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Stories, updates, and news from TSUTSUMU
Make a personal anniversary present for your boyfriend or girlfriend in Hakata, Fukuoka. Each person makes both incense and a scented sachet, with complimentary wooden-box engraving. About 60 minutes, ¥7,000 each or ¥14,000 for two, tax included. Starting October 1, 2026.
Looking for a meaningful present in Fukuoka? Make both incense and a scented sachet for someone special at TSUTSUMU in Hakata. From October 1, 2026: about 60 minutes, ¥7,000 per person including tax, the gift box and wooden-box engraving. Solo visitors welcome.
The nights are drawing in over Fukuoka. At TSUTSUMU, a hands-on incense studio about a 10-minute walk from Hakata Station, you can blend a stick made for reading: frankincense for nights of focus, sandalwood for the night before sleep. One stick burns for 20 to 30 minutes — the length of a short story. A guide to the long autumn nights, ahead of Japan's Reading Week from 27 October.
Chuseok 2026 falls on Thursday 24 to Sunday 27 September, a four-day holiday. For Korean guests spending it in Fukuoka: instead of buying a souvenir, make your family's gift by hand. At TSUTSUMU, a hands-on incense studio about a 10-minute walk from Hakata Station, blend sandalwood and osmanthus into sticks that go home in an engravable wooden box. The middle of the holiday, 24 and 25 September, is the calmest time to come. Korean-language guidance available.
Autumn Higan in 2026 runs from Sunday 20 to Saturday 26 September, with the equinox falling on Wednesday 23 September. Unlike Obon, when ancestors are welcomed home, Higan is the week people go to visit them. At TSUTSUMU, a hands-on incense studio about a 10-minute walk from Hakata Station in Fukuoka, you can blend sandalwood and osmanthus into a stick that exists nowhere else — during the very week osmanthus starts to bloom across the city.
Autumn is the best season to walk around Fukuoka. But once you have walked, sat down for coffee and eaten, the question comes: what now? At TSUTSUMU, an incense-making studio about a 10-minute walk from Hakata Station, couples spend sixty minutes blending a scent that exists nowhere else. Here are two ways to fit it into an autumn date in Hakata — the early afternoon slot, and the one that ends after dark.
A girls' trip to Fukuoka. After the food stalls, the cafés and the shopping, there is usually a gap where you want one more thing to do. Ten minutes on foot from Hakata Station, TSUTSUMU offers sixty minutes of making your own incense. Sitting at the same table with the same jars, two friends somehow end up with completely different scents — and matching them, or not, is entirely up to you.
Among the five mix fragrances at our incense studio in Hakata, one is tied to memory more than any other: osmanthus. In late September it drifts in from somewhere in the neighborhood, and the flowers last barely a week. It came from China, it is counted among Japan's three great fragrant trees, and it has a strange power to summon the scent of a garden you once knew. Here is the world of osmanthus, from a small studio in Fukuoka.
Among the five mix fragrances you can choose at our incense-making studio in Hakata, lemongrass is the one whose popularity soars in summer. Despite the name, it is not a fruit but a grass — tear a leaf and a scent just like lemon rises from it. It is the fragrance of tom yum soup, of herbal teas, of hot-country wisdom. Add it to incense, and a breeze runs through the whole blend. From a small studio in Fukuoka, the world of summer's favorite fragrance.
Respect for the Aged Day 2026 falls on Monday, September 21. If you are looking for a gift in Fukuoka, here is a different kind of idea: a one-of-a-kind incense you blend yourself at TSUTSUMU, ten minutes on foot from Hakata Station. Not another object, but time and fragrance — with nostalgic scents like sandalwood and osmanthus, and a wooden box that can be engraved with a name and date.
If you are unsure what to give for an anniversary, there is another option: not an object, but an hour spent making something together. At TSUTSUMU in Hakata, Fukuoka, two people can blend fragrance side by side for sixty minutes. Three ways to approach it, the engraving on the wooden box, and why being able to burn the same scent apart matters more than you would expect.
Summer in Fukuoka and Hakata. If you have a chance to wear a yukata, why not add a scent you made yourself? A scented sachet was originally meant to be tucked into the sash or sleeve of a kimono. At TSUTSUMU, a ten-minute walk from Hakata Station, you can blend sandalwood, lemongrass and honeysuckle in sixty minutes. Here are the pairings that suit a summer yukata, and how to carry the sachet.
Obon in 2026 runs from Thursday 13 to Sunday 16 August. It is the time of year when families across Japan welcome the spirits of their ancestors home. Whether you are returning to Fukuoka for the holiday or simply curious about the custom, why not make the incense stick yourself this year? At TSUTSUMU, a hands-on studio about a 10-minute walk from Hakata Station, you blend sandalwood and benzoin over sixty quiet minutes — and leave with a stick that exists nowhere else.
