Tokusen (Excellent) Kobunboku Incense - Medium Box (80 Short Sticks)

£11.33
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Incense weight: 30 grams
Number of sticks: Approximately 80 short sticks. This may vary slightly though as the quantity of incense is based upon weight, not the number of sticks
Stick length: Approx 13.5 cms
Burn time per stick: About 30 minutes 
Manufacturer: Baieido, Japan

They say: Excellent (Tokusen) Kobunboku is a mellow blend of sandalwood, Indonesian aloeswood, and Chinese herbs.

More About Baieido Incense
Baieido is one of the oldest traditional incense producers in Japan and has been producing a range of pure and high quality incense for over 300 years. The company has a long history, which can be traced back to the Muromachi period in Japanese history (1338 to 1573). The founder of Baieido, Kakuuemon Yamatoya, became a wholesaler of medicinal herbs in Sakai city during this time. It was a well known trading port, where demand for good quality incense was high. By 1657, Kakuuemon Yamatoya was specialising in selling incense ingredients and incense sticks and was able to call himself Jinkoya Sakubei. Jinkoya meant ‘aloeswood trader,’ and it was a name that only authorised medicinal wholesalers, who specialised in incense, in Sakai were able to call themselves.

Later the name of the business changed to Nakata Baieido, still making incense with methods that had been handed down for generations. Baieido is now recognised as one of the highest quality incense manufacturers in the world today blending the finest aromatic woods and resins to produce a natural, mild, low-smoke incense stick of superb quality and aroma. Since Jinkoya’s incense work, the time-honoured traditions and incense formulas have passed on down through the centuries and the company continues to make incense to the oldest recipes. Baieido take pride in using both traditional incense stick making processes alongside more modern manufacturing techniques and new technology. 

More About Aloeswood
In Japan aloeswood is seen as a sacred and important wood. It is one of the most distinguished ingredients of some Japanese incense. During the Kamakura period (1185-1333) the Japanese began using various raw woods such as aloeswood in the making of incense. Some incense was used in a more recreational way while others were used in the most important of religious ceremonies. This led to a classification system for grading the qualities of aloeswood. The very finest quality aloeswood is referred to as Kyara. Good quality aloeswood fetches very high prices and this is reflected in the prices of the highest quality aloeswood incenses. 

Aloeswood is also an important wood in the Middle East and in many places is burned daily to accompany prayer. It is also known as agarwood, eaglewood, oud or gaharu. 

The wood itself has no significant aroma. Aloeswood is obtained from the evergreen daphne genus tree. When a fungus infects the tree a resin begins to form. When the trees dies this resin continues to harden and mature. This resin imbued wood is then collected for incense and burning purposes. 

In Japan it is considered a great honour to receive a gift of fine aloeswood or Kyara.

About Japanese Incense - High quality, pure 
Japanese incense (speaking in general terms) is refined, pure, light smoke and rich in natural ingredients such as sandalwood. They don't usually have the thin wooden stick centre that is often found in Indian and other incense sticks. They are normally pure incense right the way through the stick. They are often designed with meditation in mind. Due to the high quality manufacturing processes the incense goes through they can be a little bit more expensive than other incense on the market.
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To find out more read:
The History of Japanese Incense

Staff Review by Brett Almond

The Tokusen (Excellent) Kobunboku is the next one up in the kobunboku range. It is basically a very similar formula to the plain kobunboku but differs in that it has a hint of aloeswood. This brings the price up per gram slightly as aloeswood is such a premium ingredient. Compared to the original kobunboku this has more of a kick to it when you open the packet. It is still a very fine and sweet exotic smell. When burning it has a strong and upstanding character.

When making a choice between the original kobunboku and this premium one the basic question is do you want aloeswood in your incense? Aloeswood is a wood that has been used in ceremonies throughout history. In incense it has a sweet burnt smell which is pleasant and captivating. You keep going back to it to smell it again to almost try to understand it. Maybe this is why it has been used in ceremonies for so long because it is so mysterious and represents a kind of searching quality. But really when making your choices don't worry too much. All the Baieido incenses are just of excellent quality. They take so much pride in what they produce. The differences are often subtle.

This incense is great for meditation and for background for all spiritual activities as well as for burning around the house or for relaxation.

UK Royal Mail Tracked 48 – Flat charge £3.50, or free on orders over £40
Order by 3pm Monday - Friday (excluding public holidays) for same day dispatch. Delivery after dispatch is 2-3 working days.

 

UK Royal Mail Tracked 24 – Flat charge £4.70, or £1.70 on orders over £40
Order by 3pm Monday - Friday (excluding public holidays) for same day dispatch. Delivery after dispatch is 1-2 working days.

 

UK Special Delivery Royal Mail by 1pm next working day – from £9.80
Order by 3pm Monday - Friday (excluding public holidays) for same day dispatch. No delivery at weekends or bank holidays, orders dispatched on Friday will be delivered on Monday. A signature is required. The exact price is based upon the weight of items in the basket.


INTERNATIONAL DELIVERY


Choose between Royal Mail post (cheaper and slower) or DHL (more expensive and faster).


• Royal Mail to Europe 3-6 working days after dispatch - from £4.20 (2 kg max.)
• DHL to Europe from 1-2 days after dispatch - from £19.96.
• Royal Mail to Outside Europe 6-10 working days after dispatch - from £6.48 (2 kg max.)
• DHL to Outside Europe from 1-2 days after dispatch - from £25.00.
Order by 3pm for Royal Mail and 12 midday (Monday – Friday) for DHL, for dispatch on that
day (Excludes public holidays). Exact price and transit time based on combination of
destination and weight of parcel.


RETURNS INFORMATION


We accept returns of unopened / unused products within 60 days, please refer to our FAQ page for more information on this.

1 Review Hide Reviews Show Reviews

  • 5
    Very Nice and Gentle Fragrance

    Posted by Michael H on 14th Dec 2019

    I find Japanese incense to be a lot more subtle than many of the Indian incenses; they do not kick you in the nose so much. I have used a similar Japanese incense to this one which had sandalwood. However, this one differs as it has not sandalwood, but aloeswood. I find it to be a sweeter, more subtle fragrance than the sandalwood variety, but with a similar background scent as it were. Little smoke and burns for a good amount of time, being about 30 minutes. If you like Japanese incenses but want one without sandalwood, then try this. I don‘t think you’ll be disappointed.

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