National Treasures & Important Cultural Properties
of National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan

These pieces of shōbokukō (Japanese laurel incense) have survived while being kept in the lacquered leather box. All of them have been insect-damaged and lost their original shapes. All we have today is 130 small pieces and some residue. It is not possible even to identify the exact ingredients of them.
The lacquered leather box is square-shaped with beveled edges. The lid has not survived. There are traces of a flower-plant pattern in silver paint on the sides. The borders for laces have a four-petal flower pattern on them, while the inner sides have frames decorated with a wheel-cloud pattern in gold brocade. Tao Hongjing (456-536) describes shōbokukō in his Collected Commentaries to the Canonical Pharmacopoeia, mentioning the places where it was being produced.