源氏香
THE MEANINGS WOVEN IN
genjikō
A wish to find, among many, the ones that belong together.
Genji Incense
Bonds that hold →01
Where it comes from
Genjikō is an incense game said to have been devised in the early Edo period. Five kinds of incense are each wrapped in five packets; five packets are drawn at random and burned one by one, and the guests show which scents matched with a figure of five lines. The five lines can be combined in fifty-two ways, and each figure was given the name of a chapter of The Tale of Genji, leaving out the first and the last.
02
On the cloth
As a pattern, a few of these figures are taken out and set across the cloth. Story patterns range from scenes plain to see to ones that keep the story hidden, and reading the story in a pattern was part of a cultivated eye. In a story from the Edo period, a comb is wrapped in a silk fukusa of this pattern and given as a keepsake until the two meet again.
03
To give
Genji incense suits someone who loves stories or fragrance. It is a gift for someone you look forward to meeting again.
A word to keep
組香
kumikō
An incense game. Several scents are burned in turn, and the guests tell which ones are the same.
Two questions
What does the Genji Incense (源氏香) pattern mean?
A wish to find, among many, the ones that belong together. Genji incense suits someone who loves stories or fragrance.
Where does the 源氏香 pattern come from?
Genjikō is an incense game said to have been devised in the early Edo period. Five kinds of incense are each wrapped in five packets; five packets are drawn at random and burned one by one, and the guests show which scents matched with a figure of five lines.
