Incense arrived in Japan alongside Buddhism, coming from ancient India via China, as an important episode in the world history of incense that reaches much further back in time. Following its arrival, the uses for incense soon extended beyond religious ceremonies and grew into the Japanese practice of Kodo, or the way of fragrance, in which fragrance is experienced and enjoyed in the spirit of Zen. Kodo, which describes the experience of fragrance as “listening” to it, maintains the core concept of the culture of fragrance in Japan to cleanse mind and body by sensing the nature that serves as the context for the fragrance.