Oni wa soto; fuku wa uchi! (Oni begone; good luck come in!)

Yasaka Shrine - Setsubun in the snow

Geisha about perform at Yasaka Shrine

Oni pelted with beans

Hokusai print of Oni pelted with beans (mame)

Fuku mame (Happiness beans)

Mamemaki (throwing beans at the Oni)

3 February 2012
Setsubun

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=C_4m5HJsC9o#!

On February 2 and 3, Setsubun festivals took place in Japan, both in temples and shrines and in homes.  Setsubun (lunar calendar spring) is a time of casting out bad spirits and demons (called Oni), and bringing in good fortune.  It is an ancient tradition, and at some of the temples and shrines resembles something that is a blending of a serious pilgrimage for Japanese people and a carnival, complete with stalls lining the streets and walkways selling marvelous (mostly) foods of every sort (especially sardines),  little games for children, fortunes and other temple paraphernalia, even cotton candy and candied apples and oranges.  There are a lot of things demons don't like which include: foul smells and sharp needles (hence fish heads impaled on holly leaves), smoke (hence bonfires at temples in which New Year's decorations and wishes are burned), arrows, and most especially mame (beans).  The tradition is to throw roasted soy beans at the Oni (or the person in a family pretending to be an oni),  and out the doors and windows of your house shouting "Oni wa soto; fuku wa uchi!" In schools small children make Oni masks, etc, and you can buy them with the beans.  People also eat long (uncut) nori maki rolls while facing Northwest and not speaking (I'm not sure about the exact significance of this...).  Much of this information came from Araki-sensei.

On Thursday, a cold and intermittently snowy day, I visited the Yasaka Shrine in the afternoon where there were performances of musicians, geisha etc every hour (see first two photos).  After each performance small packets of fuku mame were thrown out to a very enthusiastic (and cold) audience.  I think beans acquired at the shrine are especially significant...Wanting to warm, I went into what I thought was a tea tent, but what was served turned out to be Amazake which is a sweet drink made of fermented rice (a bit thick and milky and warm with little rice bits and a pinch of ginger).  Just what I needed to warm up!

Thursday evening we went to the Yoshida Shrine with Berg and Somdev, our American friends in this apartment.  We ate various street foods and then at 6pm went to the short drama of scaring of the oni being acted out while priests read prayers.  Couldn't see much but the sound effects were excellent.  The above youtube address is a 4 minute clip which is excellent (other than the moment when the oni actually scares a small child, though mostly kids are having a great time).  You can cut and paste it...  It definitely conveys the night scene!  Also shows the next day when people go to pray at the sub shrine up the hill.

Finally, on Friday, we went together to the Mibudera temple to see a famous Noh comedy (Kyogen play) having to do with Setsubun.  The characters wear wonderful masks and the action depicted through stylized gestures and dance (no dialog), with a gong, drum and flute punctuating the story.  We were sitting outdoors which was pretty nippy.  I learned later that the play concerned the greed of an old lady visited by an Oni in disguise, and in the end she loses her greed and chases him away by pelting him with you know what...No photographs allowed unfortunately.

I think this is more than enough information.

Oni wa soto; Fuku wa uchi!  Love, B&W