I know "good" or "bad" is subjective, but today I would like to share my thoughts on the Nippon Kodo (Group) brands. As 2025 marked the 450th-year of founding of Koju.
If you’ve ever bought or just started exploring Japanese incense, you’ve almost certainly bought Nippon Kodo. You probably didn't have a choice. They are the inescapable gravity of the incense aisle, the brand that is seemingly everywhere, all at once. Partly because the name itself is automatically search-engine optimized (loosely translated: Nippon = Japan, Kodo = Incense House), and partly because they are the primary Japanese incense brand that successfully scaled up and built a massive international sales network.
But among the incense enthusiasts on the internet (the ones you rarely meet offline), the consensus is usually a polite shrug or a scoff. They’ll tell you it’s too perfumed, too commercial, or just "it's okay."
So, is Nippon Kodo actually good?
My short answer is yes, but not because it’s a spiritual experience. It’s good because it is the Marriott of the incense world.
With a boutique hotel or an Airbnb, you might hit a "lucky pot"—a unique, life-changing experience that feels personal and rare. But you also might end up in a dusty room with bad service and difficult refund. With Marriott, however, you know exactly what you are paying for. Whether you are in Tokyo, New York, or Paris, the standard is set. Nippon Kodo plays this exact role in the incense world: they are the benchmark. It may not be exciting, but you rarely get disappointed.
The Corporate Blob: The Nippon Kodo Group
To understand why they feel so "commercial," you just have to look at the org chart. Nippon Kodo isn't a family business or a small factory shop; it's a giant group that collects fragrance companies across different continents. A 2024 data from a Japanese career website indicated its annual sale had already surpassed 11.67 billion JPY (I assumed that’s just from its main business subsidiary not including all other affiliates of the group).
They trace their roots to 1575, which sounds impressive until you realize the modern company (the Group) was established in the 1960s and is a diversified portfolio that includes:
- Koju: A legendary incense house (est. 1575) started in Kyoto that used to supply the Imperial Palace. Nippon Kodo "inherited" them, I believe this is effectively purchasing over 400 years of "street cred" to add to their resume.
- Genieco: The makers of the famous American "Gonesh" sticks.
- Ginza Rangetsu: Because nothing says "master of fragrance" like owning a restaurant that serves crab and Sukiyaki. It’s a weird flex, but it reminds you that this is a business, not a monastery.
- Esteban & Kitowa: Both are modern, high-end home fragrance brands.
They have successfully morphed from a Kyoto artisan into a global group that can sell you a stick of incense, a scented candle, a bottle of pricy perfume, and a crab dinner all in the same fiscal quarter. This corporate morphing is partially why purists often look elsewhere. When a company scales to this level, the conversation inevitably shifts from "art" to "industry."
The Machine vs. The Hand: Modern Manufacturing
Nippon Kodo’s ability to sit on store shelves in almost every country is owed to their mastery of economies of scale. Unlike small, family-run workshops that might produce limited batches during specific seasons, Nippon Kodo has a fully industrialized manufacturing process. Yes, "industrialized"—the word that might make many incense shoppers from the handmade-only camp clutch their pearls.
A key part of this is their overseas production, particularly their massive factory in Hai Phong, Vietnam. It’s 20,000 square meters of efficiency. There are industrial mixers and high-pressure hydraulic extruders that squeeze out miles of incense strands at a volume that traditional workshops in Kyoto or Awaji Island simply cannot match. These are then whisked away to climate-controlled drying rooms.
This is a crucial distinction: while traditional makers rely on the weather, Nippon Kodo’s industrial drying rooms ensure that a box of Morning Star made in the humid Vietnam summer smells exactly the same as one made in the dry winter.
The "Handmade" Myth: A Reality Check
It is important to correct a common misconception in the incense world: no matter how "traditional" or "handmade" a brand claims to be, machinery is almost always involved.
