The changing of seasons in Japan is very significant. This change is called Setsubun. The most important changing of season is from Winter to Spring. The term for the changing of this season is Risshun but is most commonly referred to as just Setsubun. The festival to celebrate the changing of seasons from Winter to Spring takes place the day before the change happens on February 3. This festival is referred to as Setsubun or the bean throwing festival.
Since Setsubun has been associated with the Lunar New Year Japanese people think of it as a type of New Years Eve and believe it is a time to chase evil away. This ritual is called mamemaki which translates to "bean throwing." In this ritual someone will dress up as Oni, or the devil, and everyone will throw mame, roasted soybeans, at the Oni yelling "oni wa sota" meaning "devil be gone." They will then throw soybeans back into their home and say "fuku wa uchi" meaning "fortune welcome." This ritual traditionally takes place in a home where younger children live. The father or grandfather will dress up as the Oni and the children will throw the soybeans at him.
I got to experience two celebrations for this festival this year. The first one took place at my school the Wednesday before the festival and the second was Nagoya city's festival in Osu Kanon the day of. In our classroom we spent a while preparing for the festival creating Oni masks and bean bags. On the Wednesday before Setsubun Oni took a visit to our school. We informed the children that Oni may be stopping by since Setsubun was on Sunday so we made sure we kept our bean bags at an arms length. We even made sure we took them outside with us during outside playtime. One child, who is particularly frightened of Oni, went straight to the playhouse to hide during outside time. He did not want to take any chances that Oni would come near him.
When Oni finally came out and chased the children around several of the children in my class bolted to the playhouse in tears joining the one child who was already in hiding. The remaining two children threw the beans at the Oni for a few minutes then joined the rest of the class in the playhouse for the remaining time. Lucky for the five year class, the six year class was also outside with us. The six year class threw all their beans at the Oni and chased him/her away. One of my children told me later "six year class saved the world!" My class is still talking about the visit from Oni and they want to play "Oni" during outside time every day.
The second Setsubun celebration that I got to experience this year was held at the Osu Kanon Temple in the heart of Nagoya. For 3000 yen one could throw beans into the crowd then receive a fortune. We decided to stick with catching the beans for free. Later, there was a ceremony where the Oni came out and everyone threw the beans they had caught at the Oni yelling "oni wa sota." Unfortunately, due to a long trip to the puricure photo booth we missed this part of the ceremony.
I did however get to partake in another part of the Setsubun tradition: the consuming of the eho-maki, the "lucky direction roll." An eho-maki is an uncut sushi roll. One is meant to eat the roll in silence thinking of good fortune, and facing the lucky direction which is determined by the zodiac symbol of that year. This year the lucky direction was SSE. I purchased my eho-maki, found, on a map of Nagakute, which way to face and consumed it in silence thinking good thoughts.
After all the celebrations of Setsubun I hope to have much good luck and good fortune this year! It was fun to partake in the tradition of Setsubun in so many different settings. This is even a tradition I may be able to bring back to the states with me next year.
Since Setsubun has been associated with the Lunar New Year Japanese people think of it as a type of New Years Eve and believe it is a time to chase evil away. This ritual is called mamemaki which translates to "bean throwing." In this ritual someone will dress up as Oni, or the devil, and everyone will throw mame, roasted soybeans, at the Oni yelling "oni wa sota" meaning "devil be gone." They will then throw soybeans back into their home and say "fuku wa uchi" meaning "fortune welcome." This ritual traditionally takes place in a home where younger children live. The father or grandfather will dress up as the Oni and the children will throw the soybeans at him.
I got to experience two celebrations for this festival this year. The first one took place at my school the Wednesday before the festival and the second was Nagoya city's festival in Osu Kanon the day of. In our classroom we spent a while preparing for the festival creating Oni masks and bean bags. On the Wednesday before Setsubun Oni took a visit to our school. We informed the children that Oni may be stopping by since Setsubun was on Sunday so we made sure we kept our bean bags at an arms length. We even made sure we took them outside with us during outside playtime. One child, who is particularly frightened of Oni, went straight to the playhouse to hide during outside time. He did not want to take any chances that Oni would come near him.
When Oni finally came out and chased the children around several of the children in my class bolted to the playhouse in tears joining the one child who was already in hiding. The remaining two children threw the beans at the Oni for a few minutes then joined the rest of the class in the playhouse for the remaining time. Lucky for the five year class, the six year class was also outside with us. The six year class threw all their beans at the Oni and chased him/her away. One of my children told me later "six year class saved the world!" My class is still talking about the visit from Oni and they want to play "Oni" during outside time every day.
I did however get to partake in another part of the Setsubun tradition: the consuming of the eho-maki, the "lucky direction roll." An eho-maki is an uncut sushi roll. One is meant to eat the roll in silence thinking of good fortune, and facing the lucky direction which is determined by the zodiac symbol of that year. This year the lucky direction was SSE. I purchased my eho-maki, found, on a map of Nagakute, which way to face and consumed it in silence thinking good thoughts. After all the celebrations of Setsubun I hope to have much good luck and good fortune this year! It was fun to partake in the tradition of Setsubun in so many different settings. This is even a tradition I may be able to bring back to the states with me next year.
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