Oman and Japan
The Japanese tradition of incense includes a great variety of aromatics, from scented woods such as rosewood and sandalwood, to frankincense, cloves and cinnamon. Shinobu Kinoshita explained the process wherein “kneaded” incense, similar to Omani bakhur, is made through a process of grinding, filtering and kneading. He observed that Omani incense tends to be strong and rich, while Japanese incense is thin and delicate
Two distinguished speakers from Japan, both businessmen engaged in research on Japanese and Arab culture, gave sequential lectures to the Historical Association of Oman as part of the Muscat Festival, in honour of the thirtieth anniversary of the Oman-Japan Friendship Association.
Haruo Endo and Shinobu Kinoshita are both senior experts from JICA, the Japan International Co-operation Agency, who have taken a deep interest in the culture of Oman.
Haruo Endo’s research has been concentrated on the history of exchange between Oman and Japan, while Shinobu Kinoshita, who is involved in Japan’s fragrance industry, has researched the history and culture of incense in both countries. Each gave a short and highly informative lecture, one logically interconnected with the other.
Haruo Endo set the stage by emphasizing a factor of major importance — that Japan is in effect Oman’s number one trading partner. Though the volume of trade with the UAE is greater, when Japanese products exported through the UAE are taken into consideration, Japan is ranked first among Oman’s trading partners. Japan is the largest single importer of oil from Oman and Japanese oil engineering companies have been involved in Oman since the early 1970s.
The history of exchange between the Far East and Arabia is as old as the Silk Route, opened over land by China in the 2nd and early 3rd Centuries AD. China was a great power in the Far East in ancient times — while Japan was remote, unknown. It is understood however that frankincense came from Oman to Japan through China via the Silk Route. Haruo Endo mentioned the forging of the shipping route across the seven seas to southern China in the context of the famous shipbuilding technology of the Omanis and the central role this played in the development of the sea route. Haruo Endo notes that by the middle of the 8th Century AD, an Omani called Abu Ubaida made the first recorded voyage to China.
The year 753 is distinguished as the first time in recorded history that a Japanese official encountered Arab people. The reference is to an audience of the Deputy Ambassador of the Japanese mission to China with the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty on the occasion of the Chinese New Year, where Arab diplomats were noted as present. The first record of an Arab visiting Japan is in the Middle Ages, in the year 1376, when an Arab known as “Hishiri” was brought to Japan from China by a Buddhist priest. Hishiri went to the ancient capital of Kyoto to study. There he married a Japanese lady and had two sons. Haruo Endo speculates … “Was that Arab an Omani”?
Beginning in 1639, Japan went through a period of isolation in order to prevent penetration by Christian Missionaries, but was forced to open its doors by the fateful arrival of Commodore Perry’s fleet in 1853. This resulted in a short period of internal turmoil wherein the government of the Shogunate (representing the Samurai) handed over power; and, in 1868 a new government was formed with the Emperor Meiji as Head of State.
As is well known, Japan then underwent rapid modernisation, one result of which was the inauguration of international missions to Europe, the USA and Arabia. In 1880, the first Japanese diplomat arrived in Muscat by ship. Shortly after, a second Japanese ship entered the harbour under the command of Captain Sukeyuki Ito. The Japanese Commander received, through the grace of Sultan Turki who visited the Commander on shipboard, gifts of animals and the fruits of the region.
Various other Japanese diplomats followed, but the truly epoch-making event took place on February 28, 1924, when a well-known Japanese thinker and geographer named Shigetaka Shiga came to Muscat and went straight to the palace — though an invitation, he had not. Shiga asked for a message to be given to Sultan Taimur, explaining that a visitor from faraway Japan wished to discuss friendship and business opportunities with him. Within twenty-three minutes, Shiga was generously welcomed by Sultan Taimur.
From the Sultan, Shigataka Shiga heard the words that he himself had wished to say. And the message was that “…Oman and Japan both belong to Asia, and therefore why not establish a presence in Oman … together we can achieve great success with mutual goals”. Shiga told the Sultan that this was just what he had wanted to propose to him. And so Shiga left the audience in deep emotion from the warm words of the Sultan. Thus began the strong human, cultural and economic relationship between Oman and Japan.
In 1935, after he had left the throne to his son Sultan Said, Sayyid Taimur, who had been strongly affected by his encounter with Japan through Shiga and subsequently longed to visit Japan, stopped by at Kobe on his world tour. There, Sayyid Taimur met a Japanese lady whom he eventually married and with whom he had a daughter. Sultan Said, along with his younger brother, Sayyid Tariq came to Japan to visit their father Sayyid Taimur.
