"Incense" is one of the traditional cultures of Kanazawa. Kanazawa's "Kouya" is a store that treasures the charm and tradition of fragrance and conveys it to the present day. This time, we visited Kouya and talked to them about the profound world of fragrance.

Kanazawa's unique scent elements

Kanazawa has just the right temperature and humidity to enjoy aromas, making it a place famous for its fragrances. Tea culture is also thriving here, and it seems that both the tea ceremony and the incense ceremony were often enjoyed here.

"Kouya" offers the Kyoka series, named after the famous author "Izumi Kyoka" from Kanazawa Prefecture. Since many of his works are fantastical stories, the scents are made to make you feel as if you are escaping reality.

Fragrance was a luxury item

The culture of enjoying fragrances spread in Japan during the Kamakura period. A way of enjoying "monkou," or incense, was born, in which people quietly savor the delicate scent of fragrant wood. During the Muromachi period, a game called "kumiko," in which people listen to several different scents and try to guess which scent they are, began to be played. As the times changed, the ways of enjoying fragrances expanded.

Fragrances can be broadly divided into "agarwood" and "sandalwood." Agarwood is a material that gives off its fragrance through the accumulation of tree sap. On the other hand, sandalwood is a material that gives off its fragrance from the trunk of the tree, and its distinctive feature is that the scent does not change from start to finish even when lit.

These scented woods cannot be harvested in Japan, so they are chopped into very small pieces and the scent is enjoyed. This shows that in the past, "fragrances" were luxury items.

The fragrance creation process

Fragrances are expressed in terms of sensations similar to taste, such as "sweet," "sour," "spicy," "bitter," and "salty." No two fragrant woods have the same scent. We sort these nameless fragrant woods and create fragrances.

Even if the fragrances are sold under the same name, the overall scent can change dramatically if you add a small change to the scent you add. It's fun to search for your favorite scent in the store.

Kaga Incense "Kouya"

The incense shop offers two types of fragrance experiences: "making a sachet" and "smelling incense."

If you want to casually try mixing your favorite scent, we recommend the "Sachet Making" experience. If you want to try a rare experience that has been around since the Muromachi period, we recommend the "Incense Sachet Experience."

Additionally, at HOTEL RESOL TRINITY KANAZAWA, we burn Kyoka series incense at the front desk. The scent changes with the seasons to envelop our weary travellers.

香屋
電話番号：076-260-1139
住所：石川県金沢市武蔵町10番1号
アクセス：JR金沢駅から歩いて16分
HP：https://www.ko-ya.net/index.html
SNS：https://www.instagram.com/kanazawa_kouya/
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