The Book of Incense: Enjoying the Traditional Art of Japanese Scents

Kiyoko Morita's The Book of Incense is a study of kodo, the traditional Japanese art of incense appreciation, published by Kodansha International, a respected publisher of Japanese culture and arts titles for English language readers. Morita writes from within the practice as a description of its history, materials and etiquette, giving the book real authority as an accessible account of how kodo is actually practiced and understood by its own tradition. Its limit is that it is written for a general audience interested in Japanese aesthetics rather than as an academic monograph with the full scholarly apparatus of citations and comparative analysis, so a claim requiring rigorous historical dating or comparison with other East Asian incense traditions benefits from a dedicated academic source on the history of kodo alongside this introductory account.