[h=1]The landscape of nature, Yamadamatsu[/h]
Yamadamatsu is established during the Edo period in Japan. the store is located west of Kyoto's Imperial Palace.
in the early years, Yamadamatsu traded various herbs and spices for traditional medicine. then they started focusing on making incense in the late 1700s and has been making incense till today. Today, they are considered to be one of the finest Japanese incense makers in the world among incense connoisseurs.
Yamadamatsu takes the traditional approach when making incense and these incenses have naturalistic tendencies that remind you of nature such as clouds, wind, and sun.
Yamadamatsu captured this nature’s landscape in their incense. each incense has a unique story in it and you can hear it when you carefully listen.
Among Yamadamatsu's various products, I'd like to introduce you to their high-grade incense today.
The package comes with a letter of thanks, it adds feels like being greeted personally. the high-grade line comes in a traditional, hand-made feeling package. each color on packages reflects the scent and classic pattern decorated paper wrap protects the contents from damage.
Note
100
※ Orders in ascending by price
Obai, 鴬梅
Translated name: Bush Warbler, and plum blossom
Price: ￥500
Weight: 38g
Length: 14cm
Duration: 25m
Obai is created with traditional herbs, gives off a unique and soft scent.
while a sweet and refreshing spikenard and herbal aroma is midst, a touch of grass and camphor adds bitter cooling quality. underlying sandalwood is there but rather than diffuse its fragrance, it adds tenderness and depth to the overall composition.
Obai has a subtle and complex profile but it delivers comfort feeling with a bright, cool, and soft sweetness. spikenard’s nerve relaxing and soothing property is well possessed in this incense.
Kagetsu, 華月
Translated name: Shining moon
Price: ￥700
Weight: 38g
Length: 14cm
Duration: 25m
Kagetsu is made with finest Mysore sandalwood and it smells like white flesh from freshly cut trees and soft milk tea.
though Kagetsu does not have the highest quality sandalwood’s profound rich sweetness, Kagetsu has mellow, light sandalwood fragrance without heavy and rough side. so you can feel the soft milk, savory sweetness and light woody fragrance.
The rough cotton and heavy parts are removed, so you can feel the sweetness, sweetness and light wood scent that is as soft as milk.
The scent may feel a little weak because it has intact sandalwood scent without forcing it to be lifted with other materials. but sandalwood’s cool and calming property is well possessed in this incense.
Kagetus is good to use when you want to have a refreshing moment as if you’re enjoying a cup of tea.
Kayo, 華陽
Translated name: Shining sun
Price: ￥1,200
Weight: 38g
Length: 14cm
Duration: 25m
Though Kayo is made with Mysore sandalwood like Kagetsu, Kayo has a very different facet of sandalwood. unlike Kagetsu, Kayo gives off heavy and rarefied texture with a dry bitter woody scent with an umami milky scent.
An elegant blend of woody and sweet silky milk scents of Kagetsu takes you to the antique wood furniture shop with its luxurious woody aroma while gives you noble and comport feeling.
Suifu, 翠風
Translated name: Jade green wind
Price: ￥1,000
Weight: 38g
Length: 14cm
Duration: 25m
Suifu makes an impression of a green forest with its fresh vetiver-ish clean grass fragrance and soft rich sweetness from agarwood.
Suifu calms the mind while uplifting energy as if you’re having forest bathing in a deep pristine forest.
Suifu Extra, 翠風 極品
Translated name: Jade green wind(Finest quality)
Price: ￥1,200
Weight: 38g
Length: 14cm
Duration: 25m
While carrying the same theme with original Suifu, Suifu extra has a more bright, light, transparent fragrance.
Deeper sweet scent balances the scent that might be too light. an unexpected hint of spiciness that seems doesn’t go well with serves as a complementary with refreshing sweetness like Yin and Yang.
Mint-like coldness makes your mind clear like the morning wind from the forest and uplifts energy.
As the name said, Suifu extra went further than the original Suifu.
Shikun, 紫薫
Translated name: Purple haze
Price: ￥1,500
Weight: 38g
Length: 14cm
Duration: 25m
Shikun is more like a Tibetan incense than Japanese Incense due to its juniper berry heavy scent. birch tar and juniper berry make a campfire like smell on top of the caramelly sweet agarwood.
the heavy scent of Shikun gives you warmth like firewood placed in the furnace to avoid the cold weather in winter.
