岩桂 Cliff Osmanthus
Osmanthus · Mysore sandalwood · a little agarwood. Osmanthus first, sandalwood after.
“Deep in the cliff, osmanthus without compare.” — Yu Xin, In the Mountains
A contemporary literati incense house
Keep a corner
for the mountain.
Natural materials. Recipes drawn from the classical record. A quiet, kept-back hour at home — one stick long.
留一隅山
See the collections
卷一
One corner, not a whole mountain.
We do not sell the Orient, and we do not sell a mountain. We keep a corner: a small, held-back place in the city where a person can return to the mountain for the length of one stick of incense.
The urban reader who comes to us does not want to escape the city. They want to settle inside it. So we make the smallest possible ritual — a stick, a holder, thirty minutes — and we make it with materials and manners that can be looked up.
宁古无时，宁朴无巧，宁俭无俗。
Rather old than fashionable; rather plain than clever; rather sparing than vulgar. Wen Zhenheng set the rule down in 1621, in his Treatise on Superfluous Things. It is still the whole of our design brief.
- Natural. No synthetic fragrance, ever. Woods, resins, flowers, leaves — nothing else.
- Sourced. Every blend has a line of poetry or a page of the record behind it.
- Quiet. One focal point. Brass on one corner. Everything else steps back.
卷二
Collections 集
Three collections to begin with. Sticks named for mountain moments; blends restored from the record; and incense that is never lit.
山居集 Mountain Dwelling
Six incense sticks, six mountain moments. Each takes its name from a line of poetry — never from a mood, and never from an effect. About thirty minutes each.
苔阶 Moss Steps
Vetiver · moss · benzoin. Green and earthy, then a resinous warmth.
“The moss is slick, the water makes no sound.” — Yuan Haowen, Mountain Living
茅雨 Rain on Thatch
Agarwood · cypress · jiangzhen. Woody and cool, like a roof in the rain.
“Together we listen to rain on the thatch, and add a stick to the censer’s cloud.” — Yang Wanli
松月 Pine Moon
Pine resin · cliff cypress · white sandalwood. A clear night; the resin comes last.
“Bright moon through the pines; clear spring over the stones.” — Wang Wei
竹坞 Bamboo Hollow
Bamboo leaf · white tea · lemongrass. Green, bright, almost cold.
“Sitting alone in the deep bamboo, playing the qin, whistling long.” — Wang Wei, Bamboo Lodge
雪庐 Snow Hut
Plum blossom · white sandalwood · fir. The quietest of the six.
“Evening, and it looks like snow — will you take a cup?” — Bai Juyi, To Liu Shijiu
香乘集 Xiangsheng
Blends restored from the classical record — the Xiangsheng of Zhou Jiazhou and the registers before it. Recipes with a source you can open. Pictures follow when the first batch is rolled; until then, the recipes speak for themselves.
- 鹅梨帐中香 Pear-Blossom Canopy
- Agarwood steamed in the juice of winter pears · sandalwood · rose dew
- A Southern Tang court recipe, sweet and layered, kept in the record and restored. The agarwood is steamed in pear juice before it is ever ground.
- Recipe of the Southern Tang court, tenth century
- 宣和御制 Xuanhe Imperial
- Agarwood · sandalwood · ambergris · musk · borneol
- The four precious materials of the Song court, for a large room and a long evening. Powerful, and meant to carry.
- After the Xuanhe reign (1119–1125) of Emperor Huizong
随身集 Carry
Cold-pressed incense that is never lit. Tablets and beads pressed from whole materials scent a drawer, a bag or a wrist for years, warmed only by the hand.
南朝遗梦 Southern Dream
Agarwood · sandalwood · vanilla · clove · frankincense · borneol. A dark-red tablet; sweet flowers, then fruit, then sandalwood.
“One fold of hills, two folds of hills…” — Li Yu
瑞龙脑 Auspicious Borneol
Sandalwood · rhubarb · ebony · mint · rosemary · frankincense · lemon · borneol. Cool and green; a summer tablet. A deer stands on a lotus.
Black tablet, 4.5 cm, on a hand-knotted cotton cord
清阳香 Clear Yang
Magnolia · chrysanthemum · white sandalwood · storax · benzoin · borneol. A phoenix with wings spread.
Dark tablet, 4 × 5.5 cm, on a hand-knotted cotton cord
福禄自在 Gourd of Ease
Magnolia · chrysanthemum · white sandalwood · storax · benzoin. A gourd for luck and ease; worn, or kept on the desk.
Clay-red tablet, 3 × 4 cm
香珠 Incense Beads
Southern Dream on a cord: agarwood, sandalwood, vanilla, clove, frankincense. Beads of 0.8 to 1.5 cm; the scent keeps for years.
“The method of incense beads comes from the Daoists, and is old.” — Chen Jing, Chen’s Register of Incense
香牌 The Tablets
A lotus pressed into cold-condensed incense — one of the workshop’s classic motifs. No fire: it scents a drawer, a bag, or a wrist for years.
Twenty-four steps and forty days; they survive water, and a fall.
卷三
The Record 典籍
Our recipes and our manners come from three books. We quote them because we use them.
