Yamadamatsu Kōbokuten

Yamadamatsu began as a wholesaler of medicinal ingredients in Kyoto during the Kyōhō era, then shifted its focus to aromatic woods in 1772 (Meiwa 9), the point the house marks as its transition into incense. Its main store still stands west of the Kyoto Imperial Palace on Muromachi-dori, where an entire wall of wood chests holds raw aloeswood, agarwood, and sandalwood for sale by weight.

The shop is built around direct engagement with kōboku, aromatic wood itself, rather than finished sticks alone. It runs a 'monko' course where visitors learn to listen to incense wood the way the kōdō tradition prescribes, a nerikoh blending course for making compounded incense by hand, and wood-appraisal services for collectors — activities that treat incense as material and craft rather than a packaged product.

A second location operates near Hanzomon in Tokyo, extending a Kyoto-rooted business that has spent two and a half centuries specializing in raw fragrant wood into the country's other major incense market, while keeping the appraisal and blending expertise that distinguishes it from stick-incense manufacturers.