Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 3.djvu/21



NOTHER aristocratic amusement of the Military epoch was the "comparing of incenses" (Kô-awase). This particular product of Japanese civilisation has hitherto evoked only ridicule from the few foreign writers who have made any reference to it. Apparently it presented itself to them under no guise except that of a frivolous game, designed to test the delicacy of men's sense of smell by requiring them to distinguish between the aromas of various kinds of incense. Even when thus interpreted, the pastime is not more childish than many of the diversions that hold the attention of grown persons at social réunions in Europe and America. But the Kô-awase was not merely a