@kesiro In a review of the literature from our esteemed artisans, it's really not quite simple to see exactly what is kyen. Kyen lies between 'kayu minyak' low grade wood and 'seah' higher resin, incense grade wood, as evidenced here...
Kyen can also be more fragrant than the blackest, most resinous wood and sell for a lot of money, as evidenced here...
Kyen can be high resin content, as evidenced here...
Or, high oil content, as evidenced here...
Basically the term kyen covers a wide range of types and levels of resin or oil content and is very subjective, one mans kyen is anothers seah; it depends on who you're asking, the time of day and what oils are being distilled; in short, it's branding and doesn't dictate how an oil will smell. Also, to assess and grade wood based on one lousy cell phone photo is IMO impossible. Sure, one could guesstimate the weight but would it be accurate? How would one assess relative resin to oil density without holding it? How does one deteremine if it's the type of kyen that sells for a lot of money and is more fragrant than the blackest seah without burning it? How does one know if it's hollow, stuffed, painted, etc. from a picture? What's on the other side? IMO anyone claiming to be able to grade wood infallibly based on a picture only, is greatly overestimating their skillset and actually making a best guess.
@kesiro it's true that the kodo master would likely not classify agarwood in Latin terms, however he would classify agarwood.
Kodo masters follow one of two, or possibly more, classical schools, the Oieryuu school and the Shinoryu school; Kodo is the Japanese art, The Way of Fragrance and Mon-koh translates loosely from Japanese to mean, listening to incense (Kyarazen, 2013). Japanese grading of agarwood has a codified system of assessment based on things such as resin content, colour, shape and weight (Compton, n.d.).
When speaking with a kodo master don't speak in Latin, use one of the following terms...
The following is an outline of the classical go-mi rikkoku classification system, developed by literati and connoisseurs appointed by Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa in the 16th Century:
• Kyara~A name originating from the Sanskrit kara, meaning “black”. The highest quality variety of agarwood and possessing all five component flavours (as listed below), kyara is prized for its noble and elegant scent – like an aristocrat in its elegance and gracefulness. Sourced from Viet Nam.
• Rakoku~A sharp and pungent smell similar to sandalwood and possessing bitter, salty and hot flavours – reminiscent of a warrior. Sourced from Thailand.
• Manaban~With a great variety of scents and rich in resin ingredients and possessing mostly sweet flavours – coarse and unrefined, like a peasant. Believed to be sourced from the east (Malabar) coast of India, and perhaps from Indo-Malaysia.
• Manaka~Among the scented woods, this type has a rather shallow scent and is not strongly related to any of the five flavours – light and changeable like a woman’s feelings. Sourced from Malacca (Malaysia).
• Sasora~A quiet scent with a light and faint flavour, with good quality sasora mistaken for kyara, especially when it first begins to burn – reminiscent of a monk. Believed to be sourced from western India, but this is uncertain.
• Sumatora~Rich in resin ingredients and sour at the beginning and end, sometimes easily mistaken for kyara – reminiscent of something distasteful and ill-bred, like a servant in his master’s clothing. Sourced in Sumatra (Indonesia).
[Source: Kaori no Techo (Scent Handbook) (Shoyeido Corporation, 1991); Morita (1992)], (as cited in Compton, n.d.)
From Kyarazen 2013,
@kesiro as you can see from the first box, assessment is done by visual, physical and heating properties.
Compton, J. (n.d.). The use and trade of agarwood in Japan. Retrieved from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.459.1016&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Kyarazen. (2013, May 6). Perspectives on the rikkoku gomi. Retrieved from https://www.kyarazen.com/perspectives-on-the-rikkoku-gomi/#
The ability to take things at face value is easy for the naive, those who believe anything they're told and/or those not intellectually curious. There's a saying that ingenuity is the mother of invention; It's really ingenuity mixed with necessity and being inquisitive. The assumption that things are tainted by partisanship or emotional ties to self or others, can be done, assumed and/or perceived by one, any or all parties in discussion. Sometimes a cigar is a cigar, sometimes it's prank firecracker, depends on who's throwing the party, but you won't know until you light it.
