Michiho Ito
Department of Pharmacognosy, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 608-8501, Japan
Agarwood has often been used for something relevant to traditional culture and religious events that stories on it were liable to be mysterious. The most important characteristic of agarwood is its noble fragrance that is hardly described with scientific measurements. These were the difficulties that have to be overcome when scientific research programs were planned for agarwood. However, from standpoint of scientific researches, agarwood is seemed to be one of the most interesting materials for pharmaceutical, agricultural, plant-biological and ethno-botanical studies; source plants of agarwood are endangered species, mechanisms of accumulation of fragrant resin has not been uncovered, and biological effects of fragrant raised from warmed agarwood were recorded in many ways. Local farmers and botanists have been doing many types of private experiments on trees of agarwood but their results were not published as scientific papers. Ko-Do (Japanese traditional incense ceremony) artists and perfumers described their experiences with fragrance of agarwood but they were lacking scientific background. All these historical accumulation of experiences on agarwood can be translated into scientific explanation, and recent advanced technologies may provide excellent support to do it. Scientific researches currently performed in many ways may establish base part of scientific background for agarwood stories, and future studies are expected to enhance agarwood production and its sustainable use.
Vietnam Agarwood 