Over the past 1400 years, the “culture of incense” has blossomed and borne fruit in each period and has been carefully passed down from generation to generation. In the Heian period (794-1185), incense added color and elegance to aristocratic society, and later, in the fall of 1183, the Kamakura shogunate was established by Minamoto no Yoritomo in Kamakura, Soshu, and developed its own “samurai incense culture”. For example, there are stories of warriors who burned Kyara on their helmets before battle in case they were defeated. Unlike the elegant “court nobles' incense culture” of Kyoto, this is a noble and dignified expression of the warrior's mind. It seems that incense merchants were settled in Kamakura from this time. As the Muromachi and Edo periods progressed, incense became a part of the culture of the townspeople.
In the Meiji period (1909), Yujiro Kito, a genius perfumer and the founder of Tenkundo, created “Hana no Hana” (flower perfume) and “Mainichi Kou” (incense stick), which became the No.1 market share in Japan. In 1985, Kito Tenkundo was restored in the ancient capital of Kamakura under the banner of “samurai incense culture. We are firmly rooted in this land of history and will continue to nurture a new fragrance culture for a new period.