At the opposite ends of the kyen spectrum you have either white, low-oil content wood, widely referred to by such terms as 'oil-grade', 'low-grade', 'kayu minyak', etc; and higher-resin, lower-oil content wood ('seah'), which we call 'incense-grade', 'double super', etc
I said some yellow looking types of kyen are much more fragrant than the blackest, most resinous chunks of wood coming out of the jungle nowadays. I can see where the confusion is coming from, now. You're using the words 'resin' and 'incense' interchangeably. They're not synonymous. While a higher resin-content wood is more likely to qualify as incense-grade than a higher oil-content wood, that's not an absolute rule. I mentioned before that there are some really nice types of kyen that can sell for a lot of money. And they smell more fragrant than the blackest wood. It doesn't mean they are 'oil-grade' and not 'incense-grade' just because they're kyen and they look like it. What it means is, they may contain a lot more oil than they do resin, as opposed to 'seah' wood, which contains much more resin than oil.
1. Seah: “Incense-grade”, super hard resin, also called “the crust”.
2. Kyen: High resin content heartwood.
2. Kyen: High resin content heartwood.
'Kyen' is high oil-content agarwood.
@kesiro it's true that the kodo master would likely not classify agarwood in Latin terms, however he would classify agarwood.
Kodo masters follow one of two, or possibly more, classical schools, the Oieryuu school and the Shinoryu school; Kodo is the Japanese art, The Way of Fragrance and Mon-koh translates loosely from Japanese to mean, listening to incense (Kyarazen, 2013). Japanese grading of agarwood has a codified system of assessment based on things such as resin content, colour, shape and weight (Compton, n.d.).
When speaking with a kodo master don't speak in Latin, use one of the following terms...
The following is an outline of the classical go-mi rikkoku classification system, developed by literati and connoisseurs appointed by Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa in the 16th Century:
• Kyara~A name originating from the Sanskrit kara, meaning “black”. The highest quality variety of agarwood and possessing all five component flavours (as listed below), kyara is prized for its noble and elegant scent – like an aristocrat in its elegance and gracefulness. Sourced from Viet Nam.
• Rakoku~A sharp and pungent smell similar to sandalwood and possessing bitter, salty and hot flavours – reminiscent of a warrior. Sourced from Thailand.
• Manaban~With a great variety of scents and rich in resin ingredients and possessing mostly sweet flavours – coarse and unrefined, like a peasant. Believed to be sourced from the east (Malabar) coast of India, and perhaps from Indo-Malaysia.
• Manaka~Among the scented woods, this type has a rather shallow scent and is not strongly related to any of the five flavours – light and changeable like a woman’s feelings. Sourced from Malacca (Malaysia).
• Sasora~A quiet scent with a light and faint flavour, with good quality sasora mistaken for kyara, especially when it first begins to burn – reminiscent of a monk. Believed to be sourced from western India, but this is uncertain.
• Sumatora~Rich in resin ingredients and sour at the beginning and end, sometimes easily mistaken for kyara – reminiscent of something distasteful and ill-bred, like a servant in his master’s clothing. Sourced in Sumatra (Indonesia).
[Source: Kaori no Techo (Scent Handbook) (Shoyeido Corporation, 1991); Morita (1992)], (as cited in Compton, n.d.)
From Kyarazen 2013,
@kesiro as you can see from the first box, assessment is done by visual, physical and heating properties.
Compton, J. (n.d.). The use and trade of agarwood in Japan. Retrieved from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.459.1016&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Kyarazen. (2013, May 6). Perspectives on the rikkoku gomi. Retrieved from https://www.kyarazen.com/perspectives-on-the-rikkoku-gomi/#
The most difficult thing to learn sometimes is the ability to take things at face value, without a biased point of departure tainted by partisanship or emotional ties. Not everything is a detective story or a twisted psychological tale of dubious marketing motives. Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar.