Shoyeido – Hoyei-koh | Eternal Treasure / Mount Fuji
In November 2022, I decided to explore the Daily Incense line of Shoyeido. As so often happens, I found an interesting offer on kleinanzeigen.de, but I was perplexed about it: although the names were familiar, the packaging looked entirely different from what I knew. After an hour of research, I eventually posted on r/Incense and was told that they were the same incense sticks, just packaged differently: one is for the domestic market in Japan, the other is the export version. As a result, I bought the Japan version of Eternal Treasure, which seem to sometimes be called ‘Mount Fuji‘ here.
I also bought Great Origin and will review it soon.
A shop that sells this Japan version as ‘Mount Fuji‘ lists lily of the valley and sandalwood as ingredients; Sonnlicht (which also sells this version) lists the same ingredients as other shops that carry the export version, namely: sandalwood, cloves, cinnamon, and other spices.
Only the boxed version appears on the official US Shoyeido online presence. Prices on the German market range from under 3€ to over 5€ – with an outlier on Amazon asking a ridiculous 13€ + shipping. I will call this Japan version Mount Fuji to avoid confusion.
Mount Fuji has a distinctly green scent, reminiscent of green tea incense sticks, but they are exceptionally sweet. I cannot specify the sweetness in detail, but sometimes I perceive it as vanilla-like.
I actually find the above-mentioned shop’s mention of lily of the valley as an ingredient to be convincing. I think the scent has a slightly perfumed or cosmetic character, which is similar to the Lily of The Valley sticks from Aromandise. Their sweetness would also fit.
This sweet note in Mount Fuji strikes me as ‘grafted on’; it doesn’t integrate well and never quite loses the impression of being a foreign element. I don’t find them actually bad, just not well-rounded.
Shortly after, I got a mini-sampler of the line to compare.
Those without a red-green colour blindness will find the visual difference obvious. The incense stick on top is from the Mount Fuji roll and is dark green, the lower Eternal Treasure is a warm reddish-brown and comes from the sampler.
They also differ in scent: Eternal Treasure also has a green scent note, but it is less pronounced; additionally, I do not find its scent cosmetic. Instead, it has a softness that reminds me of costus root (which is also used in the Gemstone series).
The scent is sweet but strikes me as different in character. The sweetness blends in much better, even though it seems more intense to me.
I cannot say which version I prefer. Both seem somewhat boring.
Also, the sampler is indeed really mini:
There’s only a 1/3 long stick (about 7cm) of each variety. That is not enough to form a final opinion.
Do you know one or even both versions? Please share your opinion in the comments!