Until recently, six Japanese manuscript codices and scrolls lay unnoticed and half-forgotten on a shelf in the Grolier Club. When Library staff came to them while updating the Club's manuscripts inventory, they found little or no information about them. Fellow members Megumi and Jonathan Hill of Jonathan A. Hill, Booksellers Inc., generously donated their time and expertise to examine and describe these hidden gems for the Club so that all members could better appreciate them. This is the first in a series of blog posts, where we will share their descriptions, beginning with a beautiful painted scroll describing the rules for games of incense appreciation (kumiko).

[Incense games (kumiko)], mid-Edo period (ca. 1750), Grolier MS 37. A manuscript Japanese scroll.

Grolier MS. 37

INCENSE GAMES (KUMIKO).  Illustrated scroll on fine torinoko paper, entitled on manuscript label on outer silk brocade endpaper: "Ko no ki" ["Incense Contest"].  Scroll (268 x 11565 mm. including patterned gold endpaper at beginning, 275 mm. long). [Japan]: mid-Edo [ca. 1750].       

A finely illustrated scroll, perhaps the second or third of a group, describing and illustrating the elaborate and complex games and activities which surround kodo, "the way of incense," a ritual and spiritual appreciation of fragrances practiced in small groups and following specific performance schemes.  As part of kodo, games of incense appreciation (kumiko) developed and were formalized by the middle of the 16th century.  More than 200 types of kumiko games have been handed down from past generations.  These games were often based on seasonal themes, history, classic literature, waka poetry, and travel.  Non-competitive, these games focused on escaping the outside world and enjoying "listening" to the incense in silence.  "Following the connection of kumikos with literary models, this pursuit took on an exceptional artistic character.  The participants were able to appreciate classical literature at the same time and aesthetically intertwined with the appreciation of the jinko [agarwood] fragrance."–Satoru Horiguchi & Dinah Jung, "Kodo — Its Spiritual and Game Elements and Its Interrelations with the Japanese Literary Arts" in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (Jan. 2013), Third Series, Vol. 23, No. 1, p. 79 (& see the whole of this really excellent article which describes in detail how one of these games was played).

Description of the game genjiko, based on the Tale of Genji. From [Incense games (kumiko)], mid-Edo period (ca. 1750), Grolier MS 37.
[Incense games (kumiko)], mid-Edo period (ca. 1750), Grolier MS 37.

This scroll describes and illustrates a number of kumiko: keizuko (the family tree), genjiko (the game based on the Tale of Genji), genpeiko (a warrior game), meishoko (a game involving famous places), yakazuko (archery game), kisoiko (horse racing competition), goetsuko (a game involving Chinese warriors), shukikuko (ball kicking game), renriko (a "most secret game") based on the writings of the renowned Tang dynasty poet Bai Juyi (772-846). In this game, the ashes of the wood chips were pressed in a different way from the other games.

Description of the game shukikuko (ball kicking game). The trees represent the four seasons; the dolls on the right depict pegs to move about the board. From [Incense games (kumiko)], mid-Edo period (ca. 1750), Grolier MS 37.

Based on the presence of the renriko game, we believe this scroll might be part of the tradition of the Shino School of Incense.  The Shino school of incense ceremony was established in the Muromachi period and  still exists today.  The founder of the school, Shino Soshin (1443-1537), is considered the originator of kodo ("the way of the incense").

Throughout the scroll, there are fine illustrations of mon icons (including genjimon, which have fine and detailed images), diagrams and boards, banners, and pegs with various ornate dolls and motifs relevant to the themes of each game.

In the concluding section of this scroll, there is a discussion of ash patterns.  61 blends of woods are listed and 11 of them have measurements of the quantities of the wood chips used.

At the end, there is a note stating (in translation): "this comprehensive information has been gathered, passed down, and must be kept secret."

Description courtesy of Jonathan and Megumi Hill, 11 September 2021.