Shoyeido – Kin-kaku | Golden Pavilion
In February 2022, I scored two opened bulk packs of the Daily Incense line by Shoyeido on kleinanzeigen.de. Such a box contains 10 rolls, each with about 35 sticks that have a burning time of around 50 minutes. In Germany, however, the rectangular packaging variant, which contains the same number of sticks, is more commonly found. You can see all variants on the Shoyeido‘s official US website. The prices of individual rolls or boxes vary on the German market from about 5€ to over 7€.
The listed ingredients are: sandalwood, patchouli, benzoin, cinnamon, clove, spices.
Based on that, I assumed I would love their smell. But unfortunately, I have some issues with the scent profile. Golden Pavilion has a warm, spicy, rather sweet character with a tendency toward earthiness, although I couldn’t claim to smell the patchouli distinctly. So far, so good.
However, I also find a note which reminds me of the smell of sheep or goats. It’s a weak, animalic tone which has a slightly sour aspect.
I am slowly starting to warm up to the scent, but I can’t really grow fond of it. However, I must say that Golden Pavilion smells better in my friend’s place. This unpleasant note doesn’t come through as much; in fact, I hardly notice it there. I have a vague suspicion that the scent might come from spikenard (Nardostachys jatamansi), which is sometimes said to be an ingredient. Apart from this specific smell, I find that Golden Pavilion is very similar to Moss Garden and Autumn Leaves out of the same line, though a bit less sweet.
Over the past year, I have explored more scents of the Daily Incense line and, in the process, also got myself a mini sampler.
One reason was that the second-hand incense sticks were 4 years old at the time of purchase, and I wanted to see how they compared to newer ones. (However, I hadn’t considered that the sampler might also be older.)
The second reason was to find out whether the variants intended for the Japanese market are really identical to the respective export versions. I will go into this in more detail in later articles.
The sampler is indeed mini: 1/3 a stick for each variety, which is about 7 cm.
However, I think there’s also a sampler with longer sticks.
What I can say is that the sampler contains the sticks from the rectangular single packs and that they at least differ in colour from those in the rolls for some varieties.
On the left is the brown incense stick from the sampler, on the right is one of my old ones from the bulk pack packed as rolls. The stick on the right has a distinct terracotta hue, which repeats the colour of the packaging.
In terms of scent, they are not very far apart, but I do indeed find that the ‘goat note’ is not present in the sample, and it seems to contain a fine, fresh note that I don’t find in the sticks packed as rolls. There could be several reasons for this, such as age and recipe changes. Moreover, the samples, as mentioned, are very short and only allow for a very superficial comparison. If I had to pick a variant based on these, I would choose the samples; however, I would say that the rolls have more character – only I don’t like this character.
If you are familiar with both variants or better acquainted with the version from the boxes, I would appreciate learning your opinion on them. Leave me a comment!