Autumn is arriving in Fukuoka, and with it one of the quietest weeks in the Japanese calendar. In Hakata, where our studio sits about ten minutes on foot from Hakata Station, families are getting ready for Higan — the week people go to visit their ancestors. This year, why not carry a stick of incense you made with your own hands?
Autumn Higan 2026: Sunday 20 to Saturday 26 September
- Sunday 20 September — Higan begins
- Wednesday 23 September — the middle day, the autumn equinox (a national holiday)
- Saturday 26 September — Higan ends
Higan lasts seven days: the equinox itself, plus three days on either side. It happens twice a year, in spring and in autumn.
One practical note before anything else. TSUTSUMU is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, which this year means we are closed on Monday 21 and Tuesday 22 September. You can visit us on Sunday 20, and from Wednesday 23 through Saturday 26.
Obon welcomes them here; Higan is when you go to them
Both festivals honour the ancestors, but they run in opposite directions.
At Obon in August, families light a welcoming fire and receive the spirits at home. Higan is the reverse: this is the week you travel to them. That is why visiting the family grave is so bound up with Higan.
If you are visiting Japan during this week, you may notice flower shops busier than usual and families walking to cemeteries with buckets and cloths. Now you know what you are looking at.
On the middle day, day and night are the same length
At the equinox, the sun rises due east and sets due west, and daylight and darkness come out roughly equal.
In Buddhist thought, the world of the departed is called higan, the far shore; ours is shigan, this shore. The far shore lies to the west. On the day the sun sinks straight into the west, the two shores are said to come closest — which is why this is the week to press your palms together.
There is an old saying here: heat and cold both end at Higan. After a long Fukuoka summer, this is the week the air finally turns.
This is also the week osmanthus starts to bloom
Osmanthus blooms in Fukuoka from late September into early October, overlapping almost exactly with autumn Higan.
It is one of the five mix fragrances you can choose here. A base of sandalwood, a pinch of osmanthus — and then, walking to the cemetery, the same scent drifts out of somebody's garden. That coincidence is possible for one week a year.
Guests sometimes choose it because a grandmother had an osmanthus tree in her garden. Scent binds to memory more tightly than almost anything else, and choosing an offering out of memory may be the most honest way to make one.
The fragrances people choose for Higan
You pick one of two base fragrances, then combine as many of the five mix fragrances as you like.
- Sandalwood — burned in Japanese temples and before household altars for over 1,300 years. When someone imagines the smell of Japanese incense, this is usually it
- Frankincense — a clear resin note used in places of prayer all over the world
- Benzoin — soft and vanilla-like. The name means the breath comes to rest
- Osmanthus — the only flower among the five. It lifts and brightens everything around it
If you cannot decide, start with sandalwood. What you layer on top is what makes the stick yours.
For the years you cannot make the visit
You live too far away. You cannot take the day off. You are not well. Everyone has a year like that.
I did not manage to go again this year.
Light one stick in your own room instead. Remembering is itself the offering — Higan has always rested on that idea.
If you are coming during Higan week
- We are closed on Monday 21 and Tuesday 22 September
- Wednesday 23 September is a national holiday and is likely to be busy — please book early
- The workshop takes about 60 minutes, and your incense goes home with you the same day
- Engraving on the wooden box is available for +¥500
Customs differ between Buddhist schools and between families. If you are unsure whether hand-made incense is appropriate for your family altar, a quick word with your family or temple will settle it.
Reservations & Access
- Address: 本島ビル 401, 3-5-20 Hakata Ekimae, Hakata-ku, Fukuoka (about a 10-minute walk from the Hakata Exit of JR Hakata Station)Open directions in Google Maps ↗
- Hours: 10:00–18:00 (last entry 17:00) / Closed Mondays and Tuesdays
- Price: ¥3,500 per person (engraving option +¥500)
- Duration: about 60 minutes / Languages: Japanese, English, Korean
- Booking: online 24 hours a day, or by phone at 070-6697-5255
- Instagram / TikTok: @tsutsumu_incense
Higan is not only for the people who have gone. While your palms are together, something settles on this side too. Set down a hurried summer, and let the season turn with a scent you made yourself — here in Fukuoka, in Hakata.
