected.

→Listen to the scent. Learning from Kodo “Shino-ryu” (Part 1)

(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. Overseas Cultural Envoy of the Agency for Cultural Affairs and honorary member of the French Perfumers Association. Japan Sommelier Association Sommelier d'Honneur (Honorary Sommelier) Japan Culture Design Forum Secretary

[Shino-ryu Kodo Event Schedule] If you would like to participate, please contact the Shino-ryu Kodo Secretariat.

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