香乘
Xiangsheng — The Vehicle of Incense
The most complete compendium of incense in the Chinese record: the materials and where they came from, the recipes of courts and monasteries, censers and their etiquette, and a thousand years of anecdote. Our Xiangsheng collection restores blends from it, one at a time.
长物志
Treatise on Superfluous Things
“Of incense and tea the good is greatest. Retired from the world and talking of the Way, they clear the heart and gladden the spirit. At first light and at dusk, when the mood runs low, they open the breast. Tracing a rubbing at a bright window, reading by a lamp at night, they keep sleep away. With the window shut against the rain, or walking after a meal, they take away loneliness and vexation.”
香茗之用，其利最溥……坐雨闭窗，饭余散步，可以遣寂除烦。
And a rule we keep: one censer to a room — porcelain in summer, bronze in winter. 斋中不可用二炉。夏月宜用磁炉，冬月用铜炉。
陈氏香谱
Chen’s Register of Incense
The earlier register, whose fourth book opens with incense beads: “the method comes from the Daoists, and is old.” Beads and tablets — incense that is worn rather than burned — have been made this way for a thousand years. Ours still are.
Wen Zhenheng on agarwood: heavy; split, it should show the colour of ink; it sinks in water. 沉香：质重，劈开如墨色者佳，沉取沉水。
卷四
Ten ways of incense 用香十法
How the old manuals say incense was used. Given here as history — we make incense for the first, the third and the tenth.
- 焚
Burning
Sticks, coils and powders pressed into seal-script patterns. The everyday way since the Ming; ours.
- 熏
Warming
A sliver of agarwood set on a mica plate above buried charcoal: scent without smoke. The connoisseur’s way.
- 佩
Wearing
Tablets, sachets and beads carried on the body, in a sleeve, in a carriage. Our Carry collection.
- 灸
Moxa
Aromatic herbs rolled into cones and warmed over the skin — an extension of moxibustion, recorded in the old manuals.
- 浴
Bathing
Woods and herbs simmered into a bath for the body or the feet.
- 涂
Anointing
Powders and balms on the skin; the Great Tang Records on the Western Regions speaks of bodies anointed with sandalwood and turmeric.
- 服
Taking
Incense cakes, wines and teas. A matter for physicians of another age, not for us.
- 枕
Pillowing
Dried aromatics sewn into a pillow for the night.
- 蒸
Steaming
Aromatic steam over the body, as described in Dong Ruoyu’s Method of Incense Without Smoke.
- 禅
Sitting
“Before dressing at dawn, sit for one stick.” The way our sticks are meant to be used: light one, blow out the flame, wait for the first thread of smoke to stand straight, and do nothing for thirty minutes.
卷五
Twenty-four steps, forty days.
How a tablet is made, from a bowl of whole materials to the drying tray — cold-pressed incense (冷凝香), by hand, with no heat at any point. Sixteen moments from the workshop.
- I · Materials
- II · The mill
- III · The hand
- IV · The sun
01 / 16选
Materials
Rose buds, agarwood chips, frankincense tears, resin. Whole materials, weighed by hand — nothing synthetic, ever.
02 / 16配
Measuring
Lemongrass goes into the mill first. A recipe is a proportion, not a list.
03 / 16碾
The mill
An iron boat and a rolling wheel — the old herbalist’s mill. The wheel does the work; the hands keep time.
04 / 16碎
Breaking down
Rose and wood break down together. Nothing is heated, so the oils stay where they are.
05 / 16出
Turning out
The coarse grind, tipped from the boat into a bowl.
06 / 16筛
The sieve
A 120-mesh sieve. Whatever will not pass goes back under the wheel.
07 / 16粉
Sifting
Powder falls like dust in the afternoon light.
08 / 16和
Blending
Red sandalwood, agarwood, flowers — folded together by hand until the colour is even.
09 / 16揉
Kneading
Powder becomes dough with a natural plant binder, then rests before it is worked.
10 / 16模
The mould
A steel disc sets the size; the pattern waits underneath.
11 / 16压
Pressing
Pressed cold between two blocks. No heat, ever — heat would drive the scent off.
12 / 16修
Trimming
The overflow is cut away with a bamboo knife and goes back into the bowl.
13 / 16成
The tablet
A ruyi-cloud tablet, still soft. It will keep its scent for years.
14 / 16晾
Drying
Beads and tablets dry on bamboo trays, turned every day.
15 / 16日
Sun and air
Sun and air only, no oven. The colour deepens as the days pass.
16 / 16四十
Forty days
What is left is a small, hard, fragrant thing that survives water, and a fall.
A finished tablet holds its scent for years. It survives twelve days in water and a fall from a height; the method is patented. Our sticks are rolled from the same materials and a natural plant binder, and nothing else.
Made in Zhoushan, on the East China Sea.
卷六
No shop, yet.
The Mountain Nook is a young house. We are finishing the first six sticks and the first corner. Until the web shop opens, write to us about stockists, press, and collaboration.
留一隅
Keep a corner. Find a spot that will not be disturbed and set the holder steady. Light the stick, blow out the flame, wait for the first thread of smoke to stand straight. For the next thirty minutes, nothing needs doing.
Send us a photo of your corner — the desk, the sill, the rented room. We will keep them.