The romantic image of a lone monk rolling dough between their palms to make thousands of sticks is likely for marketing purposes in modern business settings, and I know you know that, right? Even the most revered brands like Shoyeido or Baieido rely on industrial mixers to blend their ingredients and hydraulic piston extruders to push the dough through dies. If they didn't, they physically couldn't meet the demand.
The Real Difference: Automation vs. Intervention
The distinction, therefore, isn't about using machines, but about the human relationship with them.
The "Handmade" Standard (Shoyeido/Baieido): Brands like Shoyeido use machines as tools for the artisan. While they use extruders, the process often slows down for human inspection.
Below is a look at the Shoyeido factory floor (This video was taken in 2013). Note how workers handle the "tama" (dough ball) and how the incense is manually trayed. Sticks are often cut with bamboo knives by hand and left to dry naturally (bon-ita style). This natural drying allows the humidity of the season to subtly alter the scent profile.
The "Industrial" Standard (Nippon Kodo): For their mass-market lines, the process is about removing the human variable to ensure perfect consistency. The dough is extruded, cut, and trayed automatically, then dried artificially. You lose the "seasonality" of the batch, but you gain the reliability of the product.
The "Kyara" Controversy: Marketing vs. Reality
One of the loudest criticisms you will find online regarding Nippon Kodo concerns their marketing transparency, specifically their use of the word Kyara. And yes, DARABARA stocks some Nippon Kodo's Kyara incense line.
Kyara is the most prized, expensive aromatic wood in the world (a higher grade of agarwood/oud). It is rarer than gold. Surely, Nippon Kodo has Kyara incense priced at thousands of dollars that is top-tier. Yet, Nippon Kodo also sells products named "Kyara" at surprisingly accessible price points.
Experienced noses and critics (disclaimer: I do not have advanced olfactory nerve and can safely say I'm not one of them) point out that many of these products are "concept" scents. They are often heavy on perfumes, synthetic oils, and bases that mimic the idea of Kyara, containing only a microscopic amount (if any) of the actual wood. For a customer expecting the resinous, deep, spiritual scent of heated wood, buying a perfumed Nippon Kodo "Kyara" stick can feel misleading.
If you read the negative reviews, the sentiment is usually the same: "This smells like perfume, not wood." This muddling of ingredients is where the brand clashes most with the enthusiast community.
The Verdict: Why We Need the "Marriott" Standard
Despite the industrialization and the marketing fluff, Nippon Kodo remains essential.
It is about the Standard.
Because they are so widely distributed, Nippon Kodo creates the price tiers for the entire industry.
- Entry Level (Such as Morning Star): Affordable, accessible, reliable.
- Mass Market (Such as Hana-no-Hana, Kayuragi/Ka-fuh): Better packaging, cleaner burn.
- Higher-End (Such as Kyara): Relatively expensive, boxed beautifully.
Yes, the prices for Nippon Kodo are often inflated in overseas markets compared to Japan—sometimes significantly so. However, their pioneering effort to create a "foreigner-friendly" distribution network means they are often the only Japanese incense available to new users. They bridge the gap. Other brands like Shoyeido or Baieido may offer a more "authentic" wood experience, but they are often harder to find or intimidating to buy without prior knowledge.
So, back to the opening question: Is Nippon Kodo good? Yes, because it sets the baseline.
If you are new to incense, you should try Nippon Kodo. Get a box of Kayuragi or Mainichi Koh. Use it as your anchor. Once you know what the "standard" smells like at each price point, you can then branch out to the "exotic," "homemade," and "recommended" brands.
You might find that you prefer the raw, earthy wood of the others. Or, you might find that you actually miss the consistent, perfumed clarity of Nippon Kodo. But you won't know the difference until you've experienced the benchmark. And if you find the alternative is not as satisfying as what you get from Nippon Kodo, then you should really ponder that purchasing decision hard. Because if a "craft" brand can't even beat the factory standard, you are likely just paying for the label.
