Yamanashi

There’s a finesse in the way they do things in the East. 

The detailed, often comical portrayal in Chinese and Japanese artworks depicting the master-student relationship that jives so perfectly with koan absurdities that make things… click. 

Little sculptures of a smirky cat or shy elephant exaggerate their expressions precisely because this captures how we perceive them.

Look closely at traditional Chinese and Japanese teapots, finely decorated, sometimes deliberately cracked, the decorated bamboo utensils, a box that took a year to make by hand, or a rosewood tray table with a hand-engraved image of a bull kicking a monk into the air (there’s that humor again). 

And you see the same approach of reverence and finesse in the kodo tradition. 

Kodo is about “listening” to a scent. It’s a ceremony of patience with slow, deliberate movements and gentle inhalations to really zoom in on a smell and nothing but the smell. Let’s call it zenhilation.  

While any EO perfume can and should be smelled up close and personal, over and over in order to appreciate the interplay between the robust and delicate aromatics, Yamanashi is meant to be experienced kodo style. 

The perfume is built around Japanese rose otto, which in my experience has been by far the most difficult rose to get – we had to wait a few years before acquiring the batch that’s used in Yamanashi. 

But Japanese rose is only the scaffolding of the fragrance. Yamanashi is such a uniquely kodo experience because you’ll discover how Japanese rose can be transmuted and how beautifully it enhances the other rare aromatics showcased in the perfume.

Smell lychee-laced rosa rugosa, yuzufied rugosa, the pristine white otto petal aroma whitened even more with the nighttime scent of mimosa which is then cream-drenched in blue lotus and pollen-dunked in sweet beeswax.

I wanted to accentuate the red tenor of the rose, and it was easy to choose the perfect companion oud. We all know that there’s a jungle world famous for its signature red aroma. Now, imagine stripping the most incredible Koh Kong agarwood of all accessory notes – all the fruity tones, the jammy texture, the often overripe twang – and instead you get to smell the soul of the red oud itself…

And now imagine Yamanashi’s rouge enhanced with three full grams of Ko Kon to create the most exquisite rose-oud zendo.

The subtle sweetness of cherry and apricot and raspberry – not notes to be picked out, but listened to through the prism of the diffusive sweetness of Japanese rose, the marriage of which is reflected through the prism of Tibetan and Mongolian musk’s exalting effect.

TOP
Yuzu
Neroli
Lychee
Raspberry

HEART
Japanese Rose
Ylang Ylang
Blue Lotus
Beeswax
Mimosa

BASE
Ko Kon
Sandalwood
Grey Ambergris
Mongolian Musk
Tibetan Musk

The zenplicity of a single branch pink with cherry blossoms painted on a large, otherwise empty canvas. Elegant and relaxing. A sense of space and refinement that has been ingrained in the mannerisms of artists from these lands through thousands of years. 

With Yamanashi, I strove to capture this Eastern finesse the best I could in olfactory form. So, listen closely!

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