KUNGYOKUDO | Four Centuries of Kyoto Incense, from Temple Traditions to Everyday Life

Generated brand-story image based on Kungyokudo's actual Uji Matcha incense package and sticks. The background does not depict an actual shop.

I still want us to be making incense a hundred years from now.

Kazuo Ouno, President of KUNGYOKUDO at the time of the interview

Across from Nishi Honganji Temple in Kyoto stands an incense house whose history stretches back to Japan's Azuchi-Momoyama period. Founded in 1594, KUNGYOKUDO has been working with fragrance for more than four centuries.

The business began as a medicinal ingredients merchant serving Honganji Temple and developed into preparing incense for Buddhist temples. Selecting fragrant woods, blending aromatic ingredients, and creating incense suited to particular purposes were skills passed down through generations. Over time, this knowledge would also become the foundation for fragrances designed for modern daily life.

A turning point came in 2014. As the custom of burning incense before household Buddhist altars began to decline, KUNGYOKUDO reconsidered the nature of its work after 420 years in business.

The history of the Ouno family reveals how the company has sought to preserve its inherited traditions while finding new ways to create and share fragrance.

Basic Information

  • Brand: KUNGYOKUDO (薫玉堂)
  • Founded: 1594 (the third year of the Bunroku era)
  • Place of origin: Near Nishi Honganji Temple, Kyoto, Japan
  • Founder: 負野理右衛門, a member of the Ouno family
  • Key figures: Kazuo Ouno and Chihaya Ouno
  • Original business: A medicinal ingredients merchant serving Honganji Temple, later preparing incense for Buddhist temples
  • Official website: KUNGYOKUDO

The Founder and Origins of KUNGYOKUDO

1594: The Ouno Family's Beginnings as Medicinal Ingredients Merchants

KUNGYOKUDO traces its origins to 1594, when its founder, 負野理右衛門 of the Ouno family, established a business selling medicinal ingredients near Nishi Honganji Temple.

From childhood, the founder had been fascinated by fragrant woods, particularly the identification and study of resin-rich woods used in incense making.

He deepened his knowledge of these materials and gradually expanded the business beyond medicinal ingredients to include traditional blended incense.

His interest in fragrant woods also led him to kōdō, the Japanese art of appreciating incense. He is said to have invited the head of the Shino school of kōdō to teach him and devoted himself to its practice.

The Relationship with Honganji Temple and the Incense Formulas Passed Down Through Generations

KUNGYOKUDO's close relationship with Honganji Temple is central to its history.

According to a tradition preserved by the Ouno family, an ancestor accompanied the Honganji community when it fled conflict with Oda Nobunaga, during the period when the temple was still based at Ishiyama in Osaka.

The ancestor is said to have carried a sacred portrait across open fields. In recognition of this service, Honganji bestowed the family name Ouno (負野), referring to the act of carrying the portrait through the fields.

In the centuries that followed, KUNGYOKUDO supplied incense not only to Honganji but also to the head temples and other Buddhist temples of various denominations throughout Japan.

The Ouno family has preserved incense formula books recording fragrant woods and plant-derived ingredients, including materials also used in traditional herbal medicine. These records have helped transmit the knowledge accumulated by successive generations of incense makers.

The tradition of kōdō has also endured.

At KUNGYOKUDO's Kyoto flagship store stands Yōrōtei, a room dedicated to the appreciation of incense. The earlier structure was destroyed in the Great Tenmei Fire of 1788, and the present building was reconstructed during the late Edo period.

Yōrōtei continues to serve as a place for teaching kōdō, preserving the practice of appreciating and distinguishing the aromas of fragrant woods.

From Buddhist Incense to Fragrance for Everyday Life

As fewer Japanese households maintained Buddhist altars, KUNGYOKUDO faced a shrinking market for religious incense. Chihaya Ouno saw the need to reconsider the business.

In 2014, the company began rebuilding its brand with support from Nakagawa Masashichi Shoten. Before designing products, employees examined what they had inherited and what made their work distinctive.

We began by going back to the question of who we really were.

Chihaya Ouno

Their discussions returned to an old designation: Okō Chōshinjo (御香調進所), an establishment that prepares and supplies incense in response to particular requests. KUNGYOKUDO describes itself as Japan's oldest such establishment.

The definition did not limit the business to products supplied to temples. It suggested that responding to people's needs through fragrance could remain its purpose even as customers and their everyday habits changed.

How Longer Incense Sticks Challenged an Established Convention

The renewal process also gave KUNGYOKUDO an opportunity to question assumptions that had become deeply embedded in its work.

