Book
PATH OF THE AROMA: Incense Culture in China
Editor: Aleksej Maslov
Reviewer: Sergej Komissarov, Aleksandr Storozhuk
Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences,
Москва, 2023, 316 p.
Incense culture has long played an important symbolic and sociocultural role in East Asian countries, reflecting general trends of cultural development throughout different historical periods. Originating in antiquity on the territory of China,
to date, it represents the most complex set of historical and cultural phenomena among countries of the East Asian region (China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan). It covers religious and magical rituals, sanitary and hygiene, traditional medicine, a set of
spiritual and healing practices and rituals of Taoist-Buddhist, Shinto-Buddhist and Confucian character. It is fair to consider a number of aspects of incense culture through the analysis and interpretation of archaeological sites and artifacts, written
sources, game traditions, as well as products of decorative and applied art, which allows us to speak not only about incense culture, but also about the art of incense.
This book represents the materials collected by the author over 20 years of work on the study of various aspects of the traditional and modern culture of China. The book will be of most interest to orientalists, specialists in the field of cultural anthropology, ethnology, literature, art history and cultural history, as well as to all those who are interested in oriental spiritual practices.