Taking you to the wonderful world of Incense. Column#4 : Kohboku - fragrant wood The fragrant wood that is used in the Koh-Do ceremony is called Jinkoh (Aloeswood). It is a particularly valuable quality wood among Kohboku. The ultimate Koh ceremony is to appreciate the subtle differences of Jinkoh fragrances. The classificatory criterion of Kohboku which constitutes the basics of appreciating Koh is called Rikkoku-Gomi. This refers to the six ancient East Asian countries where kohboku woods are from and the five elements used to describe their flavors. The names of countries (Kyara, Rakoku, Manaka, Manaban, Sumotara, Sasora) all represent a qualitative classification of kohboku wood, and five terms (hot, sweet, sour, bitter, salty) are used to describe different essences. A piece of kohboku wood could generate more than one fragrances when it is burned. Kohboku pieces often have a mixture of multiple fragrances, generating an indescribable blend, depending on the proportion and strength of each essence contained in a piece of wood. We need to be able to distinguish the differences in each Kohboku in order to really appreciate Koh. To learn the differences, we need to sense each Kohboku repeatedly, which is referred to as "practical learning method". The other way to learn is to analyze each fragrance into each of the five elements, hot, sweet, sour, bitter and salty. This analytical method is called Gomisetsu. In the seventeenth century, when Gomisetsu was established, six kinds of Jinkoh were described as follows.