In Japanese life, there is a culture of enjoying fragrance. Products such as osenko (incense sticks), room fragrances, and fabric softeners are used on various occasions.

To start with, there's a traditional incense-smelling ceremony called kodo. Kodo, one of Japan's classical arts, is a ceremony with formal etiquette in which incense wood is burned in a stylized ritual, and various fragrances are appreciated. This spirit of enjoying fragrances has been inherited by modern Japanese and continues today.

Natural Materials and Soft Fragrances

Oko basically uses only natural materials. There are 10 types of natural aromatics used for oko and many of them are difficult to obtain.

Many people like burning oko in living rooms, entrance ways, and bedrooms. It has a very relaxing fragrance, and oko that invokes natural images of forests, cherry and plum trees, and the sea are popular. There are also products that blend flower and fruit fragrances. Soft, transient, and elegant fragrances that spread throughout a room are relaxing.

Cute Osenko

Then there's the nioi-bukuro, a sachet hung from the obi string of a kimono, or placed in a sleeve. Recently, usage has widened, and they are hung on bags, placed on desks or in closets, and the wafting fragrance is enjoyed.

The oko that are enjoyed in rooms come in stick, cone, and coil types. Stick-type oko has a fragrance that can be enjoyed for a relatively long burning time of around 30 minutes. Cone-type oko has a shorter burning time and a strong fragrance. Coil-type oko has a long burning time and is used in large rooms or places with a lot of air flow.

In addition, there is inko (pressed incense) that's placed on top of hot ashes and enjoyed. Motifs of seasonal flowers such as cherry, plum, lotus, and chrysanthemum with small and cute designs that remind you of Japanese sweets are popular. Because it gives a faint fragrance wherever it is placed, many people use it as an interior decoration.

The Fragrance of Japan's Summer

Japan has a custom of using incense as a mosquito repellent. And, many Japanese have among their memories of summer, the faintly drifting fragrance of mosquito coil.

Japan developed oko as a mosquito repellent more than 100 years ago and to increase the burning time a coil type was developed. It is used in Japan and in countries in tropical regions to prevent transmission by mosquitoes of infectious diseases such as malaria. Insect repellent chrysanthemum and other natural ingredients are used, but today there are also types that both repel mosquitoes and also have enjoyable natural fragrances calling to mind forests and roses.

The Japanese have always lived with fragrances, and because they live surrounded by bountiful nature, there are also diverse fragrances.

How about enjoying its fragrances too if you visit Japan?