Mosquito Incense
Watch out, mosquitoes. I’m gonna go medieval on your tails. I bought myself some 蚊取り線香 (かとりせんこう / katorisenkou) today. It’s basically a slow burning incense coil that you place on a stand. It’s fragrant, and the smoke wards off mosquitoes with the “pyrethroid” chemicals in it. I’ve been working at rural schools that use them for a long time, so I thought I’d give them a crack in my own apartment. Besides, I actually enjoy the scent! I associate it with Japanese summer time, like the sound of cicadas and other bugs.
Have any of you ever used this anti-mosquito incense before? If so, do you recommend it or do you have a better solution? Please remember – I have no air conditioning, so my windows are constantly open. They’re covered with screens, obviously, but the bugs get in once in a while. Especially after a good long rain. And since we’re in the midst of rainy season, they’ve been bad recently. Rural living, folks. Gotta love it.
The brand I went with is Kincho. I bought a pack of coils, though my schools by them literally by the bucket. Ha ha. I use their other products, and this type is pretty readily available here. After reading through the Japanese Wikipedia article I linked to above, I was impressed. Apparently, a certain type of chrysanthemum (which Rikaichan supposes is called a pyrethrum) was brought over from America and raised in Wakayama Prefecture in 1885, back in the Meiji Era. By 1888 they had used it to create powdered mosquito incense. By 1890 they were turning out the classic rod-shaped incense. By 1895 they had created the coil shape (which allows for a much longer burn). 100 years later, they successfully synthesized the chemical compounds that make the stuff effective. This stuff goes way back. It’s a mix of the past and present technologies. Like arming a knight of the round table with a light saber. And hey, that sounds cool, right?
