Discourses on Incense by Various Authors · Volume Navigation
In China, incense has never been merely a scent. Through the ages, literati wove it into their judgments of virtue and temperament—this collection gathers what they said about incense.
Volume Contents
This collection connects withIncense Culture (香学) Sages: the sages look at the person; the various authors look at their discourses. All quotations are sourced; paraphrases are noted as such, and none are passed off as verbatim definitive texts.
Discourses on Incense by Various Authors · Volume Navigation
The following Q&A is compiled from content on this site for quick reference; descriptions of incense materials' medicinal properties reflect traditional understanding and do not constitute medical advice.
Who wrote the "Ten Virtues of Incense"?
This poem is commonly attributed to Huang Tingjian of the Northern Song dynasty and later became widely known through its high regard in Japanese incense culture(香学) (the Ikkyū Sōjun lineage); scholarly debate over authorship continues, and this site treats it as "attributed to Huang Tingjian" while preserving this note.
What did the ancients value most when discussing incense?
Broadly three aspects: first, the virtue of incense (purity, alertness against sleep, removing dust, becoming a friend in quietude); second, the grade of incense (the hierarchy and origins of agarwood, sandalwood, dragon's brain, and musk); third, the setting of incense (scenes of a quiet room, burning incense, reading, and listening to rain).
What were Wen Zhenheng's views on incense burners?
In Zhangwuzhi (Treatise on Superfluous Things), his discussion of incense burners values "antique elegance" and "usability," praising bronze burners and plain vessels while opposing excessive ornamentation, reflecting the late-Ming literati aesthetic of "preferring the ancient over the trendy, the plain over the clever."