Series 3: Incense - Kyoto 2002

Series 3: Incense - Kyoto by Comme des Garçons
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8.1 / 10 497 Ratings
A popular perfume by Comme des Garçons for women and men, released in 2002. The scent is woody-smoky. It is being marketed by Puig.
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Main accords

Woody
Smoky
Spicy
Resinous
Green

Fragrance Notes

FrankincenseFrankincense CypressCypress TeakwoodTeakwood Virginia cedarVirginia cedar AmberAmber Everlasting flowerEverlasting flower PatchouliPatchouli VetiverVetiver CoffeeCoffee

Perfumer

Ratings
Scent
8.1497 Ratings
Longevity
7.1380 Ratings
Sillage
6.2375 Ratings
Bottle
6.6324 Ratings
Value for money
7.274 Ratings
Submitted by Sani, last update on 11.04.2024.

Reviews

11 in-depth fragrance descriptions
8
Bottle
8
Sillage
8
Longevity
9.5
Scent
Can777

121 Reviews
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Can777
Can777
Top Review 50  
The White Dragon
Deep and firm, the samurai was lost in his prayers. He was hardly seen because the prayer hall with the incense from the two huge golden kettles standing on the left and right side of the prayer shrine smoked so much that the room sank into a kind of semitransparent mist. Only the silhouette of the kneeling samurai could be seen from behind, who remained motionless and meditative in front of the shrine.

Buddhist prayers were heard. A choir of monks sang the old, holy scriptures in a kind of endless loop. Their singing sounded like the deep humming of hornets. You couldn't see her in the milky incense mist, but her humming song seemed to come from everywhere. Then the samurai moved slowly and raised with both hands the old, reverent sword from the cradle of the shrine. Slowly he pulled the sword out of the sheath until only the silvery white steel was visible. Then he began the ritual of soul purification.

The oils were precious. They stood in meticulous order before the one on the shrine. He reached for the brush bound from straw flowers and carried the first layer of oil on the blade. It was the finest vetiver oil earthy-green in fragrance. Then followed the second layer of cypress oil delicately acidic in fragrance. Then the third layer of cedar oil ethereally woody in fragrance. He carefully spread the individual layers with the brush on the blade. Then he began to polish her in even strokes with a silk cloth until she shone into an almost sterile shimmer.

Shortly afterwards he turned to the amber teak handle of the sword. Again he took the brush and painted the last layer with it. It was a mixture of the finest patchouli oil and the blackest coffee. In the smell delicately bitter and gently spicy. He carefully polished the fine oil into the teakwood handle until it shone in a matt, black tone almost as if it had been lacquered.
The cleansing ritual was completed!

The incense mist in the room had become so dense that the samurai could hardly be seen. Slowly he got up from his squat and turned around. His face was decorated with an ivory mask in the shape of a dragon. His lacquer-black hair was tied to a stern ponytail and fell over his shoulder as he turned. Almost hovering he went up to the center of the room and started his exercise of meditation.

He took the sword in both hands and led it with skilful movements against the white wall of incense surrounding him. The blade of the sword became faster and faster
pulled through the white smoke, creating a fine metallic chant that rose to an awesome melody with the monks' humming prayers. With each pull of the sword the smoke became less. Step by step the samurai pushed the foggy smoke aside.

Then he fell back on his knees and put the sword back into his vagina. The air in the room was suddenly crystal clear and pure. The smoke was gone,... obviously! But not quite!

Above the head of the samurai hovered a large white dragon made of dense incense. Slowly he meandered down to the resting samurai. He seemed to sniff at him gently before wrapping himself almost tenderly around the samurai like a white veil of light and smoke. The samurai took off his mask and laid it on the ground in front of him. Then he closed his eyes and took a deep breath and absorbed the white dragon with a single stroke until the dragon disappeared in him. Now he had reached absolute perfection and deepest, pure peace...now he was free!

