KOHSHI: Hidenori Matsuno’s Journey and the Craft of Translating Japanese Instruments and Stories into Fragrance

Perfumery is not something you can do through intuition or flair alone.
Hidenori Matsuno (founder and perfumer)

Expressing a sharp note from a Japanese instrument with hinoki and its lingering resonance with rosewood. Layering the sweetness of strawberries with herbal scents reminiscent of absinthe. KOHSHI’s perfumes reveal ways of translating impressions of a subject into combinations and balances of fragrance materials.

For founder Hidenori Matsuno, bold ideas are supported by training: learning about fragrance materials and understanding how blending changes them. After becoming independent following work in sales and manufacturing, Matsuno has continued exploring the subtle expressions of scent in both the company’s own perfumes and commissioned development.

Key Information
The Founder and the Origins of the Brand
The Brand’s Commitments
References

Key Information

Brand name: KOHSHI
Founder and perfumer: Hidenori Matsuno
Operating company: Kohshi Co., Ltd. (established July 21, 2010)
Based in: Hadano, Kanagawa, Japan
Official website: KOHSHI

The Founder and the Origins of the Brand

From Cologne Costing a Few Hundred Yen to Work in Sales and Manufacturing

Matsuno’s introduction to fragrance was an eau de cologne bought at a convenience store for a few hundred yen as a teenager. It was a time devoted to soccer and dance, and wearing fragrance while being physically active lifted Matsuno’s spirits. Through that experience, perfume became an essential part of everyday life.

Starting at eighteen, Matsuno spent about ten years working in perfume sales and cosmetics manufacturing while also attending a perfumery school. Experience on both the making and selling sides provided knowledge of fragrance materials and blending techniques. In 2010, Matsuno became independent and established Kohshi Co., Ltd.

A Senior Colleague’s Support for Independence and Creating Fragrances in Hadano

One challenge in becoming independent was obtaining fragrance materials. Newcomers to the industry faced barriers to sourcing raw materials, and a senior colleague who valued Matsuno’s work but had opposed the move toward independence ultimately offered help. With support from others, the desire to create perfumes with a distinctive worldview and aesthetic developed into a business.

Kohshi built its business around fragrance development, OEM production of perfumes and cosmetics for other brands, and sales of its own branded products. Matsuno personally develops fragrances for commissioned products and composes KOHSHI perfumes. The work of refining the subtle expressions that perfume requires connects the company’s business with Matsuno’s own creative practice.

KOHSHI products are made in Hadano, Kanagawa, surrounded by mountains. The company handles everything in-house, from sourcing raw materials to composition, design, and manufacturing, turning concepts into finished products. By the time the Kyoto shop opened in 2025, it had a team of several in-house perfumers responsible for fragrance development.

Ruggedness and Delicacy Expressed in the Kyoto Shop in 2025

Matsuno became interested not only in creating fragrances but also in how people encounter them. The directly operated shops are named pallumer, combining the French words parfum, meaning perfume, and allumer, meaning to light or ignite. The name conveys a desire to ignite people’s hearts through perfume.

On March 22, 2025, the second directly operated shop opened in Kyoto, following the Daikanyama flagship. Matsuno’s first reason for choosing Kyoto was simply a love of the city itself. An affinity for a city where tradition and new culture coexist echoes the contrasts that Matsuno also values in fragrance.

I think everything is about balance.
Hidenori Matsuno (interview at the opening of the Kyoto shop in 2025)

Citing a balance like adding sweetness to something spicy, Matsuno describes the theme of creating fragrances as “the coexistence of ruggedness and delicacy.” The Kyoto shop translates that idea into its choice of materials: substantial black mill-scale iron alongside pale white ash latticework, and exposed concrete alongside glass bottles and liquid catching the light. Placing different textures side by side brings out the character of each.

Black mill-scale iron is iron with a black film left on its surface. The combination of a powerful material and delicate latticework allows visitors to experience in a space the strength and delicacy found in perfume.

A shop where anyone who comes to the Kyoto store can find a perfume of some kind.
Hidenori Matsuno (on the experience envisioned for the Kyoto shop in 2025)

Matsuno aims for a shop where both first-time perfume wearers and those seeking complex, idiosyncratic scents can make a discovery. The goal is to develop a brand with a rich variety, including gentle fragrances that are easy to coordinate with fashion.

The Brand’s Commitments

Knowledge of Fragrance Materials and Blending in Support of Free Ideas

Matsuno sees fragrance as having subtle differences and combinations, just as the sky cannot be painted in a single shade of blue.

Understanding how blending ratios affect the way a scent develops over time provides the foundation for turning free ideas into perfume.

KOHSHI has three series. The first, kohshi, conceives fragrances with Japanese skin, climate, and seasons in mind. L’Héritage translates Japanese traditions into fragrance, while kilesa does the same with a wide range of subjects and stories. The ability to vary its expression according to the subject is another characteristic of the brand.

L’Héritage: Translating the Timbres of Japanese Instruments into Scent

Héritage means inheritance or heritage in French. Focusing on gagaku and noh music, this series expresses the history, timbres, and atmosphere of Japanese instruments through perfume. Sho, Biwa, and Tsuzumi each demonstrate a different way of translating their sounds into scent.

In Tsuzumi, hinoki expresses the sharp, high sound of the otsuzumi drum, while rosewood (in Japanese) represents the lingering resonance of the kotsuzumi. The radiance of rose and jasmine is layered in, developing into a composition with a woody structure and herbal scents. The difference between the two sounds is considered in terms of differences in the fragrance’s opening and resonance.

Biwa, by contrast, entrusts its melancholy resonance to iris. Floral and leather impressions are accented with fruit, creating an understated yet weighty character. In Sho, lemon and jasmine evoke a clear, solemn space, while lime and green accents trace fine lines of sound. Although tradition provides the subjects, the choice of scents is specific to each work.

Contrasting Sweetness and Herbs in Strawberries and Absinthe

Kilesa ranges from graceful, delicate fragrances to complex, distinctive ones, with a goal of 108 creations. This is a creative target: a plan to add stories one perfume at a time.

Absinthe fraise, or “strawberries and absinthe,” depicts a story of strawberries steeped in the alcoholic drink absinthe. Its published scent composition includes elements suggesting mugwort, star anise, and sweet fennel alongside the fruitiness of strawberry and raspberry.

The rich sweetness of fruit is combined with the distinctive characters of herbs and anise, with a further layer reminiscent of tobacco. Rather than simply reproducing strawberries, the choice to let sweetness coexist with more idiosyncratic scents reveals the balance Matsuno describes. The perfume translates the story’s strawberry-infused drink into a combination of scents.

Whether the subject is a single note from a Japanese instrument or a story of liquor and fruit, the starting point is attention to its subtle expressions. Thinking about how to express those differences through blending connects KOHSHI’s diverse perfumes.