[Sponsored by three long-established fragrance companies with over 300 years of history] A spring community event to explore and experience fragrances, “Kaorihaku 2025” will be held for one month in Tokyo and Kyoto from Incense Day (April 18th)

"Fragrance Expo 2025" to be held as a city walking tour of scents

The "Kaorihaku" was held for the first time in Tokyo and Kyoto in April last year. It is an event where you can experience the pleasant season and the joy of your sense of smell while visiting stores related to fragrance. During the event, there will be a stamp rally where you can collect stamps from participating stores and receive special incense, as well as hands-on workshops where you can enjoy scents on a deeper level, such as "fragrance bag making experience" and "incense art experience for beginners."

The theme for 2025 is "FRAGRANCE OF THE WORLD." The three long-established incense companies (Kyukyodo, Shoyeido, and Nippon Kodo) will release a limited edition "EXPO Incense" inspired by the six continents as the first collaboration product.

This year, MUJI Ginza and MUJI Kyoto BAL will also be participating. Enjoy a special trip-like experience through the scents.

Main visual for "Fragrance Expo 2025"

■Event name: Fragrance Expo 2025 (Kaorihaku 2025)

■ Period: Friday, April 18th to Sunday, May 18th, 2025
*Held for one month from Incense Day (April 18th)

■Venue:
<Tokyo area>
Tokyo Kyukodo Ginza main store, Shoyeido Ginza store, Koju Ginza main store, MUJI Ginza

<Kyoto area>
Kyoto Kyukodo, Shoyeido Kyoto Main Branch and Kunjukan, Koju Nineizaka Branch, MUJI Kyoto BAL

■Contents:
1. Fragrance Stamp Rally (Free to participate/Collect 3 stamps and receive a special incense gift)

2. Fragrance experience workshop (first come, first served/reservation required)
Each store offers a variety of workshops, such as a "scented sachet making experience" where you can create your own unique fragrance, or a "kodo experience for beginners."
Details will be released on our website in due course.

3. Sale of limited edition items from the Fragrance Expo
"EXPO Incense", the scent of six continents, available at each store

■Theme: FRAGRANCE OF THE WORLD – Fragrances of the world –

■ Organizers: Kyukodo, Shoyeido, Nippon Kodo

*Please refer to the website for more details ( https://kaorihaku.com )

What is the "Fragrance Expo"?

The "Kaorihaku" is an event that was held for the first time in Tokyo and Kyoto in the spring of 2024. It was planned by three long-established fragrance companies with over 300 years of history (Kyukyodo, Shoyeido, and Nippon Kodo) with the aim of "enjoying the scents while walking around the city in the pleasant spring season" and passing on the 1,400-year-old "Japanese incense culture" to the future. It will be held for one month starting from "Incense Day" on April 18th, and is a wandering event that takes you around the city and visits fragrance shops, including a stamp rally, limited-edition product launches, and experiential workshops. In 2025, MUJI Ginza and MUJI Kyoto BAL will also join, and the event will be even bigger in scale.

Store venue (Participating stores/business information)

■Kyukyodo Manufacturing Co., Ltd. ( https://kyukyodo.co.jp )
Founded in Teramachi, Kyoto in 1663 (the 3rd year of Kanbun in the Edo period), Kyukodo began as a drug dealer, and has been manufacturing and selling incense and joss sticks using common raw materials since around 1700 (the late Edo period). In 1877 (the 10th year of the Meiji period), the company was granted the "secret perfumery technique" that had been passed down at the Imperial Court for 900 years since the Heian period by then Prime Minister Sanjo Sanetomi, and has been carefully protecting it to this day as the "secret recipe handed down from father to son."

Kyoto Kyukodo

Tokyo Kyukodo Ginza Main Store

■Shoyeido Co., Ltd. ( https://www.shoyeido.co.jp/ )
Shoyeido was founded over 300 years ago as "Sasaya," a business established by Hata Rokuzaemon Morikichi, a village chief in Tanba Sasayama. The company began making incense in earnest under the name "Shoyeido" around the time of the third-generation owner, Moritsune, and has continued to make incense ever since, up to the present day, in the 12th generation. In 1897, the company developed "perfumed incense" and successfully exported it to the United States for the first time in Japan, and in 2020, it introduced the first industrial robot in the incense industry. By fusing tradition and innovation, the company is working to preserve and develop the culture of fragrance.

Shoyeido Kyoto Main Store

Kunshukan

Shoyeido Ginza store

■ Nippon Kodo Holdings Co., Ltd. ( https://www.nipponkodo.co.jp/ )
Founded in 2011, the company is a holding company for 10 companies involved in Buddhist affairs, fragrances, and real estate, including Nippon Kokudo, Kojuten Kundo, and ESTEBAN.
Head Office: 4-9-1 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo

Nippon Kodo Co., Ltd. <br /> Founded in the Tensho era, Nippon Kodo has inherited the perfumery techniques handed down from Koju, the incense specialists who served the Imperial Court. They source the finest fragrance ingredients from around the world and, based on their unique perfumery techniques, are committed to creating fragrances that are part of people's lives, passing on the traditions of Japanese incense to the future in a way that is in line with the times.

Koju ( https://www.koju.co.jp/ )
For over 1,400 years, the precious, heaven-sent fragrant woods that were brought to Japan with the introduction of Buddhism have given birth to a variety of Japanese incense cultures. Koju was born amid the flow of history, and has continued to pass on this tradition while creating new ones for the times, providing a variety of valuable incense products that meet modern needs, from the traditional Koju Nenko "Kurokata" to incense and Japanese fragrant woods bearing the name of Master Juemon.

Kaju Ginza Main Branch

Koju Nineizaka store

MUJI Ginza <br /> In Ginza, a city visited by many people from around the world and where Japan's long-established culture coexists with the world's cutting edge, MUJI Ginza will learn from the ways of life around the world and create a store where customers can experience and experience the authentic, genuine products, services and environment that harmonize tradition and cutting edge, making use of the emotion, wisdom and lifestyle culture that lives there. We also aim to be a store that will help visitors to Ginza get to know the city better, and to become even more fond of Ginza as they explore the city and shops.

MUJI Kyoto BAL
Kyoto BAL is located in Kyoto, where history and modernity coexist in harmony, and aims to create beauty that will never fade over time.
There is an open space that expresses the brand's worldview.
MUJI Kyoto BAL offers a subtle sense of specialness in everyday life, and is a place that appeals to all generations.
We offer a high-quality lifestyle to many people.
Make your own choices and experience new discoveries.
https://www.bal-bldg.com/kyoto/shop/muji/

A look at "Fragrance Expo 2024"

The event was held for the first time in 2024, with over 2,000 people participating in a stamp rally around the stores, many of the scent experience workshops selling out immediately, and limited edition merchandise items selling out during the event period, receiving a positive response.