Kyoto
There's nothing much left to say about this scent. I wrote everything down in my own way. Except one thing! The first bottle of Kyoto was sold to me by a Japanese guy with the words: "This perfume is absolutely awesome and perfect!
A man may defeat a thousand times a thousand men in one battle,
but the greatest fighter is the one who defeats himself.
-Buddha
28 Comments
10
Pricing
8
Bottle
6
Sillage
7
Longevity
9
Scent
Toppine

8 Reviews
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Toppine
Toppine
Top Review 30  
An apology
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to test Kyoto again. Known to me for years, as I'm sure most of you are too. In my 5 year old statement, I only gave the fragrance a mediocre rating because I obviously didn't find the sillage, etc. sufficient. At the time, however, I at least conceded to Kyoto that it was meditative. Oh well! Such a statement is of course not fair to this exceptional fragrance.

Because an exception fragrance he is in any case. An incense fragrance and also not again. Kyoto is reminiscent of the ancient tradition of the Buddhist Kodo incense ceremony, which is still maintained today, in which various fragrant woods are burned, and the scent of the smoke is mixed with that of the wood. Not an opulent Arabic or darkly sacred tree resin incense, but a light, gentle, slightly cool smoke that gives the scent of the cedar and cypress wood room to develop. The special feature of Kyoto is that the smoke does not cover the smell of the woods and other ingredients, but allows a delicate interplay of smells.

In the base, the woods dominate with the support of patchouli and amber. Vetiver sets a clear green accent. A wonderful, green woody and grounded base.

Kyoto is not only very meditative, it is a clear, bright, extraordinary fragrance that conveys peaceful calm and serenity. With its interplay of smoke and wood, Kyoto never gets boring. Despite its particularity, it is perfectly wearable and, to my mind, elegant as well.

In my search for fragrances with bright incense, Sancti also ran across me at the time. Again, bright smoke, cedar and cypress. Sancti is for me to this day the fragrance that is most similar to Kyoto. Still, its citrusy freshness makes it seem completely different. I would love to wear Sancti on a summer evening, whereas with Kyoto I don't think about seasons at all. Kyoto doesn't know time and space and winter and summer.......

If I had to name a fragrance that evokes a similar mood in me as Kyoto, it would be 'Citta di Kyoto'. Both scents to exhale.....

So nothing to complain about at all? Yes, one tiny thing: I can't detect the coffee, but I can live with that. And before we get completely lost in meditation, here's a tangible little tree poem from one of my favorite authors:

"Cypress trees are by no means
only the tourists on the biscuit.
If the tourist is missing, the cypress
sometimes falls on its own face." (Robert Gernhardt)

I think the old Buddhists would have liked that too!
25 Comments
6
Pricing
8
Bottle
7
Sillage
9
Longevity
9.5
Scent
Weserkind

1 Review
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Weserkind
Weserkind
Top Review 26  
Heaven on earth

I dare and dedicate my first review to this wonderful fragrance.

It's been a few years now since I first smelled this fragrance and Kyoto gave me so much peace back then in the midst of a very difficult phase.

More months passed and I had to think back to Kyoto again and again I felt this unmistakable scent of silence in my nose. Kyoto just wouldn't let me go. This strange scent DNA was now stored in me and there were often these moments where Kyoto quietly enveloped my synapses.

So I ordered myself a small bottling every now and then to satisfy this longing, in the meantime I own the bottle. Kyoto focuses on the essentials. The spiritual aura can definitely be smelled, the incense dominates in a very friendly bright way. I don't smell the coffee note out of it, more the woody aromas. When I smell Kyoto, I am overcome by a similar feeling of happiness, like when you smell the ground, the earth, nature after heavy rain. Kyoto is clean, cool and puristic and gives you an infinite peace and that for several hours.
When everything around me becomes too turbulent, then Kyoto can be relied on. For me, the ultimate fragrance to drive down and to reflect.

Dear Kyoto, I am united with you forever!
4 Comments
7
Bottle
6
Sillage
7
Longevity
8
Scent
Serenissima

608 Reviews
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Serenissima
Serenissima
Top Review 13  
the second attempt
I still remember very well the incense sample collection that Meggi put together for me at the very beginning of my time here.
There were great scents, all foreign to me and my curiosity arousing.
And so I can still remember very well to have tested also "Kyoto" from the series 3 Incense by "Comme des Garçons".
But this fragrance refused me at that time and so he was allowed to travel on.

The current bottling of Yatagan lay around spurned for a long time, until I approached it again. I did not expect much from this second attempt, but as so often in recent times, I should be surprised.

After I left the rest area with the coffee-drinking hikers, the narrow, rather overgrown trail continues into the greenery.

