200px, Baieidō: Kai Un Kō, Byakudan Kōbunboku, Shū Kō Koku Baieidō （

Japanese language is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been ...

: 梅栄堂） is a

Japanese incense The burning of incense in Japan began during the 6th century (the Asuka period) with the introduction of Buddhism, which uses incense during rituals and ceremonies. Agarwood was imported into Japan from China via Korea. From that point on, ince ...

company established in 1657, located in

Sakai is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It has been one of the largest and most important seaports of Japan since the medieval era. Sakai is known for its keyhole-shaped burial mounds, or kofun, which date from the fifth century and inclu ...

, Osaka Prefecture, It is one of the oldest traditional incense makers in Japan.

History

left Baieido dates back to the Muromachi period (1338-1573) in Japanese history. During this period, the founder of Baieido, Kakuuemon Yamatoya, became a wholesaler of medicinal herbs in Sakai city. Sakai was a well-known trading port in ancient Japan in which incense trading was in high demand. In 1657, the founder named himself "Jinkoya Sakubei" and specialized in selling incense ingredients and incense sticks. "Jinkoya" (Aloeswood trader) was a name peculiar to Sakai, only medicinal wholesalers who specialized in incense were authorized to use this name. In the time-honored traditions of Jinkoya Sakubei, Baieido has dedicated itself to making incense for over 300 years. The method and recipes have been handed down from generation to generation in an unbroken secret oral tradition. The name "Baieidō" is derived from the three characters bai, ei, and dō. ''Bai'' means "plum tree"; ''ei'' means "prosperity"; ''dō'' means "shrine orsStore"

Traditional incense

The following are the main

incense Incense is aromatic biotic material that releases fragrant smoke when burnt. The term is used for either the material or the aroma. Incense is used for aesthetic reasons, religious worship, aromatherapy, meditation, and ceremony. It may also b ...

s made by Baieidō. Their staple incense is "Kōbunboku" （好文木）. Several of the other incenses are based on this incense.

Agarwood

Baieidō also pioneered research into the history of

Agarwood Agarwood, aloeswood, eaglewood or gharuwood is a fragrant dark resinous wood used in incense, perfume, and small carvings. This resinous wood is most commonly referred to as "Oud" or "Oudh". It is formed in the heartwood of aquilaria trees wh ...

(also called aloeswood).

refers to a resin that develops from some trees in the

Aquilaria ''Aquilaria'' is a genus of fifteenNg, L.T., Chang Y.S. and Kadir, A.A. (1997) "A review on agar (gaharu) producing Aquilaria species" ''Journal of Tropical Forest Products'' 2(2): pp. 272-285 species of trees, called lign aloes or lign-aloes tr ...

genus that are infected with a

fungus A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from t ...

. The tree produces a

resin In polymer chemistry and materials science, resin is a solid or highly viscous substance of plant or synthetic origin that is typically convertible into polymers. Resins are usually mixtures of organic compounds. This article focuses on n ...

to protect itself against the fungus. This resin is

agarwood Agarwood, aloeswood, eaglewood or gharuwood is a fragrant dark resinous wood used in incense, perfume, and small carvings. This resinous wood is most commonly referred to as "Oud" or "Oudh". It is formed in the heartwood of aquilaria trees wh ...

often uses 2 common terms for

: jinkō （沈香） and kyara （伽羅）. Jinkō refers to any kind of agarwood. Kyara refers to one specific type of agarwood. Japan has been using raw woods in

since the

Kamakura period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...

(1185–1333)

Kodo (Incense Ceremony), Incense ceremonies are mentioned in '' The Tale of Genji'' in the early 11th century. Much later, possibly in the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...

(1603–1867), different

s began to be labeled with different names. The different agarwoods were given the category name "Rikkoku" (六国), literally meaning "Six Countries". Kyara is one of these 6 kinds of agarwood. * Kyara Kyara is thought to have originally come from

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. * Manaban It is unknown where in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...

the original Manaban agarwood came from. * Sasora The original location of Sasora agarwood is also unknown. It possibly came from

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. * Rakoku Rakoku was from somewhere in modern

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

or Laos. * Sumontara Sumontara came from Sumatra,

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. * Managa Managa came from Malacca,

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. Most incense companies that make sets of "Rikkoku" replace these traditional agarwoods with available agarwoods that have similar scent properties to the original agarwoods. Baieidō has named the following agarwoods that are used in their incenses. *Kokonoe no Kumo （九重の雲） This

is from

. *Tsukigase （月が瀬） This

comes from

. *Ogurayama （小倉山） Ogurayama

comes from

. *Hakusui （白水） Hakusui

also comes from

References

External links

Baieidō's Website
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121016122540/http://www.japanese-incense.com/aloeswood.htm , date=2012-10-16
Baieido USAJapanese Incense by Kyozaburo Nakata & David Oller
Japanese incense companies 1657 establishments in Japan Companies established in 1657

History

Traditional incense

Agarwood

See also

References

External links