As readers of this Journal will appreciate, our remit is broad; both in regard to time (from before the Common Era to the closing decades of the twentieth century) and as far as place (from Baghdad to Beijing and beyond) is concerned. This gives us the opportunity to publish research on those elements of human activity that bind or separate cultures on the macro level both historically and geographically. Languages, for example, gather or divide populations. The challenges experienced by Asian language communities, engaged on the task of adopting the Roman script, were examined by a group of linguists in Vol. 20 (January 2010). Religion and kingship are other phenomena that make or break barriers and in Vol. 22 (January 2012) we published a series of complementary articles that looked at the Paramara dynasty, their religious involvements with Jainism, the Śaiva tradition of Hindusim and Buddhism in its initial homeland, North India.

The Asian perfumery legacy has had appeal in the West for many centuries, as the term ‘perfume’ itself indicates. Based on Latin roots, it means ‘through smoke’, in allusion to incense. This genre of aromatic materials, which are burned for the enjoyment of their olfactory qualities, has been important in Asian cultures for over two millennia or even longer. The term as such however, is modern European in origin and arose only at the beginning of the sixteenth century when Westerners became increasingly involved in Asia. Exotic aromatics were a contributing factor in the further exploration and colonisation of Asia in the following centuries, and make up notable trade goods to supply the globalising perfume industry to this day. Modern business could develop only thanks to the historical impetus and materials supplied from Asia. Its economic success finally led to the current interest in the sense of smell among scientists and their findings suggest the exceptional significance of this sense for the human experience. Thus, we need to assume that an important part of cultural history and understanding has been so far neglected in scholarly work, as fragrant phenomena have widely exited academic discussion. Specifically ritual activities often seem to include the use of aromatic substances.

The burning of candles and incense is common in religious ceremonies worldwide. Analysis of incense smoke has shown the presence of particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, aldehydes and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that are hazardous to health. Long-term exposure to smoke formed during combustion can cause airway dysfunction, allergic reactions and dermatological effects and is a risk factor implicated in the development of other serious diseases. In this paper the effect of these studies are reviewed and simple precautions suggested to avoid toxic effects of incense smoke.

Perfumes have been known as utilizable but exclusive products since antiquity. Use of aromatic substances was first mentioned in archaic sources of the ancient world. The origin of such fragrant substances was mainly vegetable and animal. Throughout history, the use of subtle perfumes increased and some of the exotic materials became expensive and valuable commodities. They were the source of wealth for cultures and rulers. The contribution of the Arabs to the distribution of new crops, knowledge, industrial techniques and substances is a well-known phenomenon. In our article we intend to focus on the new perfumes that were distributed throughout the world thanks to the Arab conquests and the knowledge of their other uses, mainly medicinal, that was handed down along with the products themselves. About 20 common perfumes are known to have been used in the medieval world, though half of them were not mentioned in earlier sources.

These phenomena will be dealt with and presented in a profile we built up for four perfumes: agarwood, camphor, musk and ambergris. The theoretical and practical uses of these perfumes that are presented in detail (based on various sources including traders’ documents, medical literature and practical Genizah fragments, dealing mainly with medicine) will serve as case studies for the understanding of new trends in the uses of perfumes after the Muslim conquest. Arab perfumes can be divided into three groups, according to their level of importance:

A. New perfumes, mainly from the vast region named “India”; most of which (such as camphor, ambergris and sandalwood and a compound made out of them known as nadd and ghāliya) were not known in the Middle East and the Mediterranean region until the Muslim conquests.

B. Perfumes that kept their popularity including: a variety of cinnamon, costus, spikenard, frankincense, saffron and rose.

C. Perfumes that lost their worth like balsam and myrrh.

It seems that camphor was the best and most cherished perfume that substituted balsam. Like balsam, the importance of myrrh that was imported from Arabia and East Africa also declined and it seems that its substitute was musk. Transformations in perfume fashion were in fact only part of a wider revolution of the Arabic material culture which the Middle East, the Mediterranean region and even many European countries experienced due to the Arab conquests.