In 1971 Japan gave formal recognition to the new government of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos and the following year formal relations were established. Sayyid Thuwaini bin Shihab al Said, Personal Representative of His Majesty the Sultan, visited Japan in 1974, instituting a friendship protocol that led to continuous cultural exchange, including ventures in education. Since the 1970s over four hundred Omanis have received training in Japan. Today there is active and increasing exchange between the two countries. To paint emblematically a vivid picture of the bond between the two countries Haruo Endo put forward the lovely example of gardens and flowers:
“The Japanese Peace Garden was opened in Oman in 2001. Do you know that we can enjoy the Sultan Qaboos Rose, the beautiful Omani rose named after His Majesty Sultan Qaboos, in Japan? There is a well-known rose garden near my house at Yokohama. The central part of the garden is seasonally filled with fully blooming Sultan Qaboos Roses, located just next to the Queen Elizabeth Roses named after Queen Elizabeth.”
Modern economic ties began in earnest in 1949 with the commencement of Japanese exports to Oman. Importation of Omani crude oil by Japan commenced as soon as Oman began to export in 1967. At the request of the Government of Oman, the Japanese built two LNG tankers. The degree of warmth and good humour that characterises the relationship between Oman and Japan was signalled with a great deal of laughter from the audience as Haruo Endo remarked, “During World War II, a Japanese submarine came all the way to Muscat harbour and sank a Norwegian ship”.
Haruo Endo completed his talk with reference to the thousands of years since the early days of the Silk Route and all that can be anticipated in the 21st Century between two nations that have so many customs in common. “Omanis and Japanese take off their shoes, sit on the floor, and eat rice. Before the war, we had large families too. We value the old; and we respect chastity. We do not say “yes” or “no” clearly; these are ambiguous words; our decisions are based on consensus and consultation.
We share many values including generosity. We believe in honour, self respect, good manners and bravery. We were involved in calligraphy and falconry. We even share some music melodies. Oman and Japan have loyal families. All these common cultural elements play an important role in our good relations”.
The transition from the presentation of Haruo Endo to that of Shinobu Kinoshita was through frankincense, which has been known in Japan since the days of the ancient Silk Route.
Shinobu Kinoshita explained that, unlike in Oman, the raw materials for incense do not occur naturally in Japan; and therefore, in the past, incense was enjoyed only by an elite group, who developed an exquisitely refined culture of incense. Today, however, incense and frankincense are enjoyed by many.
Incense is known to have been used in Japan as long as 1,500 years ago in the 6th Century. We were shown a view of a “Treasure House” with origins in the Shogun Empire of the 8th Century. In the Treasure House are to be found beautiful relics of the ancient culture of incense. Among them is a stringed musical instrument displaying admiration for Arabia through an inlaid mother of pearl decoration, depicting a date palm and a person playing a lute on a two-hump camel. There were many examples of 8th Century long-handled incense burners with fine decoration. A 13th Century painting of a Japanese noble shows him copying a text, while gentle smoke from burning incense swirls all around.
The Japanese tradition of incense includes a great variety of aromatics, from scented woods such as rosewood and sandalwood, to frankincense, cloves and cinnamon. Shinobu Kinoshita explained the process wherein “kneaded” incense, similar to Omani bakhur, is made through a process of grinding, filtering and kneading. He observed that Omani incense tends to be strong and rich, while Japanese incense is thin and delicate.
The traditional aristocratic culture of incense included Takimono, beautiful boxes for utensils and raw materials. We were shown pictures of incense apparatus for scenting cords and infusing clothes. Techniques of burning include the use of small silver plates to hold the incense above the coals at low temperatures. Because incense was burned slowly, incense burner clocks were created.
In addition to the blessings of the aromatic quality of incense and the calm pleasure it brings, incense was believed to have protective, and medicinal powers. An example of the latter (given by Haruo Endo) was a Japanese medicine for the stomach, sold in the 17th Century and called ‘Hankon-tan’, meaning “to bring a person back to life”. Frankincense was one of the ingredients for Hankon-tan. Incense of different kinds was used as an amulet and also to repel insects. Just as in Oman recipes for fragrances, and particularly bakhur, were kept secret, in Japan each noble house had its own secret incense recipes.
The incense burners of Japan are made from a variety of materials — earthenware, metal, stone, wood; and come in many different shapes with splendid designs. Some resemble animals or birds. Over time, incense games evolved. One of them, appearing in the 17th and 18th Centuries, was a guessing game where the players were to identify a particular kind of incense by smell. Lovely objects, such as lacquered boxes with metal embellishment, and finely wrought incense burners, were part of the pleasure of the game.
Objects from the incense culture were a traditional gift in the trousseaux of Princesses. Headrests used by royalty often contained incense burners. We were shown a beautiful picture of a 17th Century Princess just rising from a fragrant sleep, her exquisitely decorated headrest still warm with scent.
Ribboned decorative balls containing incense were hung from ceilings; and, during a long period, that is, from the 10th to the 19th Centuries, these incense balls were believed to function as amulets. The meditative aspect of the use of incense was explained with the words, “We listen to the incense, instead of burning it.”
The ancient traditions of incense in Japan were the preserve of nobility, but now are present as part of everyone’s culture. In Oman, frankincense endures as a living ceremonial icon of past and present culture; and, we are blessed — often to be honoured with the pleasure of that indefinably exotic scent filling our senses and warming our hearts as we enter an Omani home.
Oman Observer, 7th February 2004
