In medieval Japan, among the most avid users of agarwood were the Samurai. They would scent their body armor and helmets with the smoke of agarwood before heading into battle. Bushi No Kaori is an agarwood-intensive blend created to mimic what a Samurai warrior's quarters would have smelled like just before he headed out for battle.
The Rikkoku-Gomi descriptions of the various genres of agarwood as classified by the Japanese incense masters suggest that the bitter agarwood genre was associated with Samurai warriors. The scent can be described as nigai (bitter), karai (hot), and amai (sweet).
This spray version of the former oil attar consists of wild Vietnamese (bitter, hot) and wild Cambodian (bitter, sweet) oud oils.
Bushi No Kaori is dry, slightly smoky, and dark-agarwoody, with a touch of sweet woodiness. The blend has been garnished with a fantastic aged clove oil. The highest grade of clove oil was used by Samurai warriors to clean and maintain their swords passed down to them from their ancestors, and this tradition is upheld to this day by their descendants.
The meticulous fusion of the high quality ingredients in this blend results in a powerful aroma that evokes the vivid image of a Samurai warrior, his armor well-scented and his glistening sword unsheathed.
In Neriko and Bushi No Kaori, you have two very accurate emulations of early Japanese incense genres. But where the former has a very sweet and delicate aroma, Bushi No Kaori has a bolder and more serious character. Its all sophisticated composure and dignified glamor.
