ABSTRACT
Everyone recognizes that, when considering ideas, mentality or psychology, people are subject to their own mental prejudices, or may gather insufficient information when collecting data. Among the many publications about Japanese civilization, an unexpectedly small number are concerned with material culture. This chapter illustrates the role of material culture with a few examples taken from such themes as food habits, textiles, clothing and the art of using perfume, both in contemporary and early Japan. The observation of food habits introduces people to larger questions such as those of identity. If people study Japanese practice, only one of the many ways perfumes from plants are used in the world, people learn that an elaborate art of identifying odours, or 'games of incense' (k+ì-awase), using materials imported from China, emerged at the Imperial court of Early Japan.
