Incense
by David Oller
Walking up a residential street in Tokyo, I wonder, at his age, how he makes this trip every day. It's very steep, and I'm exhausted when we reach Professor Jinbo's home.
There are many schools of incense in Japan today, and many Kodo demonstrations at the various Cultural Centers, but there are only a few incense masters whose training and lineage go back to Sanjonishi Sanetaka, the founder of all the Japanese Kodo schools
Professor Jinbo greets Nakata San and I at the door with a big smile.
We are invited into his living room, and bought a cup of matcha tea, and of course, business cards are exchanged. Professor Jinbo leaves and returns with a lacquer box and begins to remove the contents onto the table in front of me. The objects are more elegant than I can describe, and he tells us about his fortunate find in a hotel shop several years ago.
I ask him to show me the proper way to hold the Incense Cup (Kiki-gouro) and he demonstrates the Oie school style. It was a great honor for me to have him demonstrate, and answer other questions about the art of Kodo. He is a true master in the lineage going back to the beginning.
Today, in Japan, even with all the incense ceremonies being done at the culture centers, the average person has never heard of Kodo or the ceremony called Kou-seki. At one time, it was as commonly known as Cha-no-u (Tea Ceremony) or Ikebana (Flower Arranging) and was taught to young ladies as part of the social skills. There may be several reasons why Kodo became less common: Kodo equipment is very expensive; The time required to master the art is around 25 to 35 years; Mastering Kodo requires olfactory skills and abilities that not everyone possesses. However, the main reason may be the government banning Kodo for many years because it became a popular gambling game.
Today, perhaps as many Westerners have heard of Kodo as Japanese people because in the last few years there have been two books in English on the subject. One of them is "The Book of Incense" by Kiyoko Morita, and the other is "Kodo - The Way of Incense" by David Pybus. Also, Suzanne Fischer Rizzi writes about it in her "The Complete Incense Book."
Prior to that, Lafcadio Hearn wrote about Kodo in the "Incense Chapter" of "In Ghostly Japan" and Silvio A. Bedini wrote about it in his "The Trail of Time."
For those interested in Kodo I would recommend reading all of the above, but I would also caution that with all combined, the subject is barely covered. Many in the West who have tried to learn about Kodo have been left with the feeling of seeing reflections on the surface of a pond.
Yoshiko Nakata, who is a lecturer on the Kodo ceremony at Baieido Incense company, said to me: "Kodo is very difficult to master." There are over 2000 Kumiko (Incense Games) to learn, and every motion in the ceremony follows an exact structure which must be repeated hundreds of times to accomplish with the skill and grace required.