because they smell that way?

incense
Originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

So John and I have had this box of incense for years. We used some of it in our Buddhist-style butsudan altar. And of late we've found a new use for the incense.

Given that there are four people who share this house and just one bathroom (sans window or any good ventilation), well sometimes things get a little, shall we say, odorous in that small space (especially when we have a weekend like this past one where one of us who shall not be named was suffering from what my Dad used to call "the holly-grobbles")

Okay. So burning incense in the bathroom is one fine way of removing stink. Did you know this? I learned it while I was traveling in China and the very finest restrooms had incense for masking the stench...

So the tagline on this box of incense cracks me up every time I read it: "The Frangrance of Our Ancestors" . Does this mean the way they smelled way back when they were alive? Or they way they are smelling now (blech) all a-moldery in the ground? Or, given that this is Japanese incense and most people are cremated there, do their remains smell like sandalwood incense? Inquiring minds want to know...