Tea led us to farmers.
Farmers led us to forests.
And forests led us to Owase.
In early 2026, we traveled to Owase, Mie Prefecture to visit Hayami Forestry. What was planned as a brief meeting became a four-hour conversation, followed by a walk through the mountains.
As we moved deeper into the forest, Mr. Hayami shared the story of the trees around us. Some were planted 50 years ago. Others 70. Some nearly 80 years old, planted in the years following the war.
Standing among them, it became impossible to see hinoki as simply a material.
Each tree carried decades of time.
Each forest carried the work of generations.
What fascinated us most was learning that the wood used to produce hinoki oil often begins as what would otherwise be considered waste. Branches, offcuts, and unused portions are gathered and distilled. Nearly two tons of wood yield only around twenty kilograms of essential oil.
The older the tree, the deeper and more complex the fragrance becomes.
For our incense, the oil is extracted from 80-year-old Owase hinoki and then transported to Awaji Island, the historic heart of Japanese incense making. There, it is transformed into incense using techniques refined over centuries.
The final fragrance was entrusted to SARI, a perfumer introduced through a friend.
Her sensitivity to scent is extraordinary. Delicate yet expressive, she composes fragrances the way a musician composes melodies—layer by layer, note by note, searching for harmony.
Today, we are waiting for the final incense to be completed.
From forest, to oil, to fragrance.
A journey measured not in distance, but in time
We are still building. One story at a time.