For the 80th Reading Week (第80回読書週間), which starts on October 27, CRYSTAL INSENCE (クリスタルインセンス), a Fukuoka brand of natural-material incense, has released long music videos made for reading with incense burning. Two videos are now available on the brand's official YouTube channel: the 2-hour "Autumn Rain Tearoom," released on September 27, 2026, in which a single incense stick keeps burning in a rainy autumn tearoom, and the 1-hour "Autumn Woods Through Rain," released on September 26. No ads play partway through either video.
Light One Stick Before You Open the Book
In kodo (香道), the Japanese way of incense, fragrance is said to be "listened to" rather than "smelled." Taking a moment to turn your attention to a scent has long been a way of quietly facing something.
CRYSTAL INSENCE makes natural-material incense by hand, one stick at a time, in Fukuoka. A scent cannot travel through a screen, so the videos turn the quiet of a room where incense is burning into sound and images. This year's Reading Week slogan from the Reading Promotion Movement Council (読書推進運動協議会), "Quiet, but on an adventure." (静かだけど、冒険中。), fits well with the time spent reading with incense burning.
What's in the Video
The second video in the series, "Autumn Rain Tearoom," is set in a tearoom on a rainy autumn day. Beyond the shoji screen, wet maple leaves and a mountain garden can be seen. On the low writing desk sit a gray box and a single incense stick. The rising smoke and the rain outside the window keep moving for two hours.
The music centers on cafe jazz, bossa nova, and rainy-day piano, with a touch of koto and shakuhachi layered in. There are no vocals. The soundtrack is made up only of slow-tempo tracks that will not interrupt the hand turning the pages.
3 Tips From the Incense Master for Reading With Incense
- Light the incense a little before you start reading, and open the book once the scent has settled into the room.
- Open a window slightly so the smoke does not linger.
- When one stick has finished burning, take it as a natural pause. One incense stick burns for about 15 minutes.
Watch the Videos
Autumn Rain Tearoom | Quiet Lofi to Listen to in a Rainy Tearoom, 2 Hours (雨の茶室で聴く静かなLofi 2時間)
Autumn Woods Through Rain | Quiet Lofi for Focus and Reading (集中・読書のための静かなLofi)
