What is Setsubun in Japan? (Reasons for throwing beans)

In Japan, we celebrate the day called Setsubun.  When and what is Setsubun? 

Setsubun is usually February 3rd, but this year is February 2nd. Once a few years, Setsubun day is February 2nd due to the earth's orbital period. 

Since ancient times, there are 4 specific days in a year based on the solar position observed by a sundial but determined by astronomically now.  Namely, Summer Solstice, Winter Solstice, Spring Equinox, Autumn Equinox.

Right in the middle between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox, it is called Risshun. In fact, Setsubun is the day before Risshun.

When I was a child, we held “Setsubun” at home.  “Setsubun” is an event where people throw beans to drive away demons. To explain in detail, we throw roasted soybeans both in and outside the home, while throwing the beans, we say “Oni wa soto, Fuku wa uchi.” which mean "Get out demons and come in fortune".

"Get out demons".　 Ever since the period of Japanese fairy tales such as Momo-Taro and Issun-boshi, demons have been a synonym of evils. However, it was believed that beans had the power to drive away the demons.

"Come in fortune".　So, hoping for a good year, we would throw beans and eat the same number of beans as our own age. It's essentially a superstitious bean.

You really need to put on a demon's mask and do the bean-throwing properly, don't you think?　In fact, around this time every year, a set of a demon's mask and roasted beans is sold at a supermarket.

I think it is still popular, but not as popular as it used to be. Because residents living in an apartment are difficult to throw beans outside and the number of children has been declining in recent years.     

Many people gathered in front of the Worship Hall (Haiden) of the Nagahama Hachiman-gu Shrine in order to get blessing beans on Setsubun day. This shrine is located in Nagahama City, Shiga Prefecture, Japan. 

Before bean-throwing ceremony, there was the ritual of exorcising demons called "Oni-yarahi-shiki" in which the golden four-eyed "Hoso-shi" (a man wearing a four-eyed mask) shout "Oni-yarahi" (=to drive away demons) loudly, while beating their shields with their spears, to drive away the demons.  Why "Hoso-shi" has four eyes is not clear, but it is said that four eyes are necessary in order to exorcise the demons in the four corners of the tomb. These rituals are said to date back to the Heian period that is from 794 to 1185.

　

After that, there was the ritual of shooting arrows (indicated by a blue arrow) to three directions in order to exorcise an evil spirit. This is a decorative arrow used as a ward against evil. And the archer is dressed in aristocrats in the Heian period. 

In this shrine, the mayor of the city and other famous persons traditionally take a role of throwing beans at the Setsubun ritual. But many citizens who just reached the age of 60 also take the same role in this ceremony. 

Then they began to throw the beans from the shrine's worship hall.  

Actually, they throw beans packed in small paper bags (yellow arrows) instead of beans as they are. If it's a soybean as it is, it's a lot of work to clean up. I heard that other shrines as well as this shrine have changed to throwing packaged beans, which is great. 

A raffle win number is described on the small bags, so those who won in the raffle can receive various prizes provided by sponsors. I would participate in catching a bag of beans if I had known about this earlier.

They distribute the beans packed in cubic boxes and a set of demon's masks and beans to mainly children. This cubic box is made of thick paper, but imitates a Masu, measuring container made of wood shown in first half of this blog.

I took the photo at the shrine in the city of Nagahama, Shiga Prefecture, Japan, on February 2, 2025.