Sumi Hinoki manages to capture the elusive essence of the precious smoke emanating from Japanese Cypress wood. First, the wood is burned by the flame, consumed in an aromatic cloud. In Japanese, Sumi means coal, ink or purity. With its smoky head notes, the fragrance takes its inspiration from the smell of Kyoto’s black charred wood houses, built with Sugi cypress wood using the traditional technique known as Yasugi or shou sugi ban (preserving wood with fire). Yasugi is also closely linked to Wabi-Sabi, the Japanese philosophy of valuing the singular, unique beauty found in imperfection. This soothing “smoked” fragrance is reminiscent of winter time, with old houses in the background and a more complex foreground.
Then comes the time of the incense ceremony, with the reassuring sweetness, half leather, half vetiver, of Gaiac wood, and the splendid dynamic of Hinoki wood, like cedar shrouded in aromatic herbs. The next layer of “Sumi Hinoki” reveals peppery notes of juniper berries and the lingering resinous notes of incense, round, almost spicy, moving the perfume into a sacred dimension.
Finally, cypress, a symbol of eternity since the dawn of time, distils its green magic, with acidulous, almost fresh notes that reveal, in their alliance with Hinoki wood, a wood worthy of the most beautiful temples in Japan. And thus, it has come full – divine – circle.
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