“Setsubun” ,the traditional end of winter falling on Feb.3rd

By TERRY - Last updated: 金曜日, 2月 4, 2011 - Save & Share - Leave a Comment

 A Feb.3rd of a year  is a special day on which “Setsubun”, our “traditional end of winter” or “the day before calendric beginning of  spring” falls.

On this day, it is customary to throw beans at our houses, cars, buildings,and properties , shouting, “Fuku wa uchi, oni wa soto !”(Fortune in and demons out !) in order to ward off evil and bless our home and things.  People say  evils come out to bring bad luck on Setsubun, so we need to dispel them by throwing beans, and this custom has more than 1,300- year-old history in Japan.

A picture of a man throwing beans at an evil  in the Edo Period

A picture of a man throwing beans at an evil in the Edo Period

 

In addition to the practice at housholds,schools, and corporations, every year, at temples and shrines priests and monks host this “Setsubun-sai ” of  a ward-off evil ceremony and some celebrities join them.mamemaki

Usually, at a big ceremony of  this, a “Toshi-otoko”(/年男) or a “Toshi-onna” (/年女), “a man or woman who was born in a year of the same Chinese Zodic as the current year” are appointed in charge of  throwing the beans.

We also eat Ehoumaki(/恵方巻き, an auspicious direction hand-rolled sushi), which is believed to have a magic power to make your wishes come true when you eat it standing and facing the auspicious direction of the year (this year it is south-southeast) ,keeping eating it and wishing without uttering anything while you eat. Actually, a lot of  shoppers stood in line at supermarkets and sushi stores to buy ehoumaki and I ate it taking a few minutes wishing and without saying anything this year.     

ehoumaki

ehoumaki

 

beans for Setsubun and ehoumaki

beans for Setsubun and ehoumaki

  

 

On this Feb.3rd ,at  Naritasan Shinshoji Temple(/成田山新勝寺) http://www.naritasan.or.jp/e-index.html , Jyuri Ueno(/上野樹里), the actor starring at “Gou”(/「江」), NHK  Taiga drama this year, Kensaku Morita(/森田健作), the Chiba Governor, Baruto(/把瑠都), Kisenosato(/稀勢の里), the popular sumo wrestlers, and others joined the annual  Setsubun-e(/節分会) and threw beans at the stage there.

Jyuri Ueno and others throwing beans

Jyuri Ueno and others throwing beans

把瑠都 and 稀勢の里

把瑠都 and 稀勢の里

 

And at Kasama Inari-jinja(/笠間稲荷神社) in Kasama City Ibaraki Pref. http://www.kasama.or.jp/english/index.html,  one of the top three Inari-jinja shrines in Japan, Michiko Hada(/羽田美智子),a popular actor from that prefecture joined the setsubun-sai and threw beans in the ceremony.

Michiko Hada throwing beans to ward off evil

Michiko Hada throwing beans to ward off evil

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