Shikun can be quite acrid while burning. so it is good to enjoy it at a further distance than other incense. or enjoy the lingering fragrance.
Saiwun, 彩雲
Translated name: Vibrant cloud
Price: ￥2,000
Weight: 38g
Length: 14cm
Duration: 25m
Saiwun gives off a refreshing soft sweet fragrance like a soft cotton candy made out of xylitol.
featuring a combination of sour Schisandra, citrusy tangerine peel, cleansing borneol camphor, and sweet sandalwood, agarwood. Saiwun’s fragrance makes cozy orange-colored cumulus in one’s mind.
Saiwun’s subtle, complex scent is fascinating to observe like everchanging clouds.
Hyofu, 縹風
Translated name: Fluttering wind
Price: ￥3,800
Weight: 38g
Length: 14cm
Duration: 25m
Hyofu has a refreshing sweetness like a succulents watermelon and a delicate fragrance that resembles the blue lotus.
Hyofu’s unusual characteristic of ‘wet’ fragrance is complemented with a fruity, floral sweet Vietnamese agarwood and mystical floral element that hard to point out.
it gives you a refreshing feeling with its watermelon like moist sweetness. but you need extra care on burning this one due to its delicate property.
Kumoyi, 雲井
Translated name: Lofty cloud
Price: ￥5,000
Weight: 38g
Length: 14cm
Duration: 25m
Kumoyi gives off an intoxicatingly sweet fragrance like maple syrup-drenched brownie with a woody backbone.
vaporized caramel-like thick sweet fragrance makes a cloud-filled cozy atmosphere. Kumoyi’s condensed sweetness can be said gourmand and it makes your mouth drooling as if you ate delicious sweet dessert.
Kumoyi composes a romantic mood and drown you in the ocean of sweet maple syrup.
Oju, 鷹樹
Translated name: Eaglewood
Price: ￥7,500
Weight: 19g
Length: 14cm
Duration: 25m
Agarwood from Borneo's unique grounding, calming property is perfectly captured in Oju. its texture feels like a thick and heavy wax while emitting a deep savory aroma and a little bit of sweetness like a mixture of concentrated nut oil and ghee butter.
Oju takes you into the bottomless abyss in your mind with its magnificent dignified scent. this is perfect incense for deep meditation.
Wait!
the following kyara based incense series is just an impression because I had only 3 sticks of each variant.
Hojo green label, 鳳城 翠
Translated name: Firebird green(Phoenix castle green)
Price: ￥12,000
Weight: 19g
Length: 14cm
Duration: 25m
Hojo green gives off a delicate yet tenacious textured spicy, honey-like sweet fragrance.
it has strong but light sweetness with numerous nuances. also, it has more agarwood than kyara in the composition which I’m suspecting to be Vietnamese due to its flowery fruit scent.
Hojo green left strong sweet taste on your tongue for hours.
Hojo white label, 鳳城 白
Translated name: Firebird white(Phoenix castle white)
Price: ￥12,000
Weight: 19g
Length: 14cm
Duration: 25m
Hojo white gives off ambrette like delicate soft powdery fragrance with a light milky chocolate sweetness. a touch of kyara adds an elegant feeling to the overall composition.
The soft cotton-like texture gives you a deeply satisfying warmth with a clean sweet taste.
Hojo red label, 鳳城 朱
Translated name: Firebird red(Phoenix castle red)
Price: ￥24,000
Weight: 19g
Length: 14cm
Duration: 25m
Hojo red is made with kyara in profusion, it gives you stellar olfactory experience with its cinnamon-ish spiciness and undescribable out of world sweetness.
the Kyara’s elegant sleek texture and magnificent fragrance overwhelms the minds and boost energy. the fragrance lingers for hours and gives you mesmerizing feeling.
this is a masterpiece of incense that you should never miss out.
Comment
Yamadamatsu’s every incense is made with a clear purpose and aim. they tell stories that touch your soul. some incense gives you joy, some incense gives you calmness like old friends.
each incense gave me precious moments and these moments are carved in my mind deeply. they will always be remembered.
Thanks to Yamadamatsu for making this precious olfactory art and Thank you for reading this long mumbling.
I hope you experience these beautiful incenses and get joy as I do.
that’s it for today. as always, have a fragrant day. happy smelling.
