Abstract
The purpose of this study is to investigate effects of natural incense on the preservation of paper- and textile-based remains and the kinds and applications of natural anti-insect incense by reviewing relevant literatures of the ancient times. There are few ancient literatures of incense published in Korea. The researcher deducted how incense was used in this nation through reviewing verses contained in ancient literatures and medical books. In contrast, the kinds and applications of anti-insect incense used in China, where incense culture prospered, were investigated here through reviewing technical books about incense published during the Song(宋) and Ming(明) periods, $\ll$Incense record(香譜)$\gg$, $\ll$Chen's Incense record(陳氏香譜)$\gg$ and $\ll$Incense record(香乘)$\gg$. There were several methods of keeping clothes better from insects. In relation, how to use anti-insect incense varied in accordance with main materials of clothes, paper, textile, leather and others. Cymbopogon dstans(芸香), Brassica rapu var and Incarvillea sinensis(角蒿) are anti-insect incense which were used for paper. Anti-insect incense for textiles is classified into single and mixed incenses depending on whether only one kind of incense was used or more than seven kinds of the substance. Acori rhizoma(菖蒲), Capsella bursa-pastoris(薺菜花), Lactuca sativa L., Erigeron canadensis(莽草), Stemona japonica(百部) and Moschus sifanicus(麝香) are single anti-insect incense which were used for textile. While, the latter was called. ‘Yi Xiang(衣香)’ is mixed anti-insect incense which was used for textile. Artemisia asiatica(艾葉) and Zanthoxylum schinifolium(花椒) are anti-insect incense which were used for leather. Angelica dahurica(芳香) and Bamboo are anti-insect incense which were used for others. There were three main methods of using incense to prevent insects, that is, diffusing incense's strong scent and ingredients, exposing to smokes from burnt incense and washing with incense-boiled water. Diffusing incenses had a strong scent and antibiotic ingredients, which were put between books or clothes or into a storage box without being processed. If necessary, however, they were processed into rough powders that were in turn used singly, or otherwise mixed for a stronger scent and better insect elimination. Exposing to smokes from burnt incense was done as follows. A clothes was put on 'Long(籠)' underneath which there was a boiling water. The clothes was humidified by the water and then exposed to smokes from burnt incense. 'Long(籠)' had been long used since it was manufactured in the QinHan(秦漢) period for the first time. A local literature, $\ll$Koryo TuGing(高麗圖經)$\gg$ shows that in the Koryo(高麗) period, BoShaLu(博山爐) were used as a means of exposing clothes to smokes to prevent moths, similarly to China. Washing clothes with incense-boiled water was more effective in removing lots of worms and germs from clothes, but leaving the scent and ingredients of the used incense and maintaining the effect of anti-insect.
(Dept. of Clothing & Textiles, Pusan National University)
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