For most Japanese, incense is associated with funerals and memorial services but it didn't start off that way: back in the early days of the Imperial Court in the 8th century, the nobles would often get together and do incense appreciations and compete against each other to recognize the scenes of perfumes, much like people do wine-tasting contests in the West. Nippon Kodo hasn't been around since then but it has been around since 1575. Its fragrances, including the Nippon Kodo Kafu Neroli Incense, are of a level of quality that would had allowed them to fit right in with those incense appreciations 1,200 years ago!
The "kafu" in the Nippon Kodo Kafu Neroli Incense name is the name of a special series by the company that translates as "flowers" and "wind," and means the fragrance of blossoms in the wind. All the incense in this series have themes from flowers and this one takes its main note from the tachibana orange, a variant of mandarin orange. Evoking the gentle breeze of early summer, these sticks emit very little smoke, and their sweet and refreshing scent will last about 25 minutes.
Specs and Features:
- Fragrance: tachibana orange with notes of mandarin, orange, jasmine, rose, neroli, petitgrain, tolu balsam, benzoin, and myrrh
- Stick length: approx. 140 mm (5.5")
- Incense weight: approx. 180 g (6.3 oz)
- Burning time: approx. 25 min.
- Smoke emission: very little
- Box size: approx. 162 x 100 x 40 mm (6.4 x 3.9 x 1.6")
- Box weight: approx. 245 g (8.6 oz)