The freezing cold of winter makes people long for spring. Spring, the time when flowers bloom. It is when the temperature goes up gradually. It is when people start going outdoors again. The weather is not too cold. Just “choudo ii”, as the Japanese say, meaning just right. The cold turns to cool. Everything turns bright and gay with flowers blooming and weather warming up. Adios to the dark and gloomy winter. But, when exactly is spring? In Japan, they have a celebration that marks the end of winter.
What is Setsubun?
Setsubun (節分) means seasonal divison. The kanji 節 means ‘season’ and the kanji 分means ‘part’. Setsubun’s original meaning is the last day of any season. Spring Setsubun, usually February third or fourth,is the last day of winter in the traditional Japanese calendar. Setsubun is said to be the old New Year’s Eve celebration basing on the Lunar New Year.
How is Setsubun celebrated?
On this day, Japanese people hold the mamemaki 豆まきor bean throwing ceremony for driving away bad luck and attracting good luck. It is a ceremony where they throw beans at the ‘devil’ and chant “Oni wa soto. Fuku wa uchi”, which means “Demons out. Blessings in.” Other translation says “Demons out. Happiness in.” Demons in this case represent bad luck. The chant is said to drive away all the bad things out, and bringing the good things in. People visit shrines and temples to pray. Big shrines sometimes hold a big throwing ceremony and lots of people come to attend. Shrines are beautifully decorated and somebody who is assigned as demons wear elaborate whole body costumes. Shrine priests also wear their special clothes. Sometimes, the city or town’s leaders come to attend to. When you go to supermarkets and grocery stores and even convenience stores, setsubun decorations are displayed. You can see the fuku or happy face and demon masks. Demons are usually in color red and color blue. Normally, Japanese people do their own ceremony at their homes. The demon is usually played by the father. After work, fathers wear a devil’s mask and come home to surprise the kids. The kids together with their moms throw beans at the ‘devil’ and chant. Families with kids celebrate this ceremony more than those families without kids. Maybe, it’s because kids really believe that devils are real, while adults, they know it is just a pretend.
What to eat
goinjapanesque.com
After having fun throwing beans at the devil, each family member picks up the beans and eats them with the number according to their age. That is to be said, five year-olds for example get to eat five beans and eighty-year olds get to eat eighty beans. It must be hard for grandpa and grandma to eat all those beans, I guess.
Recently, about three to four years ago, my Japanese friend said that on Setsubun, Japanese eat ehoumaki (恵方巻き). Ehoumaki is a long sushi roll. It is said that eating ehoumaki attracts good luck. There are various kinds of ehoumaki. The one I had in school lunch consists of cucumber and crab stick. I saw in the television news that one shrine in Japan celebrated Setsubun by distributing ehoumaki to about a thousand shrine vsitors and they eat them altogether for good luck and happiness.
My Experience
I love festivals and I love learning Japanese culture. I have learned about Setsubun in the university where I studied Japanese. We did a short bean-throwing ceremony in the class and we chose our male classmate to act as the demon. It was fun but it was short and we wanted more. Upon hearing that there was a big bean-throwing ceremony in town, my friend and I decided to attend. We went to Kushida Shrine in Hakata, Fukuoka. 〒812-0026 Fukuoka Prefecture, Fukuoka, Hakata-ku, Kamikawabatamachi, 1, 博多区上川端町1−41
In the entrance of the shrine was a big face of Fuku or the happy face. You can enter the shrine only through the mouth of the Fuku. The lines were long but my friend and I waited for our turn. Just waiting in line made us feel so excited. We could feel the energy around. The shrine was so full of people. Everybody was excited to get inside and join the ceremony. Inside, the shrine was so beautifully decorated. We saw Japanese priests in costumes and we saw some demons, too. The red demon was kind of cute so my friend had our picture taken with him.
During the highlight of the ceremony, the guests and priests on the stage throw the beans while saying the chant and the people on the ground tried to catch the beans. We tried to catch some beans, too. We had so much fun. It was a very good experience for me and my friend. Now that she left Japan back to her country for good, while I stayed here and work, we always look back to those times we went to Kushida Shrine every Setsubun.
As a teacher here in Japan, I myself experienced becoming the demon. I wore the demon mask and my students throw peanuts at me. I ran around trying to avoid there throw but, you know, kids are very energetic; of course, and I got hit many times. I lost, as it should be. It was so much fun. We picked up the peanuts after and ate according to our age. Well, I had lots of peanuts as you guess. In my school this year, we had ehoumaki for lunch and everyone got a pack of fukumame. Everybody was happy.
Risshun （立春）
Comes the next day, February fourth, is the risshun, or the first day of spring according to the traditional lunisolar calendar. Even though it is still cold around the month of February, even though many people still wear all their winter clothes, with their necks still wrap with thick scarves, it is not as cold compared with the previous months of January and December. Around the month of February, plums start to blossom. Plum blossom is the early sign of spring. And this time, we can say, “Indeed, spring has come.”