Yamadamatsu is established during the Edo period in Japan. the store is located west of Kyoto's Imperial Palace.
in the early years, Yamadamatsu traded various herbs and spices for traditional medicine. then they started focusing on making incense in the late 1700s and has been making incense till today. Today, they are considered to be one of the finest Japanese incense makers in the world among incense connoisseurs.
Yamadamatsu takes the traditional approach when making incense and these incenses have naturalistic tendencies that remind you of nature such as clouds, wind, and sun.
Yamadamatsu captured this nature’s landscape in their incense. each incense has a unique story in it and you can hear it when you carefully listen.
Among Yamadamatsu's various products, I'd like to introduce you to their high-grade incense today.
The package comes with a letter of thanks, it adds feels like being greeted personally. the high-grade line comes in a traditional, hand-made feeling package. each color on packages reflects the scent and classic pattern decorated paper wrap protects the contents from damage.
Note
- The English translation name of each product is not the official product name of Yamadamatsu, but I arbitrarily translated it.
- The scents and materials in the review are my subjective opinions and may not be accurate.
- In 2018, Yamadatamtsu changed the diameter of all incense. (thinner) so old batch and new batch might smell different.
100
※ Orders in ascending by price
Obai, 鴬梅
Translated name: Bush Warbler, and plum blossom
Price: ￥500
Weight: 38g
Length: 14cm
Duration: 25m
Obai is created with traditional herbs, gives off a unique and soft scent.
while a sweet and refreshing spikenard and herbal aroma is midst, a touch of grass and camphor adds bitter cooling quality. underlying sandalwood is there but rather than diffuse its fragrance, it adds tenderness and depth to the overall composition.
Obai has a subtle and complex profile but it delivers comfort feeling with a bright, cool, and soft sweetness. spikenard’s nerve relaxing and soothing property is well possessed in this incense.
*
Kagetsu, 華月
Translated name: Shining moon
Price: ￥700
Weight: 38g
Length: 14cm
Duration: 25m
Kagetsu is made with finest Mysore sandalwood and it smells like white flesh from freshly cut trees and soft milk tea.
though Kagetsu does not have the highest quality sandalwood’s profound rich sweetness, Kagetsu has mellow, light sandalwood fragrance without heavy and rough side. so you can feel the soft milk, savory sweetness and light woody fragrance.
The rough cotton and heavy parts are removed, so you can feel the sweetness, sweetness and light wood scent that is as soft as milk.
The scent may feel a little weak because it has intact sandalwood scent without forcing it to be lifted with other materials. but sandalwood’s cool and calming property is well possessed in this incense.
Kagetus is good to use when you want to have a refreshing moment as if you’re enjoying a cup of tea.
*
Kayo, 華陽
Translated name: Shining sun
Price: ￥1,200
Weight: 38g
Length: 14cm
Duration: 25m
Though Kayo is made with Mysore sandalwood like Kagetsu, Kayo has a very different facet of sandalwood. unlike Kagetsu, Kayo gives off heavy and rarefied texture with a dry bitter woody scent with an umami milky scent.
An elegant blend of woody and sweet silky milk scents of Kagetsu takes you to the antique wood furniture shop with its luxurious woody aroma while gives you noble and comport feeling.
*
Suifu, 翠風
Translated name: Jade green wind
Price: ￥1,000
Weight: 38g
Length: 14cm
Duration: 25m
Suifu makes an impression of a green forest with its fresh vetiver-ish clean grass fragrance and soft rich sweetness from agarwood.
Suifu calms the mind while uplifting energy as if you’re having forest bathing in a deep pristine forest.
*
Suifu Extra, 翠風 極品
Translated name: Jade green wind(Finest quality)
Price: ￥1,200
Weight: 38g
Length: 14cm
Duration: 25m
While carrying the same theme with original Suifu, Suifu extra has a more bright, light, transparent fragrance.
Deeper sweet scent balances the scent that might be too light. an unexpected hint of spiciness that seems doesn’t go well with serves as a complementary with refreshing sweetness like Yin and Yang.
Mint-like coldness makes your mind clear like the morning wind from the forest and uplifts energy.
As the name said, Suifu extra went further than the original Suifu.
*
Shikun, 紫薫
Translated name: Purple haze
Price: ￥1,500
Weight: 38g
Length: 14cm
Duration: 25m
Shikun is more like a Tibetan incense than Japanese Incense due to its juniper berry heavy scent. birch tar and juniper berry make a campfire like smell on top of the caramelly sweet agarwood.
the heavy scent of Shikun gives you warmth like firewood placed in the furnace to avoid the cold weather in winter.
