Yōmei

I would next treat of the records and legends of the first introduction of Buddhist incense from Korea, when King Shomyo of Kudara in 551 A.D. sent to the island empire a collection of sutras, an image of the Buddha, and one complete set of furniture for a temple.

Then something would have to be said about those classifications of incense which were made during the 10th century in the periods of Engi and of Tenryaku, and about the report of the ancient state counselor Kimitaka Sangi, who visited China in the latter part of the 13th century and transmitted to the Emperor Yomei the wisdom of the Chinese concerning incense.

then mention should be made of the ancient incenses still preserved in various japanese temples and of the famous fragments of ranjatai publicly exhibited at nara in the tenth year of meiji which furnished supplies to the three great captains nobunaga hideyoshi and iyeyasu after this should follow an outline of the history of mixed incenses made in japan with notes on the classifications devised by the luxurious takauji and on the nomenclature established later by ashikaga yoshimasa who collected one hundred and thirty varieties of incense and invented for the more precious of them names recognized even to this day such as blossom showering smoke of fuji and flower of the pure law examples ought to be given likewise of traditions attaching to historical incenses preserved in several princely families together with specimens of those hereditary recipes for incense-making which have been transmitted from generation to generation through hundreds of years and are still called after their august inventors as the method of hina dainagon the method of centoin etc recipes also should be given of those strange incenses made to imitate the perfume of the lotus the smell of the summer breeze and the odor of the autumn wind Some legends of the great period of incense luxury should be cited, such as the story of Sue Awari Nokami, who built for himself a palace of incense woods and set fire to it on the night of his revolt, when the smoke of its burning perfumed the land to a distance of twelve miles.

Of course, the mere compilation of materials for a history of mixed incenses would entail the study of a host of documents, treatises, and books, particularly of such strange works as the Kunshu Rui Shou, or Incense Collector's Classifying Manual, containing the teachings of the ten schools of the art of mixing incense, directions as to the best seasons for incense making, and instructions about the different kinds of fire to be used for burning incense.