OUT with the BAD, IN with the GOOD
The Setsubun Festival
Halfway through the dreary Japanese winter the time between the merriment of New Year’s and the cherry blossoms of spring can seem to stretch forever. By the end of January, cramped and shivering spirits are almost crying for relief from the grey skies and the endless cold. The plum blossoms of February bring a little cheer. But this month’s most joyous and reassuring event by far is a festival that promises the end the numbing cold, and the return of warm, shimmering days
Many East Asian countries hold of festivals in which the end of winter is symbolized by the expulsion of evil and welcoming of good spirits. In Japan this festival is called Setsubun. it’s always celebrated in early February. Officially, it’s the first day of spring – though it’s really the beginning of that strange season called the Sankan Shion (three cold, four warm), when the weather in Japan can’t seem to decide whether it still wants winter to keep making curtain calls, or wants spring to make itself at home and stay for a while.
Photo: Demon Dance at Rozan-ji Temple © Moritz Marutschke
The play begins when several grotesque looking demons, all roaring fiercely and brandishing huge weapons, invade the shrine and menace gods and men alike. The demons are confronted by good spirits or heavenly messengers, and a battle between good and evil begins. The forces of good fight the devil devils with chants, prayers and dance, and are often assisted by ordinary festivalgoers who wield a surprising but effective weapon: beans. That’s right. At Setsubun, dried beans that have been blessed by shrine priests have the power to drive the devils away, and Japanese people of all ages love to join in the festival ritual of Mame-maki, or bean throwing.
You can see and take part in countless variations of this play at shrines all over Japan. In Kyoto alone, there are so many versions of the Oni-wa Soto play that it’s hard to choose which ones to see. Mibu Temple, for example, offers a nenbutsu (Buddha teaching) play combining elements of a Hindu and Buddhism. At Heian Shrine, there is a Heian-period Tsuina (demon fighting) dance performed by elegantly-costumed students of kyogen master. At Senbon Shaka-do Temple, the angelic being who drives the demons away is a graceful young female dancer called the Okame.
These and other festival events all draw their share of worshippers and sightseers. But for Kyoto people, Yoshida Shrine is easily the most famous and popular place to celebrate Setsubun. Nowhere else in Kyoto can you see so many Setsubun activities; nowhere else have the traditional rituals and symbols of the old festival being preserved so faithfully. Setsubun at Yoshida Shrine represents Japan’s other Setsubun festivals so well that to see it at Yoshida Shrine is to see it everywhere.
Family members throw beans out the doors, windows, and other areas of the house to chase the demons away. Some families like to make sure that the oni (demon) won’t come back by placing a sardine’s head pierced with a twig of a holly at the outer gate of the home. The sardine’s head maybe a distinctively Japanese touch – yet it’s fascinating that holly should be a symbol of protection and blessing at Setsubun in Japan, just as it is at Christmas in Western countries.
After the house is purified, the family gathers for a small ceremony of eating beans which are supposed to ensure good health in the coming year and other foods. The number of the beans each person eats should equal his or her age, plus one.
Even if you don’t believe in demons, or are convinced that it takes a lot more than beans to stop them, you can still enjoy the colorful pleasures and good humor of Setsubun. Go ahead. Bean that devil. It feels good, doesn’t it? That’s the main idea. Out with the Bad, In with the Good.
This article was originally published in Kyoto Visitor’s Guide February issue, 1989.