KOHDOH: A Ceremonial Tradition

Kohdoh (the Way of Incense) is one of three major cultural traditions of Japan. The others are tea ceremony and flower arranging. Originally tea ceremony and flower arranging came from China, but Kohdoh originated in Japan.

Mr. Tamemitsu Nijo, center, is host of the Kohdoh Ceremony

The word Kohdoh literally means "the Way of Incense" and it is commonly referred to as the incense ceremony. Chado (the Way of Tea) is usually called the tea ceremony and Kado (the Way of Flowers) is called flower arranging. At a Kohdoh ceremony, participants play a type of game that can include guessing the name of the incense and creating poems.

Mr. Tamemitsu Nijo, the head of the Nijooieryu School of incense in Japan, continues to hand down the tradition of Kohdoh. The beginning of the Nijo Family goes back to the Edo period. At the time of Shogun Yoshimune Tokugawa, the steward Harutaka Nijo became independent from his old home. Mr. Tamemitsu Nijo is the 16th descendant from Harutaka.

Before WWII, the family's title of the peerage was duke. After the war the family's title changed to commoner and the family was separated into five branches.

Mr. Tamemitsu Nijo, left, and participants, write poems as another participant, center, "listens" to incense at the Kohdoh Ceremony

Yukinari Fujiwara based the origin of Waka, or Japanese poetry, on the "Kokin Kaitai" anthology published in the Heian period (A.D. around 800). It was refined and published again as the "Kokin Denju" by Teika Fujiwara, his grandson. The Nijo Family's tradition was based on the imperial sanction of Waka.

In order to study Waka fully, it is necessary to study about Japanese music, flower arranging, cooking, incense, reading of the classics, brush writing and more. It has been very hard to continue these traditions.

The Kohdoh ceremony of today is one of the efforts to popularize Japanese classics not only to the Japanese people but also to many people around the world.

SANSHU-KOH (Game of Three)

When studying the piano, the diligent music student will no doubt spend many hours practicing scales. Sanshu-koh is a scales-practicing version of incense the game for Kohdoh. There are no seasonal themes, nor are poetic names assigned to fragrances. Participants concentrate on identifying the differences and similarities among the six basic fragrances of Koh (incense).

Incense: Three kinds

A participant "listens" to incense at Kohdoh Ceremony

Three pieces each of three kinds of incense, for a total of nine pieces, are wrapped individually in packets. They are shuffled well, and then three are randomly selected to be prepared for examination. The Japanese incense masters call this examination "listening to incense". Even though the fragrance is enjoyed by smelling it, one also "listens" to incense with the heart and all of the senses.

Listening:

Step 1.
The master of ceremony informs the guests that the three pieces of incense are called 1,2, and 3 in the order presented.

Step 2.
After the burning of each incense piece, guests indicate their evaluation by drawing three vertical lines on the answer sheet provided. The right line is for the first piece to which they have listened, the middle line for the second piece, and the left line for the third piece.

Step 3.
Guests indicate incense possessing the same fragrance, as one of the first three, by connecting the vertical lines at the top with a horizontal one. If the incense pieces are not the same, the lines remain unconnected. (Published 9/1/2002)

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