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04/02/2024
Floyd
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Kōdō 香道 - The path of fragrance
Wear festive clothing and lie down on mats between walls of white paper. Look at the master of ceremonies, then slowly close your eyelids. Sharpen your senses, there are aniseed herbs, first gently wafting along with blossoms, bearing mushroom lamella leaves, gradually becoming greener and bitter. Soon you notice mild summer images of curry yellow and Greek hay, honeydew drips onto spicy fields, pungent cool mists drift by like clove flags on the trees of the forests. There the ground breathes peppermint leaves, through every musty soft fiber of the falling bark of ancient woods, shimmering in the ethereal resinous veil, the contemplative sound of nature.
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"Spirit of Japan" focuses on the Japanese Kōdō ceremony, which originated in the 14th century and in which participants listen to the "sound of scent" with a master of ceremonies, compare its qualities and link them to poetic associations or listen to traditional literature. Because the brain perceives scents in the limbic system, the "primitive" part of the brain to which instinct and memory belong, and poetry activates a different part of the brain, the combination of these two activities opens up new ways of thinking and levels of consciousness in kōdō. Precious ouds (jinkō) and sandalwoods (byakudan) play a central role when burning incense on charcoal, as do cinnamon bark, cloves, aniseed, patchouli, flowers and herbs.
Ahmed Mostafa's interpretation is initially reminiscent of dried camomile leaves for a moment, green and soft, delicately smoky, before it develops a subtle, spicy-bitter pungency of aniseed, clove, cumin and cinnamon leaf aromas support the character and carry it through to the base. After a brief hint of curry-like turmeric dust, spicy hay notes of fenugreek hay become apparent, on which honey-sweet labdanum resins drift tiny pearls, and I also detect marzipan-like notes of heliotrope. While the hay finds its continuation in the soft, mulchy bark notes of eaglewood in the base, the spicy-bitter pungency leads into minty-earthy patchouly and the ethereal-glutinous aromas of sandalwood. Styrax and benzoin soften the ethereal notes in the direction of tree resins, while ambergris and deer musk tend to hold back, lending more depth.
true to the ceremony, "Spirit of Japan" remains rather restrained in its projection, finely green-smoky and woody-spicy contemplative and, of course, it is determined by the quality of its precious raw materials.
(With thanks to Cfr)
**
"Spirit of Japan" focuses on the Japanese Kōdō ceremony, which originated in the 14th century and in which participants listen to the "sound of scent" with a master of ceremonies, compare its qualities and link them to poetic associations or listen to traditional literature. Because the brain perceives scents in the limbic system, the "primitive" part of the brain to which instinct and memory belong, and poetry activates a different part of the brain, the combination of these two activities opens up new ways of thinking and levels of consciousness in kōdō. Precious ouds (jinkō) and sandalwoods (byakudan) play a central role when burning incense on charcoal, as do cinnamon bark, cloves, aniseed, patchouli, flowers and herbs.
Ahmed Mostafa's interpretation is initially reminiscent of dried camomile leaves for a moment, green and soft, delicately smoky, before it develops a subtle, spicy-bitter pungency of aniseed, clove, cumin and cinnamon leaf aromas support the character and carry it through to the base. After a brief hint of curry-like turmeric dust, spicy hay notes of fenugreek hay become apparent, on which honey-sweet labdanum resins drift tiny pearls, and I also detect marzipan-like notes of heliotrope. While the hay finds its continuation in the soft, mulchy bark notes of eaglewood in the base, the spicy-bitter pungency leads into minty-earthy patchouly and the ethereal-glutinous aromas of sandalwood. Styrax and benzoin soften the ethereal notes in the direction of tree resins, while ambergris and deer musk tend to hold back, lending more depth.
true to the ceremony, "Spirit of Japan" remains rather restrained in its projection, finely green-smoky and woody-spicy contemplative and, of course, it is determined by the quality of its precious raw materials.
(With thanks to Cfr)
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