For Chihaya Ouno, one revealing example involved developing incense sticks intended for use in ordinary living spaces.

Within the company, long incense sticks had traditionally been associated with Buddhist altars, while shorter sticks were considered more appropriate for burning in rooms.

During the development of new products, however, the team from Nakagawa Masashichi Shoten suggested that longer incense sticks were more visually appealing.

Chihaya initially wondered whether ordinary customers would accept them.

Yet the longer sticks eventually became one of the defining products of the renewed KUNGYOKUDO brand.

In 2016, the company introduced a new range of products inspired by Kyoto's landscapes and culture. The brand renewal that had begun in 2014 was now taking shape through fragrances reflecting the city and its traditions.

In 2018, KUNGYOKUDO expanded beyond Kyoto with a store at KITTE in Marunouchi, Tokyo.

The new location gave the company an opportunity to introduce a broader audience to its longstanding approach of preparing fragrance for particular people, purposes, and occasions.

KUNGYOKUDO's Approach to Incense Making

Understanding Natural Fragrant Woods and Maintaining Consistent Quality

KUNGYOKUDO blends fragrant woods such as sandalwood and agarwood with aromatic materials including cinnamon, clove, and borneol.

Even wood of the same species varies with its origin, the individual tree and the part harvested. An inherited formula alone cannot ensure an identical fragrance. Experienced incense makers assess these differences and adjust the blend accordingly.

Hiroki Yamaguchi, then head of operations, described the responsibility toward customers who know the company's fragrances:

We have to maintain the quality of our fragrances.

Hiroki Yamaguchi

Specialists also inspect fragrant woods at their places of origin when selecting materials. Preserving this craft requires both obtaining the ingredients and developing the people able to judge their aromas.

Creating Incense Inspired by Kyoto's Landscapes

The new product range introduced in 2016 took inspiration from Kyoto's landscapes and the changing seasons.

Specific places and scenes from the city became the names and subjects of KUNGYOKUDO's fragrances.

One example is Uji Matcha Incense (線香 宇治の抹茶).

The fragrance draws inspiration from the orderly rows of tea plants in Uji, where fields of green stretch toward the distant hills. Its rich matcha aroma was designed to evoke a quiet moment of relaxation amid the demands of everyday life.

Another creation, Daigo no Sakura Incense (線香 醍醐の桜), takes its inspiration from cherry blossom viewing in Kyoto's Daigo district.

The fragrance seeks to express the experience of walking beneath rows of cherry trees, watching blossoms unfold and being surrounded by falling petals.

What connects these two creations is their approach to depicting Kyoto.

Rather than simply translating a local specialty or famous landmark into an aromatic ingredient, KUNGYOKUDO uses fragrance to evoke the atmosphere of a particular place, the passing of a season, and the experience of spending time there.

Bringing Traditional Incense Ingredients into Skincare

Renewing its incense collection was not KUNGYOKUDO's only response to changing lifestyles.

The company introduced hand creams in 2017 and soaps in 2018, combining ingredients associated with Kyoto's seasons with natural aromatic materials traditionally used in incense making.

These products offered new opportunities to experience fragrance beyond the practice of burning incense.

Chihaya Ouno described the thinking behind their development:

These are original products created for modern lifestyles.

Chihaya Ouno

Ingredients familiar from traditional incense making were adapted into products that allow people to enjoy fragrance while washing their hands or caring for their skin.

However, KUNGYOKUDO's involvement in products beyond incense did not begin in the 2010s.

The company had already introduced basic skincare products in 1912. In 1915, soap was also launched through its division dedicated to silkworm cocoon-reeling liquid.

The developments of the 2010s therefore represented something more than a first venture outside traditional incense. They were a renewed examination of how a company with a long history of working with aromatic and plant-derived materials could create products suited to contemporary life.

Fragrance Without Fire: Expanding the Ways Incense Can Be Enjoyed

KUNGYOKUDO's fragrances are not limited to products designed to be burned. The company also offers ways to scent clothing, letters, and personal belongings.

Fumikō (文香), for example, consists of small scented sachets that can be enclosed in letters, allowing the recipient to experience fragrance alongside the written message.

Ikō (衣香) is used to impart a gentle fragrance to clothing, while traditional scented sachets, known as nioibukuro (匂い袋), can be carried in a bag.

Rather than prescribing a single way to enjoy fragrance, KUNGYOKUDO offers different forms suited to different moments in everyday life.

Choosing not only the fragrance itself but also how it is experienced is a defining aspect of the company's approach to incense making.

References