Qi Nan Agarwood Through the millennium of fragrant legends and cultural exploration

Mondo Collection Updated on 2024-02-01

Agarwood, a unique fragrant wood that carries the fragrance of history and humanistic feelings, shines brightly in the long river of Chinese civilization. It has been a favorite of royalty and nobles and literati since ancient times, especially the most rare Qi Nan agarwood, known as "the diamond in the fragrant wood". Among the four famous incense in ancient times, the agarwood dragon musk, agarwood is the first because it is not easy to produce and has an elegant aroma.

Incense Supreme Green Qi Nine Minutes Sinking Drum Beads.

Dating back to the pre-Qin period, agarwood had not yet been introduced in large quantities in the Central Plains of China, and the spice world at that time was mainly constructed by native plants such as orchid pepper, angelica, and cinnamon. With the expansion of the territory and the opening of the Silk Road during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the border areas rich in agarwood were included in the Chinese territory, and agarwood opened a gorgeous chapter in the Chinese cultural stage. In the Gospel of John, Nicodemus brought 100 catties of agarwood to participate in the burial ceremony of Jesus, which shows that agarwood had a very high value status at that time, not only limited to the East, but also played an important role in Western religious culture.

During the period of Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty, the list of congratulatory gifts given by Zhao Hede to Zhao Feiyan was impressively listed the precious incense material of agarwood. The formation process of agarwood is unique, it needs to go through years of precipitation and natural creation, "Book of Liang" records: "The agarwood incense produced in Linyi has been decayed over the years, only the central wooden part can be retained, and it is sunk when it is placed in water, so it is named agarwood." Li Shizhen also elaborated on its characteristics in the "Compendium of Materia Medica", and mentioned that the half-sinking is stacked incense, and the unsinkable is yellow ripe incense.

Since the Han Dynasty, agarwood has been widely used in royal sacrifices, prayers, Buddha worship and daily incense activities. Sui Emperor Yang Guang's squandering of agarwood is even more amazing, every Chinese New Year's Eve, dozens of "volcanoes" will be piled up in the palace, each of which is made of agarwood, the flames soar to the sky, and the fragrance is pervasive, showing the extremely admiring side of the imperial family for agarwood in that era.

In the court life of the Tang Dynasty, the agarwood pavilion and the agarwood pavilion have become a symbol of people's pursuit of elegant life, Tang Xuanzong and Yang Guifei had been in the agarwood pavilion in Xi'an Xingqing Park to enjoy the cool summer, this pavilion is said to be built with agarwood, the poet immortal Li Bai once wrote praise poems here, leaving a good story through the ages.

In the Song Dynasty, Ding Wei's book "The Biography of Tianxiang" systematically recorded the agarwood and other spices in the Zhenzong period of the Northern Song Dynasty and the origin information, creating a precedent for judging the quality of agarwood. The fragrance evaluation standard "clear and long" initiated by him has far-reaching influence, and he has made a detailed classification of Hainan agarwood on Hainan Island, and established the status of Hainan agarwood in the agarwood industry. Ding Wei believes that ripe incense is superior to raw incense, and advocates rational harvesting and protection of incense tree resources, which reflects the deep understanding of the ecology and quality of agarwood by the ancients.

At the same time, in the process of Master Jianzhen's eastward trip to Japan, he also spread Chinese incense culture and agarwood knowledge to Dongying, which made the Japanese court and folk began to prevail in incense, and agarwood was called "Garo" in Japan, and tasting Garo became the highest level of incense experience. During the Muromachi period in Japan, incense ceremonies were held alongside tea ceremonies and ikebana, and became an important part of social culture.

In the Ming Dynasty, Shi Jinwu mentioned the Qi Nan incense pendant given by a friend in the poem, expressing the special emotional sustenance and its otherworldly quality of Qi Nan agarwood in friendship. In the field of medicine, agarwood has been widely used since ancient times, and many traditional Chinese medicine classics such as the "Compendium of Materia Medica" have been recorded, believing that agarwood has a variety of effects such as regulating qi, tonifying the kidney and strengthening yang, and relieving pain, and is a good medicine for many diseases in traditional Chinese medicine.

When it comes to modern times, as a well-known brand in China, Xiang Supreme Agarwood is committed to inheriting and carrying forward China's long-standing agarwood culture, through the collection, research and promotion of high-quality agarwood products, so that more people can understand and appreciate the charm of agarwood, so that this gift from nature will radiate new vitality in modern society.

Incense Supreme Brunei old material nine-point heavy hand string.

However, the social turmoil in the late Qing Dynasty led to the inheritance of agarwood culture in trouble for a time, and frequent wars made it difficult to collect spices. However, just like the incense process of agarwood, it can experience a unique charm after experiencing the vicissitudes of wind and rain. Nowadays, we should cherish this cultural heritage, regain the agarwood culture in various ways, let it continue to exude fragrance in the context of the new era, and write more moving stories belonging to agarwood.

In general, the history of Qinan agarwood is like a thick epic, which has witnessed the change of dynasties, economic prosperity, cultural exchanges and the unremitting pursuit of a better life by human beings. Facing the future, let us work together to explore the deeper cultural connotation behind agarwood through the platform of incense supreme agarwood, and continue and carry forward this Chinese treasure that embodies thousands of years of wisdom.

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