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Incense91

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I see, rising out of darkness, a lotos in a vase.93 Most of the vase is invisible, but I know that it is of bronze, and that its glimpsing handles are bodies of dragons.94 Only the lotos is fully illuminated: three pure white flowers, and five great leaves of gold and green,—gold above, green on the upcurling under-surface,—an artificial lotos.95 It is bathed by a slanting stream of sunshine,—the darkness beneath and beyond is the dusk of a temple-chamber.96 I do not see the opening through which the radiance pours, but I am aware that it is a small window shaped in the outline-form of a temple-bell.97

The reason that I see the lotos—one memory of my first visit to a Buddhist sanctuary—is that there has come to me an odor of incense.98 Often when I smell incense, this vision defines; and usually thereafter other sensations of my first day in Japan revive in swift succession with almost painful acuteness.99

It is almost ubiquitous,—this perfume of incense.100 It makes one element of the faint but complex and never-to-be-forgotten odor of the Far East.101 It haunts the dwelling-house not less than the temple,—the home of the peasant not less than the yashiki of the prince.102 Shintō shrines, indeed, are free from it;—incense being an abomination to the elder gods.103 But wherever Buddhism lives there is incense.104 In every house containing a Buddhist shrine or Buddhist tablets, incense is burned at certain times; and in even the rudest country solitudes you will find incense smouldering before wayside images,—little stone figures of Fudō, Jizō, or Kwannon.105 Many experiences of travel,—strange impressions of sound as well as of sight,—remain associated in my own memory with that fragrance:—vast silent shadowed avenues leading to weird old shrines;—mossed flights of worn steps ascending to temples that moulder above the clouds;—joyous tumult of festival nights;—sheeted funeral-trains gliding by in glimmer of lanterns; murmur of household prayer in fishermen’s huts on far wild coasts;—and visions of desolate little graves marked only by threads of blue smoke ascending,—graves of pet animals or birds remembered by simple hearts in the hour of prayer to Amida, the Lord of Immeasurable Light.106

But the odor of which I speak is that of cheap incense only,—the incense in general use.107 There are many other kinds of incense; and the range of quality is amazing.108 A bundle of common incense-rods—(they are about as thick as an ordinary pencil-lead, and somewhat longer)—can be bought for a few sen; while a bundle of better quality, presenting to inexperienced eyes only some difference in color, may cost several yen, and be cheap at the price.109 Still costlier sorts of incense,—veritable luxuries,—take the form of lozenges, wafers, pastilles; and a small envelope of such material may be worth four or five pounds-sterling.110 But the commercial and industrial questions relating to Japanese incense represent the least interesting part of a remarkably curious subject.111

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Curious indeed, but enormous by reason of it infinity of tradition and detail.113 I am afraid even to think of the size of the volume that would be needed to cover it….114 Such a work would properly begin with some brief account of the earliest knowledge and use of aromatics in Japan.115 I would next treat of the records and legends of the first introduction of Buddhist incense from Korea,—when King Shōmyō of Kudara, in 551 A. D., sent to the island-empire a collection of sutras, an image of the Buddha, and one complete set of furniture for a temple.116 Then something would have to be said about those classifications of incense which were made during the tenth century, in the periods of Engi and of Tenryaku,—and about the report of the ancient state-councillor, Kimitaka-Sangi, who visited China in the latter part of the thirteenth century, and transmitted to the Emperor Yomei the wisdom of the Chinese concerning incense.117 Then mention should be made of the ancient incenses still preserved in various Japanese temples, and of the famous fragments of _ranjatai_ (publicly exhibited at Nara in the tenth year of Meiji) which furnished supplies to the three great captains, Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Iyeyasu.118 After this should follow an outline of the history of mixed incenses made in Japan,—with notes on the classifications devised by the luxurious Takauji, and on the nomenclature established later by Ashikaga Yoshimasa, who collected one hundred and thirty varieties of incense, and invented for the more precious of them names recognized even to this day,—such as “Blossom-Showering,” “Smoke-of-Fuji,” and “Flower-of-the-Pure-Law.”119 Examples ought to be given likewise of traditions attaching to historical incenses preserved in several princely families, together with specimens of those hereditary recipes for incense-making which have been transmitted from generation to generation through hundreds of years, and are still called after their august inventors,—as “the Method of Hina-Dainagon,” “the Method of Sentō-In,” etc. Recipes also should be given of those strange incenses made “_to imitate the perfume of the lotos, the smell of the summer breeze, and the odor of the autumn wind_.”120 Some legends of the great period of incense-luxury should be cited,—such as the story of Sué Owari-no-Kami, who built for himself a palace of incense-woods, and set fire to it on the night of his revolt, when the smoke of its burning perfumed the land to a distance of twelve miles….121 Of course the mere compilation of materials for a history of mixed-incenses would entail the study of a host of documents, treatises, and books,—particularly of such strange works as the _Kun-Shū-Rui-Shō_, or “Incense-Collector’s Classifying-Manual”;—containing the teachings of the Ten Schools of the Art of Mixing Incense; directions as to the best seasons for incense-making; and instructions about the “_different kinds of fire_” to be used for burning incense—(one kind is called “literary fire,” and another “military fire”); together with rules for pressing the ashes of a censer into various artistic designs corresponding to season and occasion….122 A special chapter should certainly be given to the incense-bags (_kusadama_) hung up in houses to drive away goblins,—and to the smaller incense-bags formerly carried about the person as a protection against evil spirits.123 Then a very large part of the work would have to be devoted to the religious uses and legends of incense,—a huge subject in itself.124 There would also have to be considered the curious history of the old “incense-assemblies,” whose elaborate ceremonial could be explained only by help of numerous diagrams.125 One chapter at least would be required for the subject of the ancient importation of incense-materials from India, China, Annam, Siam, Cambodia, Ceylon, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and various islands of the Malay archipelago,—places all named in rare books about incense.126 And a final chapter should treat of the romantic literature of incense,—the poems, stories, and dramas in which incense-rites are mentioned; and especially those love-songs comparing the body to incense, and passion to the eating flame:—127

Even as burns the perfume lending thy robe its fragance, Smoulders my life away, consumed by the pain of longing!128

The merest outline of the subject is terrifying!129 I shall attempt nothing more than a few notes about the religious, the luxurious, and the ghostly uses of incense.130

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The common incense everywhere burned by poor people before Buddhist icons is called _an-soku-kō_.132 This is very cheap.133 Great quantities of it are burned by pilgrims in the bronze censers set before the entrances of famous temples; and in front of roadside images you may often see bundles of it.134 These are for the use of pious wayfarers, who pause before every Buddhist image on their path to repeat a brief prayer and, when possible, to set a few rods smouldering at the feet of the statue.135 But in rich temples, and during great religious ceremonies, much more expensive incense is used.136 Altogether three classes of perfumes are employed in Buddhist rites: _kō_, or incense-proper, in many varieties—(the word literally means only “fragrant substance”);—_dzukō_, an odorous ointment; and _makkō_, a fragrant powder.137 _Kō_ is burned; _dzukō_ is rubbed upon the hands of the priest as an ointment of purification; and _makkō_ is sprinkled about the sanctuary.138 This _makkō_ is said to be identical with the sandalwood-powder so frequently mentioned in Buddhist texts.139 But it is only the true incense which can be said to bear an important relation to the religious service.140

“Incense,” declares the _Soshi-Ryaku_,[1] “is the Messenger of Earnest Desire.141 When the rich Sudatta wished to invite the Buddha to a repast, he made use of incense.142 He was wont to ascend to the roof of his house on the eve of the day of the entertainment, and to remain standing there all night, holding a censer of precious incense.143 And as often as he did thus, the Buddha never failed to come on the following day at the exact time desired.”144

[1] “Short [or Epitomized] History of Priests.”145

This text plainly implies that incense, as a burnt-offering, symbolizes the pious desires of the faithful.146 But it symbolizes other things also; and it has furnished many remarkable similes to Buddhist literature.147 Some of these, and not the least interesting, occur in prayers, of which the following, from the book called _Hōji-san_[2] is a striking example:—148

[2] “The Praise of Pious Observances.”149

—“_Let my body remain pure like a censer!—let my thought be ever as a fire of wisdom, purely consuming the incense of sîla and of dhyâna,_[3] _that so may I do homage to all the Buddhas in the Ten Directions of the Past, the Present, and the Future!150