金蓮香 - Golden Lotus 10g

The ancient Chinese formula for Golden Lotus incense was once built on Tibetan juniper enriched with sandalwood and storax resin — pleasant, yet heavy and one-dimensional. This reinterpretation breathes new life into that tradition, inspired by a quiet autumn afternoon at our beloved Hozanji temple in Ikoma, Nara.

Days before, while walking through the sacred grounds of Mount Hiei, Shiga in the cool sixteen-degree air, a golden radiance lingered in the breeze — the fragrance of a single Japanese Osmanthus tree, perfuming the garden of thousand-year-old pines surrounding Enryakuji temple. That moment of gentle bliss, suspended in amber light, became the inspiration of this incense.

Crafted upon a base of select Vietnamese aloeswood, and woven with Japanese Osmanthus blossoms, Golden Lotus evokes the serene stillness of temple courtyards and the quiet reflection of sunlight on gilded lotus flowers that were said to grow in the ponds of the Buddha's Pure Land. Each ignition is a passage — a return to the temple at Ikomasan where we would often find ourselves sitting at a side near the temple entrance, where time stands still and the air glows with remembrance.

Comes in a 10 grams tube.