Kōdō

Kōdō (香道^?, "Way of Fragrance") is the art of appreciating Japanese incense, and involves using incense within a structure of codified conduct. Kōdō includes all aspects of the incense process, from the tools (香道具, kōdōgu), to activities such the incense-comparing games kumikō (組香) and genjikō (源氏香). Kōdō is counted as one of the three classical Japanese arts of refinement, along with kadō for flower arrangement, and chadō for tea and the tea ceremony.

The word 香 kō is written in the Chinese Kangxi radical 186 composed of nine strokes, which can also be expanded up to 18 strokes 馫. Translated it means "fragrance", however in this context may also be translated as "incense".

The word 道 dō means "way", both literally (street) and metaphorically (a stream of life experience). The suffix -道 generally denotes, in the broadest sense, the totality of a movement as endeavor, tradition, practice and ethos.

In the search for a suitable term, translations of such words into English sometimes focus on a narrower aspect of the original term. One common translation in context is "ceremony", which entails the process of preparation and smelling in general, but not a specific instance. In some instances, it functions similarly to the English suffix -ism, and as in the case of tea (chadō/sadō 茶道) one sees teaism in works dating from early efforts at illustrating sadō in English, focusing on its philosophy and ethos.

Conversely, the sense of the English phrase the way of X appears to have broadened in response to the need to translate such terms, and to have become more productive with the need to describe with a similar breadth of compass certain things in Western experience.

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