Buddhism, first officially adopted by Tibetan royalty in the seventh century, remained confined to court circles and was not widely accepted during the reign of the Tibetan kings between the seventh and ninth centuries. After a dark period of persecution during the late imperial period, the so-called “Second Diffusion” of Buddhism in Tibet began towards the end of the tenth century.

Sweet smelling plant materials have attracted human attention since ancient times. It was realised that some plant materials have a better aroma when placed on burning firewood, which is how rituals all over the world came to include both plants and incense. The ceremonial feeding of the perpetual fire in Zoroastrian fire temples, performed five times in 24 hours, is called būy (aroma). The ancient Iranian scriptures – the Avesta and scriptures written in Pahlavi – all mention aromatics and several kinds of incense.

Aromatics derived from animals have played a very important role in the history of perfumery. The most well-known of these materials are musk from the preputial glands of the musk deer, ambergris produced in the stomach of the sperm whale, and civet from the anal glands of the civet cat. Two other notable materials are castoreum from the beaver, and hyraceum from the solidified urine of the African hyrax. The material that I will call ‘sweet hoof’ in this article, also called blattes de Byzance and unguis odoratus, is another fragrant material derived from an animal, consisting of the opercula of certain marine snails. With its marine origins ‘sweet hoof’ is intrinsically linked to the ocean and to trade, and it has also long been of importance all the way from the Mediterranean to China and Japan. Indeed, it is probably the most ancient animal derived aromatic to have an extensive global use, being mentioned in ancient Babylonian incense recipes. Yet, quite probably owing to its very low profile in more commonly studied genres of Sanskrit texts, the South Asian chapter of the history of ‘sweet hoof’ has yet to be written.

In Japan, there are many kinds of dōs. The term has diverse and profound meanings, making it a challenge to define. Simply speaking, dō is a way for people to train the spirit by following specific practices, with the purpose of mastering life. Prominent examples of dōs include chadō / sadō (〔 茶 道 〕 so-called “tea ceremony”), kadō (〔 華 道 〕 so-called “flower arrangement”), shodō (calligraphy), and bushidō (the ethical code of the samurai). There are also sport practices such as jūdō (judo), kendō (kendo) and aikidō (aikido), all of which are also connected with the culture of dō.

Amber has been known since antiquity in Europe, made into pendants, and used for perfume containers in large quantities since the first millennium bce. It is a naturally occurring fossilized tree (a certain kind of northern pine) resin, composed primarily of carbon-hydrogen-oxygen (C10H16O). It is rather soft (Mohs hardness 2.0–2.5), hence easy to carve, and possesses a resinous luster when polished. Its colours range from transparent to translucent deep orange-red to brown and sometimes a more opaque yellow. Solid amber has no smell, but when powdered it gives off an agreeable aroma. When warmed or burned it has a characteristic pinewood fragrance. It softens at about 150°C and, if heated above 200°C, it will break down to give an “oil of amber” and a black residue. In his Historia naturalis (XXXVII), Pliny the Elder considers its scent when heated to be the most reliable proof of real amber.

Agarwood (especially 〔 沉 香 〕 Chinese chen xiang / 〔 沈 香 〕 Japanese jinkō), among other subspecies differentiated in East Asian languages, has caught international perfumery attention in conspicuous dimensions in the past years. It belongs to the most sought after perfumery raw materials in the world. The lucrative image of its business makes international businessmen, foreign scientists, perfumers, global industry representatives, as well as locals eager to participate in its international distribution and to improve its artificial mass cultivation and synthetic production. Moreover, efforts transgress mere economic activities in Eastern Asia when perfumery devotees engage in historical research and perfumery experiments, or when they publish on their experiences, as well as when they establish networks with like-minded people.

Chinese perfumery arts have a history of two or three thousand years. The art however, was never specifically separated from medicine, personal grooming or food culture; many aromatic materials were used for all of these purposes. In comparison to western traditions it is notable that Chinese perfumery was local in character. The aromatic raw materials employed were often native to Chinese lands, or imported from nearby. Moreover, Chinese perfumery differs from the western tradition in regard to the way in which a few outstanding aromatics have been employed.