Jisshu-kō Box with Hamamatsu-Shioya Design in Maki-e  

"Ten Rounds Incense Game" is the oldest of the many fragrance games. Participants would "listen" to four types of fragrant woods in ten rounds, in a set order, and compete to identify them correctly. This game format was apparently extremely popular, and a great many boxes of this kind can be found dating from the Edo period on. The box is tightly packed with the implements needed to play the game: an incense burner, incense container, and ash container, an incense tray, tiles, and a record board.

Jisshu-kō Box with Hamamatsu-Shioya Design in Maki-e, Incense Burner

This incense burner is one of the set of Kōdo implements stored in a Jisshu-kō box. The guests invited to a Kōdo gathering would pick up the incense burner to "Listen" to·the incense. A small hot piece of charcoal is buried in ash in the incense burner. A top it is a thin sheet of mica, on which a piece of fragrant wood is placed, to release its aroma. Many of the incense burners used in this game were cylindrical shape with a bulging body. Here, however, a simple cylindrical shape has been used, for a more modem sensibility.

Set of Small Boxes with Shell and Seaweed Motif in Maki-e

Shells and seaweed in flowing water have been depicted in gold and silver maki-e on the beautiful black lacquer surface of the outer box. The third of the third month, Girl's Day, is the ideal time of year for shellfish gathering on the beach, and shell motifs have thus been long favored for girls' and women's accessories. The set includes an incense box with motifs symbolizing chapters in the Tale of Genji on its lid's outer surface, suggesting that it was part of a woman's furnishings.

Jisshu-kō Box with Hamamatsu-Shioya Design in Maki-e, Incense Tray

This incense tray was stored in Jisshu-kō box. It would be presented at a Kōdo gathering with the incense burner and other utensils placed on it. The delicate use of the maki-e technique to weave images of light and shadow makes this tray particularly striking. Extremely fine gold powder was sprinkled densely on the surface to create an image of a sky filled with light. The density of the powder gradually decreases, leading to the ocean in darkness. This impressive picture plane clearly expresses the distinctive qualities of maki-e as a decorative art.

Omoiba Zutsumi and the Genji-kō Illustrated

This bundles is designed to hold incense. With fragrant woods inserted in it, the bundle would be placed in the tokonoma alcove or on a shelf to decorate the room. On the left is the Genji-kō Illustrated, showing the titles of the chapters of the Tale of Genji and the charts for the Genji-kō incense game. Both were stored in a Jisshu-kō box.

Sixty-One Types of Famous Fragrant Woods

The Sixty-One Types of Famous Fragrant Woods are said to have benn selected by Shino Soshin. Ranjatai, renowned agarwood, is included under the name Todaiji. They are stored in canisters made of tin. The name of the fragrant woods, recorded on the pouches holding the canisters, are written in delicate, beautiful brushwork.

Tools for Cutting Fragrant Woods

These tools are used to cut fragrant woods into small pieces. They include a sword-like blade, a wide-bladed knife, a saw, a hammer, a chisel, and a board on which to split the wood. The glistening maki-e lacquer is beautiful. While these tools would not have been used at a Kōdo gathering, they give a keen sense of the Kōdo aesthetic.

Jisshu-kō Box with Branches of Young Pine and Plum Design in Maki-e

It is an incense box and a tiered incense container taken from among the implements used in Jisshu-kō incense game. It was believed that pulling up young pine trees in the new year, on the day of Hatsune, meant that their powerful vigor would be trasferred to one. The plum tree blooms before almost anything else, announcing, with its fragrant scent, the arrival of spring. These motifs are thus highly appropriated for decorating the elegant implements used for enjyoing fragrances.

Incense Box with Bookcover-style Case and Tale of Genji Design in Maki-e

Genji, the Shining Prince, was born with almost other-worldly beauty but lived a checkered life, adorned by beautiful women. Here the Tale of Genji binding is replicated on this incense box. The outside of the box is decorated with the scenery around Ishiyama temple, where Murasaki Shikibu is said to have written that masterpiece. The small boxes that fit within it each have the title of one chapter of the novel noted on it.

Acoda Incense Burner with Chrysanthemum Branch Motif in Maki-e

It is known as an Acoda (pumpkin-shaped) incense burner. It was used to burn incense in the inteirior of a house or, placed under a cage, for perfuming clothing. The chrysanthemum branch on the outer surface was created in raised gold maki-e. The cover is silver with chrysanthemum blossoms in openwork. The combination of traditional maki-e decoration and a new type of cover makes this work particularly noteworthy.

Incense Utensils with Peony Arabesques in Maki-e

This round-cornered incense tray has decoratively molded feet. The interior, including the sides, is in nashiji, pearskin lacquer; the outer sides are coated in black lacquer to which peony arabesques in gold hira maki-e have been applied. The set includes a box for holding fragrant woods, an incense burner, and an ash container: the standard group of incense utensils for use with an incense tray.