Sorry for the unintended hiatus. I have been busy with making more incenses. Just recently I have written a guest post for a travel blog Momentum on Mindfulness: The Way of Incense. If you are interested, head over to read it.
De-mystifying Onycha
For over a year, there was just so much hype on Onycha in Chinese incense circles, it is something that they call 甲香 (jia3 xiang1), no one knew what it really was! There is a legend amongst these circles, that Onycha is a legendary and amazing material, that if it is milled or ground for… [Read More…]
Wishing all readers : Happy Lunar New Year 2016!
Hi folks! Happy Lunar New Year! Time flies.. and another year has gone by. Wishing all my readers, good health, happiness, and many fragrant experiences! Growing a little radish at my tea and incense table, in chinese, radish is called 菜头 which sounds like auspicious beginnings Plum blossoms – announcing spring’s arrival. I had… [Read More…]
Interplay of the Senses
I often meet people whom are interested in Incense but always told me that they were unable to discern nor distinguish some scents. How can one enhance one’s sensory acuity? We use our senses to probe the apparent reality of the world we live in all the time. Living in the “sense” realm, the “human… [Read More…]
The Kodo Cup
I had been a strong advocater of electric heating of fragrantwoods for quite a while. The reason behind this, stems from observation of what society and people need. With high stressed levels, long working hours etc, it is important that they can find quick relief and quick solace. The electric burner fulfils this criteria very… [Read More…]
Processing of Sandalwood in Chinese Incense
If you have been following my youtube channel or some national talkshow i.e. (国学堂) in China, you might have come across the bold assertion that all sandalwood used in incense must be processed. According to them, if the sandalwood is not processed, smelling too much of it will cause one to feel restless from the… [Read More…]
Cardio-protective properties of Agarwood
The cardio-protective properties of Agarwood(particularly Kynam) had been recorded in chinese medical literature for many centuries, with written accounts from many historical chinese physicians. In the traditional Chinese/Han medicine that Japan practices, there is a fabled 速效救心丹 (cardiac rescue pill) that uses kynam as one of its key ingredients. Traditional chinese medicine users in Hainan… [Read More…]
Scent classification by the Chinese
I’ve had a copy of this diagram for quite a while, a common diagram used by the chinese when it comes to perfumery and other scent related applications. Decided to spend the past week translating it so that more people can get access to the information.. so here it is!.. Basically, they had… [Read More…]
How to Blend Incense
Apologies for the lack of updates for a while, Singapore was hit by some kind of bad haze due to forest fires in Indonesia, I hope the gaharu trees are still safe!! The haze was probably caused by oil palm plantation owners clearing land, forest or old plantations by setting everything on fire. Theoretically its… [Read More…]
Kyarazen.com is not affiliated with any Vendor, Merchant or Website
Hello all, Just a public service announcement. My web administrator had been updating me with potential site attacks, logins, and bots trying to trawl/dig my website, with also many people from all over the world saving my pages, downloading all my images etc. There are also various merchants, vendors, that have my website hyperlinked in… [Read More…]