By KENICHI SHINOZUKA/ Staff Writer
December 8, 2020 at 07:10 JST
Editor’s note: This series showcases what we are calling “kawaii” (cute) items made locally in the iconic Japanese city.
* * *
Yamada-Matsu Co. is a long-established specialty shop for incense woods founded as a pharmacy in the mid-Edo Period (1603-1867), dealing in natural incense materials.
Its Kyoto main store offers raw incense materials, such as aloeswood and agarwood, which are believed to have nerve-calming effects, and sandalwood, which is characterized by its sweet and refreshing odors.
Shop staff burn samples for customers to test their aroma. The store also stocks an electric incense burner for home use, priced at 16,500 yen ($158), including tax.
Address: 164 Kageyukojicho, Kamigyo Ward, Kyoto.
Open from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed on year-end and New Year holidays and midsummer “obon” holidays.
Visit the official website at (https://www.yamadamatsu.co.jp/en/).
Here is a collection of first-hand accounts by “hibakusha” atomic bomb survivors.
A peek through the music industry’s curtain at the producers who harnessed social media to help their idols go global.
Cooking experts, chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life.
A series based on diplomatic documents declassified by Japan’s Foreign Ministry
A series about Japanese-Americans and their memories of World War II