The lunar new year approaches, and in Japan we have officially moved from winter to spring (never mind the snow flakes we saw this morning). To celebrate the change in seasons there is the celebration of Setsubun, which is held on the last day of winter, according to an ancient calendar. This year Setsubun was on February 3.
To welcome in a new year/new season there are ceremonies to drive out demons and usher in good fortune. At home the oldest adult male wears a demon mask and the other members of the household throw dried beans at him and call out 鬼は外! 福は内!, Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi! Demons out! Good luck in!
There is also a particular type of sushi eaten on this day. And apparently for super good luck you should eat beans – one for each year of your life, plus one.
Senso-ji temple in Asakusa hosts a Setsubun celebration. They do make a point of saying that since the Goddess of Compassion, Kannon, is resident there are no demons to be chased out. In her presence they call out “Long Life! Welcome good fortune!”
We, of course, had to investigate. I wanted to visit the Shinto shrine next to the temple to collect another stamp for my book of shrine and temple stamps. I figured that there would be a special stamp for the day – and I was right! I will have to make a separate post all about these stamps, but here is my new one:
The red circle in the centre is the symbol of the shrine and it represents the three spirits embodied in there. And in the lower right is a dragon/demon being pelted with beans.
As we left the shrine grounds we came out right where the bean throwing ceremony would happen. Everyone was being very patient and quiet, standing below the temporary balcony. It was a lovely sunny day, which helped. There were a surprising number of police officers around, but everyone seemed cheerful and relaxed.
Eventually there was a procession up the street of men carrying lanterns. Turns out these were the junior members – they fastened the lanterns to the balcony edge and each were given a plastic shopping bag bulging with …. something. A few minutes later another group of men arrived in samurai style robes – the senior guys. They each held a small wooden box. Junior guys filled the boxes with little white envelopes and after a mercifully short bit of speechifying the senior guys began throwing the envelopes out to the crowd.
They turned out to be small bags of roasted soybeans. Most of them were acting like they were throwing to the outfield during the Japan series, but some took pity on those of us closer to the front. I’m not sure if we are supposed to eat these or just keep them for good luck. And if you didn’t catch a bag of beans, well just walk around the front of the temple and you can buy yourself a bag that have been prayed over to ensure a year of luck.
It turns out things were pretty nicely done at Senso-ji. I’ve seen pictures of other temples where the beans were thrown by the handful and people were holding up bags and squares of cloth to catch them. That seems like it could have led to chaotic scramble. Nice and neat, no pushing and shoving where we were.
When we were here in May one of the biggest festivals of the year was happening. This was a much more low key event, but the grounds were filled with food stalls, people were out with their families enjoying the day and the sunshine and once again we got to enjoy another event of deep meaning to the people who live here.
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