Chinese temple architecture also "wu" and "tongji" shamans, may perform services within these temples. Shenist temples are usually small and decorated with traditional figures on their roofs (dragons and deities), although some evolve into significant structures. Chinese temples can be found throughout Mainland China, Taiwan and also where Chinese expatriate communities settled over centuries. An old name in English for Chinese traditional temples is "joss house". "Joss" is an Anglicized spelling of the Portuguese word for "god", "deus". "Joss house" was in common use in English in western North America during frontier times, when joss houses were a common feature of Chinatowns. The
Japanese incense stick. Many of the current incense companies have been in existence for more than 300 years. The word incense ("kō") in Japan is written in the Chinese Kangxi radical 186 composed of nine strokes, 香, which can also be expanded up to 27 strokes 馫. A literal translation is "fragrance", though in context it is understood as "incense". The word 道 "dō" may be added, which means "way", both literally (street) and metaphorically (a stream of life experience), to give kōdō: the "way of incense", which involves using incense within a structure of codified conduct. "Nihon Shoki", a book of