(Once again, I have the "well-intentioned warning" ringing in my ear, "Put on proper shoes!")
Earthy and slightly damp, the spicy scent of vetiver surrounds me, accompanied by no less earthy dark brown patchouli; I feel somehow sheltered.
Pleasant silence surrounds me, only the soft rustling of the trees and now and then a rustle in the undergrowth can be heard: how soothing is this aromatic peace!
Suddenly I am standing in a clearing; unexpectedly it opens in front of me.
Surrounded by cedars and cypresses, proud and straight, there is a stone shrine; artfully carved and inlaid with fine teak.
Everything is barely weathered, as if an invisible protection has lain over it for years.
A bouquet of immortelles has been placed beside the metal bowl in which incense glows on glowing coals, mixing its mystical smoke with the scent of the immortelles.
In general, all the fragrances that surround me unite to form an olfactory dream in shades of green and brown that invites devotion.
A slight glow lies over the entire scenery: amber also glows in a similar bowl on the other side of this shrine.
To whom might it be dedicated?

Thus, "Kyoto" paints in rich colors a place that invites one to linger, to pray and to contemplate.
The silence that reigns there is interrupted only by the sounds of the surrounding forest; the gurgling of a spring can be heard in the distance: it belongs, of course, to this slightly enchanted place!

This feeling of smoky, woody security envelops me for a few hours and does me good.
Maybe then really wasn't the right time for "Kyoto" and me.
Perhaps the last very noisy and restless years have sensitized me to this fragrance; because I long very much for peace.
A certain relaxation spreads not only on my skin, but also inside me.
So I guess "Kyoto" will accompany me the next evenings and give me with a little luck quiet nights.
It would be worth a try!
This would be the first!
6 Comments
6
Bottle
7
Sillage
9
Longevity
10
Scent
Amazona

12 Reviews
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Amazona
Amazona
Very helpful Review 16  
Weih(r)auch for beginners in comparison
A lot of nice things have been written about this fragrance. He represents for me the first encounter with the topic incense. Parallel I have the "Mystic incense" of The Merchants of Venice in the test.
The brand CdG I quite like, the CdG2 I bought after long hesitation also as a Flacon. The is loud and fresh-fröhlich, the incense in it is perceptible, but very subliminal.
With Kyoto, it is quite different, although the CdG DNA , the light-synthetic, to smell.
This is a very fine incense mist that lays on the skin like a silk scarf. The scent is quite quiet, linear, remains cuddly and persistently smellable. I can't particularly highlight the other notes listed, but that's not significant. It's the overall artwork that counts. The scent is bright, powdery, smooth. So right for newcomers to the theme. The coffee note is also in the Mystic insence. This one is significantly louder, but also very nice. Here the date note and spices come out much more clearly.
The name Kyoto builds for me the mental bridge to the Japanese tea ceremony and meditation, pause, to this mood fits the fragrance excellent.
The Mystic insence fits Venice; a little louder, happier, more sociable.
In that respect, depending on your mood, I can recommend both scents for incense beginners. For incense lovers who want to linger next to the lit resin, both scents are not the right choice.
6 Comments
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Statements

8 short views on the fragrance
LillibetLillibet 6 years ago
8
Bottle
6
Sillage
6
Longevity
7.5
Scent
A lovely cool, but not cold, incense fragrance with a lightly spicy green woody base. Wear to wander in a gallery for a meditative mood.
0 Comments
WorrywortWorrywort 1 year ago
5
Sillage
4
Longevity
10
Scent
Used a 2mL sample. In no uncertain terms: this is my dream scent. It does not project- okay. It does not last- heartbreaking.
0 Comments
DopeweaselDopeweasel 2 years ago
5
Bottle
8
Sillage
10
Longevity
8
Scent
So richly like a temple. Idk what it is about this one. But it's gorgeous and oriental.
0 Comments
LessthanzeroLessthanzero 2 years ago
1ml sample. Youthful incense. Cool, crisp, bordering on aquatic. Almost minty. Reminds me of Eros! Good projection. Not for me.
0 Comments
GavarrusGavarrus 15 days ago
3
Sillage
2
Longevity
4
Scent
A boring, short-lived, citrusy, aromatic incense
0 Comments
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