Mr. Masataka Hata, President of the Shoyeido Incense company of Kyoto  will  present an evening devoted to the lore of traditional Japanese  incense appreciation.  Shoyeido began in Kyoto in 1705.   Rokubei Moritsune Hata began incorporating methods  he learned while working at the Imperial Palace in Kyoto. He applied the court’s secret traditions of blending incense, previously enjoyed  only by royalty, to commercial production.  Twelve generations later,  Masataka Hata continues this legacy, and Shoyeido today offers customers a wide variety of high quality, unique, hand-blended incense.  Mr. Hata will be joined in this program by Hachiya Sohitsu, the young master of the Shino School of Incense Appreciation.  The program will be in two parts:  first, participants will engage in the classic incense game known as “kumiko” or “genji-ko,”  a favorite pastime of courtiers, as depicted in The Tale of Genji.  The incense game will take place in  Showa Boston’s  beautiful Sanzashi-an tea-ceremony rooms.  A more perfect setting for experiencing incense as it was known to Prince Genji and Lady Murasaki does not exist in New England.  Part two will be a brief workshop in making Japanese incense sachets.