'...Malay... turned out to be Hainan...'. Why so?
Mistakenly named Malay by the vendor and you found it to be Hainan or Hainan-ish?
to explain this better here abit more information
im sure you know the top ranking wood in japanese system fall under Rikkokugomi "six kingdoms/five scents".
and if you know that im sure you were seeing by sellers or whoever talk about the rikkokugomi put the names and ther taste along with origins.
its commonly said or wrote in many seller sites, articles that
Kyara - vietnam
Rakoku - Thailand
Manaka - malaca"malaysia" < the piece we talking about was classified as manaka
Manaban - malabar coast
Sasosra - India/uknown
Sumatora or Sumandora - sumatra
referance “Kodo Oku no Shiori” written by Ryuho Oheda
simple? its not!, because not everyone agree with that classification and the wood origins
the origin of the interpretation that "rikkokugomi/ (Kidokoro) = Classification by country of production" was established by Takakatsu Takebe, a disciple of Shino ryu, and he wasn't head of the school. "which is why another head school and his lineage refuse it.
another view by kodo master that he got from his predecessor about the 6 kingdoms is this
Kyara/Rakoku = vietnamese
Manaka/Mannaban = Siamese"name of Thailand in old times"
Sasora/Summondora = Indo and mostly from Kalimantan
ofcourse he say there is exceptions for the origins.
and here another view from disciple of master too
Kyara = Vietnamese and its surroundings
Rakoku = Vietnamese
Manaka = Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Borneo, Brunei
Mannaban = Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Yunnan, China, Indonesia, Sumatra
Sasora = Kalimantan island, Sumatra, India"Sandalwood" as some schools use sandalwood instead of agarwood and some use another tree called "Yellow Ripe Incense"
Summondora = Kalimantan Island
Honestly as much as i try to get lots of information in depth about japanese system and more its hard, getting to know chinese system way easier while its way bigger! but thankgod there is lots of sources online =)