Among the five mix fragrances you can choose at our incense-making studio in Hakata, one has a character all its own: cinnamon. A single pinch tightens the whole blend and adds warmth. It is, in fact, tree bark. It was used in ancient Egypt. And in Japan it has long been loved as nikki — the scent of Kyoto sweets. Here is the world of cinnamon, from a small incense studio in Fukuoka.
In Fukuoka and Hakata, summer heat lingers long after sunset. On tropical nights when even the air conditioner cannot lull you to sleep, try something beyond cooling down: calming down. TSUTSUMU, a hands-on incense-making studio about a 10-minute walk from Hakata Station, shares how to use sandalwood, lemongrass and benzoin before bed — including how to handle the flame safely. Your own scent for sleeping is something you can make yourself.
Traveling solo in Fukuoka. Why not add sixty quiet minutes of facing yourself to an itinerary that answers to no one? At TSUTSUMU, a hands-on incense-making studio about a 10-minute walk from Hakata Station, bookings are welcome from one guest. Choosing a fragrance guided by nothing but your own sense of "I like this" is a luxury reserved for those who come alone — perfect between business meetings or as the finale of a trip.
A trip to Fukuoka and Hakata. The food and the shopping make wonderful memories — but in time, they slip into the past. There is, however, one souvenir you can carry home as a scent. At TSUTSUMU, a hands-on incense-making studio about a 10-minute walk from Hakata Station, you craft a fragrance that is yours alone. Back home, each time you light it, your trip to Fukuoka quietly returns — here is a new kind of Fukuoka souvenir, loved by visitors from Korea and beyond.
At TSUTSUMU's incense-making in Fukuoka and Hakata, benzoin (ansokukō) is one of the five mix fragrances — a sweet, vanilla-like scent that gently ties a whole blend together. Its Japanese name means "breath at rest." Here's its history, burned as a sacred incense since ancient Egypt, and how to pair it with sandalwood and frankincense — from our incense workshop in Hakata.
It's the season for ochugen — Japan's mid-summer gift-giving. For someone who has looked after you in Fukuoka or Hakata, why not give something that lasts as both form and fragrance, rather than a "gone once it's eaten" gift like beer or somen noodles? At TSUTSUMU, about ten minutes from Hakata Station, you blend sandalwood or frankincense by hand into a one-of-a-kind summer gift. Here's how, along with box engraving and scented sachets for those who live far away.
At TSUTSUMU's incense-making in Fukuoka and Hakata, you choose one of two base scents. Standing alongside sandalwood is the other — frankincense. Burned around the world as a "scent of prayer" for 5,000 years, it is a deeply mysterious fragrance. Here's what it is, its history, how it differs from sandalwood, and how to pair it at TSUTSUMU — from our incense workshop in Hakata.
Father's Day 2026 falls on Sunday, June 21. If you're looking for a gift for your dad in Fukuoka or Hakata, give time together rather than a thing. At TSUTSUMU, ten minutes from Hakata Station, you make a one-of-a-kind scent with your father by hand — here's how, along with scent pairings and engraved wooden boxes.
Caught in the rain in Fukuoka or Hakata? A rainy day is actually perfect for making incense. Ten minutes from Hakata Station, and once you arrive the whole 60 minutes is indoors — in the humid rainy season when fragrance shines most, blend your own scent to the sound of the rain.
Byakudan — sandalwood — is the base scent many guests reach for first at TSUTSUMU. A deep dive into what it actually is: where it grows, the rare compound behind its scent, its 1,300 years in Japanese culture, and why it calms us. From TSUTSUMU, the incense-making workshop in Hakata, Fukuoka.
Three model courses that weave Hakata's classic sights — Hakata Station, Canal City, Kushida Shrine — together with an incense-making experience at TSUTSUMU. A local maker's guide to building a Fukuoka day you'll actually remember.
For anyone in Fukuoka looking for an experience that actually stays with you. A complete guide to the 60 minutes at TSUTSUMU — Hakata's incense-making workshop, ten minutes from Hakata Station: the two courses, two base scents plus five mix fragrances, and what you take home.
TSUTSUMU, a hands-on incense-making workshop a 10-minute walk from Hakata Station, opened on May 16, 2026. A memorable date for couples, a unique Fukuoka travel memory, and a quiet "taste of Japan" for international guests — blend a base scent with five mix fragrances into one of a kind in just 60 minutes.
A hands-on guide from TSUTSUMU — the Fukuoka/Hakata incense-making workshop — comparing the two courses, the two base scents plus five mix fragrances, and how to choose.
A guide to incense-making spots in Fukuoka, featuring TSUTSUMU — just 10 minutes from Hakata Station.
TSUTSUMU, a hands-on incense-making workshop, opens a 10-minute walk from Hakata Station.
