Special incense experience for international visitors

• Learn more about incense with Kohgen's "Incense Experience"
• Incense stick making course
• Fragrance sachet making course
• Kneaded incense making course
• Aromatic wood burning comparison course
• Book an incense experience

At Kohgen, we offer incense making workshops in the spaces of each of our stores. Our incense concierges provide careful, one-on-one instruction, so even beginners can feel at ease. You can choose the materials and types of incense you want to make, so you can enjoy it again and again. When you visit, please come and experience your own unique "world of fragrance" that you can only find here.

We are pleased to feature a special video on the history of Japanese incense, created exclusively for our international classes and not shown during our standard workshops. We hope this video offers our global guests a wonderful opportunity to discover the rich heritage and history of Japanese incense.

Incense stick making course

Incense is made from aromatic ingredients and tabu powder. Tabu powder acts as a binder for all the aromatic ingredients used in the blend. If honey or plum vinegar is used as a binder instead of tabu powder, it becomes kneaded incense, which originated in the Heian period.

Our incense-making experience offers a variety of blending recipes that change with the seasons.

Fragrance sachet making course

A sachet, also known as "fragrant incense," is a type of incense made by placing fragrances or herbal medicines in a cloth or paper bag. It can be worn around the waist or placed in a wardrobe to enjoy the scent. Sachets placed in wardrobes are also called insect-repelling incense because their fragrance protects clothes from insects. You can place them in your room, put them in your bag, or use them in any situation you like. In the workshop, you will make two sachets with fragrances that you blend yourself.

Kneaded incense making course

Neriko (or Neri-ko) is a type of incense made by kneading powdered ingredients, such as agarwood, with honey or plum pulp to form a pill-like shape. Also known as "Takimono" (fragrant items), it was a refined practice for aristocrats to infuse their clothing with its scent, as mentioned in The Tale of Genji. At Kohgen's Neriko making experience, you can choose from agarwood-based blends that change with the seasons, as well as recipes inspired by three famous warlords of the Sengoku period. Enjoy the refined world of agarwood.

Aromatic wood burning comparison course

Following the traditions of "Kodo," a form of Japanese incense appreciation, you can experience the precious fragrances of fragrant woods such as Kyara, Jinko, and Byakudan. This course uses an electronic incense burner for "Monko" (listening to the fragrance). This is because traditional incense burners requiring ash and charcoal can feel intimidating and have unstable heat.

By focusing on the fragrance of the fragrant wood itself, you can enjoy "Monko" more easily. As an introduction to "Kodo," which is rarely experienced, you will enjoy a simple "Kumiko" (incense game) where you try to identify the fragrances of different woods.

Other Notes