Setsubun – Japan’s Bean-Throwing Festival
On February 3rd every year, Japan celebrates Setsubun, a festival to celebrate the arrival of spring. There are many festivals throughout the year in Japan but Setsubun is perhaps the most unique one that I have experienced since I arrived here in August 2018.
What makes the Setsubun festival so unique is the ritual of “Mamemaki” which is where roasted soybeans are thrown while shouting “Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi” (“demons out, happiness in”). Everyone then picks up the soybeans and eats one for each year of their life plus one to bring them good luck for the year ahead.
On the Friday before Setsubun, one of the elementary schools where I work performed the ritual of Mamemaki in the school gym. As I entered the school, I noticed that things were quieter than usual, and no one was in sight. The deputy head teacher then came over and asked me to go to the school’s gym.
As I entered the gym, I noticed that all of the students were sitting in a semi-circle while some of the older students were standing in front of them wearing Oni (demon) masks. Luckily for me two of the teachers that could speak English came over and explained to me what was going on.
I was then given a paper pouch with an Oni drawn on it and asked to go with the 6th grade class into the middle of the gym. The students started shouting “Ganbatte Şen sensei!”, which means “do your best Şen sensei”. As we approached the centre, the students wearing the Oni masks began throwing the soybeans at us so that we could catch them in our pouches.
It’s fair to say that I did a terrible job catching the soybeans and I probably crushed half of them with my feet as they landed on the floor. Later in the day it was time for me to teach my English class with the 6thgrade students. What I didn’t know was that the Setsubun festivities were set to continue.
Towards the end of the lesson, the 6thgrade teacher came to me with an Oni mask for me to wear. It was now my turn to play the Oni and throw the soybeans at the students, the only problem was that the mask was so small that I could only see out of one of the eye holes!
It was a lot of fun celebrating Setsubun at school with the students, but I also had the opportunity to experience Setsubun at a shrine.
On Sunday February 3rd, I was in Fukushima City when I came across a Setsubun festival taking place at the Fukushima Inari Shrine. We headed over to the shrine just before sunset and eagerly waited with a large crowd of people waiting for the festivities to begin.
Before long, two men came out dressed almost head to toe as Oni’s and approached the stage that was setup for the festival. I say almost head to toe because one of the Oni’s was wearing big fluffy pink boots which didn’t seem very demon like, but he still managed to look scary enough.
Then several priests appeared on stage, each with a bow and soft arrows that they then shot out into the crowd. People went to great lengths to catch the arrow while I went to great lengths to avoid it as I didn’t know what it represented.
Once the sun went down, a recorded version of the chant “Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi” started playing through speakers and a combination of priests and members of the Fukushima City community walked around the stage with the Oni’s and threw out bags of soybeans to the crowd.
Everyone was having a fantastic time trying to catch as many bags as they could. I knew things were serious when people were actually putting their cameras away to keep their hands free for the important duty of catching. One family came prepared with a large plastic bag which they used as a net to catch the soy beans.
As I had already experienced Setsubun at school, I decided to stand back and let others catch the bags of soybeans as I felt I had already secured my luck for the next year. However, a very kind Japanese lady noticed that I wasn’t catching any of the soybeans, so she came over and gave me some.
It’s safe to say that this year I got the full Setsubun experience and now I have just under 12 months to improve my catching skills for next year.
One of the things that I love about Japan are the festivals that occur regularly throughout the year. There is always something to look forward to in Japan and it wouldn’t surprise me if this was one of the reasons everyone stays so youthful here. Japan has brought so many unique experiences to my life and I am just at the start of my journey here. I can only wonder what the rest of 2019 will bring.