Salty, windswept, faintly spiced rose with a green-leaf harshness. Hamanasu smells like wild Rosa rugosa growing on a cold northern beach -- briny air mixed with crushed petals.
Green-spiced rose with a saline, windswept quality. Less honeyed than damascena, less creamy than centifolia, with a distinct clove-like warmth and a rough, leafy green edge. The maritime association brings a mineral-salty undertone -- not fishy, but coastal: cold air, salt-weathered wood, dune grass.
Evolution over time
Immediately
Immediately
Green-leafy rose, clove spice, saline mineral edge
After a few hours
After a few hours
Rose heart sweetens, green harshness softens, salt persists
After a few days
After a few days
Quiet spiced-rose warmth, faint marine trace
The Full Story
Hamanasu is the Japanese name for Rosa rugosa, the rugosa or beach rose -- a hardy species native to coastal Northeast Asia (Japan, Korea, northern China, Siberia). Unlike the cultivated damascena or centifolia, rugosa grows wild on sand dunes and rocky shorelines, enduring salt spray, wind, and poor soil. This maritime terroir shapes its olfactory character.
The scent of Rosa rugosa is greener, more spiced, and less honeyed than Rosa damascena. The rose alcohols (citronellol, geraniol) are present but share space with a pronounced green-leaf character and a faint clove-like spiciness (from eugenol). The maritime growing conditions contribute a saline, mineral edge that perfumers describe as briny or iodic -- a quality absent from inland roses.
In perfumery, hamanasu provides a wilder, less polished rose impression. It works in naturalistic, maritime, and Japanese-themed compositions where the precision of Bulgarian rose would feel too cultivated. The note sits in the heart zone.
This note in Première Peau. Nuit Elastique · Rose Monotone. Sample all seven extraits in the Discovery Set.
Hamanasu means 'beach pear' in Japanese -- named for the large, tomato-like rose hips that wash up on Hokkaido beaches in autumn. These hips are edible and exceptionally rich in vitamin C -- up to 20 times the concentration of oranges.
Extraction & Chemistry
Extraction method: Steam distillation of fresh petals yields a small quantity of essential oil, but Rosa rugosa is not a major commercial source. Some Japanese and Korean producers offer small-batch rugosa rose oil or hydrosol. The note is more often reconstructed.
Molecular Formula
Complex mixture; major components: citronellol (C₁₀H₂₀O), geraniol (C₁₀H₁₈O)
CAS Number
84604-12-6 (Rosa rugosa oil)
Botanical Name
Rosa rugosa
IFRA Status
No known restrictions
Synonyms
JAPANESE ROSE · RUGOSA ROSE
Physical Properties
Odor Strength
Medium
Specific Gravity
0.87000 to 0.91000 @ 25.00 °C.
In Perfumery
Hamanasu (Rosa rugosa) provides a wild, maritime-inflected rose note for the heart zone. Less polished than damask rose, with green-leaf harshness, clove-spice (eugenol), and a saline-mineral undertone from its coastal terroir. The note works in naturalistic, maritime, and Japanese-themed compositions. It pairs with marine accords, hinoki, green tea, and driftwood notes.
