But the use of incense in Japan is not confined to religious rites and
ceremonies: indeed the costlier kinds of incense are manufactured
chiefly for social entertainments. Incense-burning has been an
amusement of the aristocracy ever since the thirteenth century.
Probably you have heard of the Japanese tea-ceremonies, and their
curious Buddhist history; and I suppose that every foreign collector of
Japanese _bric-à-brac_ knows something about the luxury to which these
ceremonies at one period attained,—a luxury well attested by the
quality of the beautiful utensils formerly employed in them. But there
were, and still are, incense-ceremonies much more elaborate and costly
than the tea-ceremonies,—and also much more interesting. Besides music,
embroidery, poetical composition and other branches of the
old-fashioned female education, the young lady of pre-Meiji days was
expected to acquire three especially polite accomplishments,—the art of
arranging flowers, (_ikébana_), the art of ceremonial tea-making
(_cha-no-yu_ or _cha-no-e_),[4] and the etiquette of incense-parties
(_kō-kwai_ or _kō-é_). Incense-parties were invented before the time of
the Ashikaga shōguns, and were most in vogue during the peaceful period
of the Tokugawa rule. With the fall of the shōgunate they went out of
fashion; but recently they have been to some extent revived. It is not
likely, however, that they will again become really fashionable in the
old sense,—partly because they represented rare forms of social
refinement that never can be revived, and partly because of their
costliness.
[4] Girls are still trained in the art of arranging flowers, and in
the etiquette of the dainty, though somewhat tedious, _cha-no-yu_.
Buddhist priests have long enjoyed a reputation as teachers of the
latter. When the pupil has reached a certain degree of proficiency,
she is given a diploma or certificate. The tea used in these
ceremonies is a powdered tea of remarkable fragrance,—the best
qualities of which fetch very high prices.
In translating _kō-kwai_ as “incense-party,” I use the word “party” in
the meaning that it takes in such compounds as “card-party,”
“whist-party,” “chess-party”;—for a _kō-kwai_ is a meeting held only
with the object of playing a game,—a very curious game. There are
several kinds of incense-games; but in all of them the contest depends
upon the ability to remember and to name different kinds of incense by
the perfume alone. That variety of _kō-kwai_ called _Jitchū-kō_
(“ten-burning-incense”) is generally conceded to be the most amusing;
and I shall try to tell you how it is played.
The numeral “ten,” in the Japanese, or rather Chinese name of this
diversion, does not refer to ten kinds, but only to ten packages of
incense; for _Jitchū-kō_, besides being the most amusing, is the very
simplest of incense-games, and is played with only four kinds of
incense. One kind must be supplied by the guests invited to the party;
and three are furnished by the person who gives the entertainment. Each
of the latter three supplies of incense—usually prepared in packages
containing one hundred wafers is divided into four parts; and each part
is put into a separate paper numbered or marked so as to indicate the
quality. Thus four packages are prepared of the incense classed as No.
1, four of incense No. 2, and four of incense No. 3,—or twelve in all.
But the incense given by the guests,—always called “guest-incense”—is
not divided: it is only put into a wrapper marked with an abbreviation
of the Chinese character signifying “guest.” Accordingly we have a
total of thirteen packages to start with; but three are to be used in
the preliminary sampling, or “experimenting”—as the Japanese term
it,—after the following manner.
We shall suppose the game to be arranged for a party of six,—though
there is no rule limiting the number of players. The six take their
places in line, or in a half-circle—if the room be small; but they do
not sit close together, for reasons which will presently appear. Then
the host, or the person appointed to act as incense-burner, prepares a
package of the incense classed as No 1, kindles it in a censer, and
passes the censer to the guest occupying the first seat,[5] with the
announcement—“This is incense No 1” The guest receives the censer
according to the graceful etiquette required in the _kō-kwai_, inhales
the perfume, and passes on the vessel to his neighbor, who receives it
in like manner and passes it to the third guest, who presents it to the
fourth,—and so on. When the censer has gone the round of the party, it
is returned to the incense-burner. One package of incense No. 2, and
one of No. 3, are similarly prepared, announced, and tested. But with
the “guest-incense” no experiment is made. The player should be able to
remember the different odors of the incenses tested; and he is expected
to identify the guest-incense at the proper time merely by the
unfamiliar quality of its fragrance.
[5] The places occupied by guests in a Japanese _zashiki_, or
reception room are numbered from the alcove of the apartment. The
place of the most honored is immediately before the alcove: this is
the first seat, and the rest are numbered from it, usually to the
left.
The original thirteen packages having thus by “experimenting” been
reduced to ten, each player is given one set of ten small
tablets—usually of gold-lacquer,—every set being differently
ornamented. The backs only of these tablets are decorated; and the
decoration is nearly always a floral design of some sort:—thus one set
might be decorated with chrysanthemums in gold, another with tufts of
iris-plants, another with a spray of plum-blossoms, etc. But the faces
of the tablets bear numbers or marks; and each set comprises three
tablets numbered “1,” three numbered “2,” three numbered “3,” and one
marked with the character signifying “guest.” After these tablet-sets
have been distributed, a box called the “tablet-box” is placed before
the first player; and all is ready for the real game.
The incense-burner retires behind a little screen, shuffles the flat
packages like so many cards, takes the uppermost, prepares its contents
in the censer, and then, returning to the party, sends the censer upon
its round. This time, of course, he does not announce what kind of
incense he has used. As the censer passes from hand to hand, each
player, after inhaling the fume, puts into the tablet-box one tablet
bearing that mark or number which he supposes to be the mark or number
of the incense he has smelled. If, for example, he thinks the incense
to be “guest-incense,” he drops into the box that one of his tablets
marked with the ideograph meaning “guest;” or if he believes that he
has inhaled the perfume of No. 2, he puts into the box a tablet
numbered “2.” When the round is over, tablet-box and censer are both
returned to the incense-burner. He takes the six tablets out of the
box, and wraps them up in the paper which contained the incense guessed
about. The tablets themselves keep the personal as well as the general
record,—since each player remembers the particular design upon his own
set.
The remaining nine packages of incense are consumed and judged in the
same way, according to the chance order in which the shuffling has
placed them. When all the incense has been used, the tablets are taken
out of their wrappings, the record is officially put into writing, and
the victor of the day is announced. I here offer the translation of
such a record: it will serve to explain, almost at a glance, all the
complications of the game.
According to this record the player who used the tablets decorated with
the design called “Young Pine,” made but two mistakes; while the holder
of the “White-Lily” set made only one correct guess. But it is quite a
feat to make ten correct judgments in succession. The olfactory nerves
are apt to become somewhat numbed long before the game is concluded;
and, therefore it is customary during the _Kō-kwai_ to rinse the mouth
at intervals with pure vinegar, by which operation the sensitivity is
partially restored.