Shikun can be quite acrid while burning. so it is good to enjoy it at a further distance than other incense. or enjoy the lingering fragrance.
*
Saiwun, 彩雲
Translated name: Vibrant cloud
Price: ￥2,000
Weight: 38g
Length: 14cm
Duration: 25m
Saiwun gives off a refreshing soft sweet fragrance like a soft cotton candy made out of xylitol.
featuring a combination of sour Schisandra, citrusy tangerine peel, cleansing borneol camphor, and sweet sandalwood, agarwood. Saiwun’s fragrance makes cozy orange-colored cumulus in one’s mind.
Saiwun’s subtle, complex scent is fascinating to observe like everchanging clouds.
*
Hyofu, 縹風
Translated name: Fluttering wind
Price: ￥3,800
Weight: 38g
Length: 14cm
Duration: 25m
Hyofu has a refreshing sweetness like a succulents watermelon and a delicate fragrance that resembles the blue lotus.
Hyofu’s unusual characteristic of ‘wet’ fragrance is complemented with a fruity, floral sweet Vietnamese agarwood and mystical floral element that hard to point out.
it gives you a refreshing feeling with its watermelon like moist sweetness. but you need extra care on burning this one due to its delicate property.
*
Kumoyi, 雲井
Translated name: Lofty cloud
Price: ￥5,000
Weight: 38g
Length: 14cm
Duration: 25m
Kumoyi gives off an intoxicatingly sweet fragrance like maple syrup-drenched brownie with a woody backbone.
vaporized caramel-like thick sweet fragrance makes a cloud-filled cozy atmosphere. Kumoyi’s condensed sweetness can be said gourmand and it makes your mouth drooling as if you ate delicious sweet dessert.
Kumoyi composes a romantic mood and drown you in the ocean of sweet maple syrup.
*
Oju, 鷹樹
Translated name: Eaglewood
Price: ￥7,500
Weight: 19g
Length: 14cm
Duration: 25m
Agarwood from Borneo's unique grounding, calming property is perfectly captured in Oju. its texture feels like a thick and heavy wax while emitting a deep savory aroma and a little bit of sweetness like a mixture of concentrated nut oil and ghee butter.
Oju takes you into the bottomless abyss in your mind with its magnificent dignified scent. this is perfect incense for deep meditation.
*
Wait!
the following kyara based incense series is just an impression because I had only 3 sticks of each variant.
*
Hojo green label, 鳳城 翠
Translated name: Firebird green(Phoenix castle green)
Price: ￥12,000
Weight: 19g
Length: 14cm
Duration: 25m
Hojo green gives off a delicate yet tenacious textured spicy, honey-like sweet fragrance.
it has strong but light sweetness with numerous nuances. also, it has more agarwood than kyara in the composition which I’m suspecting to be Vietnamese due to its flowery fruit scent.
Hojo green left strong sweet taste on your tongue for hours.
*
Hojo white label, 鳳城 白
Translated name: Firebird white(Phoenix castle white)
Price: ￥12,000
Weight: 19g
Length: 14cm
Duration: 25m
Hojo white gives off ambrette like delicate soft powdery fragrance with a light milky chocolate sweetness. a touch of kyara adds an elegant feeling to the overall composition.
The soft cotton-like texture gives you a deeply satisfying warmth with a clean sweet taste.
*
Hojo red label, 鳳城 朱
Translated name: Firebird red(Phoenix castle red)
Price: ￥24,000
Weight: 19g
Length: 14cm
Duration: 25m
Hojo red is made with kyara in profusion, it gives you stellar olfactory experience with its cinnamon-ish spiciness and undescribable out of world sweetness.
the Kyara’s elegant sleek texture and magnificent fragrance overwhelms the minds and boost energy. the fragrance lingers for hours and gives you mesmerizing feeling.
this is a masterpiece of incense that you should never miss out.
*
Comment
Yamadamatsu’s every incense is made with a clear purpose and aim. they tell stories that touch your soul. some incense gives you joy, some incense gives you calmness like old friends.
each incense gave me precious moments and these moments are carved in my mind deeply. they will always be remembered.
Thanks to Yamadamatsu for making this precious olfactory art and Thank you for reading this long mumbling.
I hope you experience these beautiful incenses and get joy as I do.
that’s it for today. as always, have a fragrant day. happy smelling.
