14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best Introductory Kodo Book, September 30, 2003
This review is from: Kodo : The Way of Incense (Paperback)
It's a tough call on the best introductory book on Kodo, between this and Kiyoko Morita. Both have different styles and different approaches.
I would say I prefer this book because the author consulted with more than one incense company and one kodo school his research.
It's very difficult to write on this subject because even in Japan, comprehensive texts are just not to be found, and almost all the texts on the subject are in Japanese.
Kodo is still an art which is taught primarily from teacher to student without the use of texts. Training takes up to 30 years to master the art.
However, anyone can read this book and begin learning and practicing the art. It includes fun quessing games called kumiko, and they range from very simple contests of guessing three different aromas, to very complex games requiring knowledge of Japanese history, poetry, and geography. In total there are over one-thousand such games.
David shows how to prepare the incense furnace, tells about the six varieties of incense used in the contests, and gives you all the basics to get started.
These contests are great entertainment, and make for a really fun evening with friends!
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
AWESOME PACKAGE! Much more than just a book here..., January 6, 2006
This review is from: Kodo : The Way of Incense (Paperback)
A friend just gifted me with the Kodo package during the holidays because I adore scent and have done much work over the years with oils, extracts, herbs, resins and custom-crafting incenses. Our olfactory sense is one of the most truly mysterious and least-understood aspects of our brain and body. Thus, I am fascinated by anything that has the capacity to further my understanding of scent and scent as it is perceived and utilized within different cultures. "Kodo" doe this...and more! The book is quite interesting. Learning about the ceremonies and games is fun. But the whole package is *beautiful*! There is the very good book, two bundles of high-quality joss sticks (one epitomizing the energetic properties of day and awareness; the other of calmness, meditation and night) and two subtle and lovely corresponding ceramic burners, all neatly packaged with a sturdy slip-cover. Very easy to pull everything back together and very handy for traveling! I had looked at this listing on Amazon more than once and thought all that was being offered was the book. Not so! I give this my highest recommendation because it is a wonderful gift that you and/or your other "scents-itive" friends will enjoy time and again.
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0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Too bad..., September 2, 2010
This review is from: Kodo : The Way of Incense (Paperback)
I like David Pybus and his writing. The contents seems well researched, etc., but what's going on with the illustrations?! They're the stereotypical depiction of "Japanese people" by Westerners unfamiliar with Japanese kimonos and Japanese cultures. The illustrations are such caricatures and are so awful that they make this otherwise decent book unauthentic and somewhat insulting. I'm really disappointed as I had high hopes for a book coming from someone like Mr. Pybus. Though I think David Pybus probably knows much more about fragrances and fragrance materials, I would recommend Kiyoko Morita's "The Book of Incense" over this book for information about kodo.
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