Pyrethrum was used for centuries as an insecticide in Persia and Europe,[3] being developed into a mosquito coil in the late 1800s by a Japanese business man, Eiichiro Ueyama (ja:上山英一郎). At that time in Japan, pyrethrum powder was mixed with sawdust and burned to repel mosquitoes. Ueyama initially created incense sticks mixed from starch powder, dried mandarin orange skin powder, and pyrethrum powder, burning in around 40 minutes.