Incense

We offer only the highest quality Japanese and Tibetan incense.

Tibetan Incense

The craft of making incense was established in Tibet by monks who laid down recipes specifying the exact nature and amount of each ingredient used. This is said to have been done at the time of the Buddha some 2500 years ago. Since the invasion of Tibet by China in 1951 the craft of Tibetan incense-making based on these ancient formulas is now mainly practised by exiled Tibetan monks and other refugees in Nepal, India and Bhutan.

Tibetan incenses are typically made from between 20 and 100 different herbs, woods, spices and minerals. The ingredients are dried then ground and mixed into a paste. This paste is squeezed and shaped into long sticks which are cut and then dried. These incenses are used in Tibetan culture for many purposes - as an offering to the deities; to still the mind as an aid to relaxation and meditation; to heal disorders of the mind and body; to alleviate stress; to ward off negative energies; and, not least, to scent the air.

Our Tibetan incenses are all of a very high quality, made according to traditional recipes and methods. Our suppliers are committed to the principles of ethical trading and source on a fair trade basis from established artisan-owned workshops free from child exploitation.

Japanese Incense

Buddhist monks brought incense to Japan in the Sixth century for use in their purification rites. The use of incense was taken up by the Japanese Imperial Court. It was not until the Muromachi era in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth centuries that lower echelons of society came to share in the Court's appreciation of Koh (high quality Japanese incense) but gradually Koh-Do or incense appreciation became part of the spiritual and cultural fabric of Japan. The making of Koh became a more and more sophisticated craft calling for natural materials from far distant places to produce ever more subtle and exquisite fragrances. The tradition continues to the present day. The Japanese incense we sell is mostly made by hand. The natural gums and resins from precious woods and floral ingredients are loaded into vats where they are mixed with other organic raw materials. They are then loaded into machines which extrude the long strings of incense resembling spaghetti through a cluster of tiny holes. The incense sticks are then cut evenly and laid out neatly in wooden forms in a drying room where the moisture and temperature levels are controlled by a system of wooden shutters and windows. At no time are any chemicals or inorganic substances used. The formulas used in these blends are a closely guarded secret passed on down the family line for centuries and which the present owners have sworn not to divulge.