WHAT IS SETSUBUN?
Almost a month after the New Year holiday, most of Japan is in full winter mode - temperatures can go down to the 30s and it often snows. With the recent cold weather waves in Houston, this year y’all can maybe understand how Japanese people feel in the beginning of February - they can’t wait for spring to arrive! This feeling is nicely represented in the old lunisolar calendar, based on which spring arrives about 15 days after the coldest day of the year (around January 20).
In 2022, the day of spring’s arrival is today, February 4th, and to celebrate its arrival Japan observed the Setsubun (the change/parting of seasons) holiday yesterday, on February 3rd.
It is believed that the evil spirits are more likely to try to invade the humans’ lives at such times of seasonal change, thus the Setsubun traditions are all focused on keeping these evil spirits out and inviting the good fortune in the Japanese people’s lives.
HOW IS SETSUBUN CELEBRATED?
There are two keywords of Setsubun are “Mame-maki” (Bean-throwing) and “Eho-maki” (Blessed sushi rolls) and the common “maki” word is making it easier to remember, even if the two meanings are totally different (throw vs. roll). You’ve already noticed the food element, which is such an important part of Japanese life, recognized globally with the washoku (traditional Japanese cuisine) being registered as an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2013.
Let’s start with “Mame-maki”: why beans? It was believed that, of all the other grains, the soybean in particular is home to the grain spirit. Also, in a double play upon words, though two different characters, both “beans” and “the eyes of evil spirits” share the same pronunciation of “mame”, while “to roast” and “to shoot” are also pronounced the same. Thus, throwing roasted beans is believed to shoot the evil spirits in the eyes, scaring them away, while chanting “Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi!” (Demons out, Fortune in!).
Eating the beans is also a protective measure, but how many should we eat? The tradition recommends the number of beans that represents your age plus 1, so that your whole being is protected from evil for the entire year to come.
How about “Eho-maki” then? “Eho” (the blessed/lucky direction) is the direction where the blissful goddess is believed to reside in that particular year, alternating over a period of 5 years. In 2022 the blessed direction is “north by northwest”, and will be the same again in 2027.
“Eho-maki” (the blessed sushi rolls) started in Osaka - not a surprise, because the city is still called “the nation’s kitchen”; a Japanese university professor researching their origins (yes, that is a research theme!) located the first ad leaflet from 1932 created by sushi restaurants to boost their sales on the Setsubun day. The blessed sushi rolls spread throughout the country once the convenience store company 7 Eleven started to market them through their national network of mostly 24-hour stores in the 1980s.
There are 3 rules when enjoying the Setsubun special roll, and respecting them is said to ensure a prosperous year ahead.
While eating, please face the year’s blessed direction, without even a glance into another direction, not to lose focus on the benefits waiting for you ahead.
Please eat in complete silence, while praying for your family’s good health or the prosperity of your business (yet another play upon words, because “to speak” and ”to let go” have the same pronunciation).
Please eat the roll as it is, without cutting it (the seaweed of the roll is also meant to keep the luck rolled inside, not only the rice and the filling) or taking a break.
By now we’re all probably focused mostly on the sushi roll (yummy!), and may forget that the Setsubun essence is actually linked with the blessed direction… I know that’s what happened to me! There’s still quite a lot to go, but please keep reading to see what I mean.
A LOCAL SETSUBUN EXPERIENCE
After the overview above, I’d like to share with you my 2022 Setsubun experience from the Shonan area, my home for just over a year now.
Just as the rest of the world, Japan is currently battling the Covid-19 pandemic. With the well-known Japanese cautiousness, I expected many public events to be canceled - and indeed, many of the nearby famous temples and shrines, that would normally hold the “Mame-maki” ceremonies, have announced cancellations online, same as in 2021.
“Suigyo” @ Ryuko-ji
Setsubun-luckily, I was able to find an interesting event: the “Suigyo” (cold-water ablution) ceremony at Ryuko-ji, a Buddhist temple in the beautiful Enoshima area, dating back to the 17th century.
The event started promptly at 1:30 pm, in a beautiful sunny weather of about 50°F. A local crowd of about 30 Setsubun enthusiasts witnessed 4 chanting monks descending the temple stairs, taking off their white, simple robes, and kneeling on their respective mats, wearing only the traditional festival wardrobe for men, the “fundoshi” (loincloth). After some minutes of prayer and chanting, the priests started to sprinkle bucket water on their naked bodies and they did so about 20 times in a row, while continuing to chant. Even if their bodies and their mats were soaked by then, they continued the prayer for what must have felt much longer for them than the couple of minutes it actually lasted. Then they put on the white robes again and returned to the temple, the chanting continuing until we could not see them any longer.
This roughly 7-minute ceremony symbolizes the purification of the body and soul and takes place before important Buddhist services, such as the Setsubun one. Because, yes, only about 15 minutes after the water-ablution ceremony, all the 4 monks were ready to start the Setsubun service, dressed in the multiple-layered priest kimonos, not even seeming to notice the cold temperatures inside the temple - the general public area had space heaters installed for attending the service comfortably.
Since I was planning to attend the Setsbun ceremony at another nearby shrine in less than one hour, I unfortunately could not attend the service until the end, which would have granted me some lucky beans - even with the “mame-maki” ceremony canceled, small bags of beans were to be distributed.
And this may have marked the beginning of the unfortunate streak of the day…
Enoshima Jinja
A temple and a shrine seemed the perfect combination - Japan’s religious life is definitely defined by both Buddhism and Shinto.
Enoshima Jinja (a shrine dating back to the 9th century) did warn about the cancelation of the “mame-maki” ceremony on their website, and it also listed the Setsubun Shinto ritual taking place three times. We (my friend Maki-san, her 4-month old, and I) reached the right place in time for one of them, just to find out that only guests with a reservation could attend the Setsubun Shinto ritual. Quite surprised, I tried to explain that there was no mention of reservations on their website, so I was politely offered a private purification ceremony (not the Setsubun one); I politely refused since it was defying the purpose of my visit. Still a little awe-struck, I continued to take pictures, as the entire place is truly beautiful, as you can see…
Photos by Olivia S.
And I also purchased some “fuku mame” (lucky beans) in the attempt to brush away the unfortunate events that had unfolded.
Photo by Olivia S.
While walking around, we could peek into the room where the reservation-only ceremony was held, and understand that it was actually a Shinto prayer, with a slightly-changed content to make it special for Setsubun, but which most probably would not have allowed any photographs to be taken.
On top of it all, on the way back home, my friend told me about an actual “mame-maki” ceremony at a local shrine further away from the area I chose (but probably reachable if we had left right after the cold-water ablution ceremony), which was about to end just as I was finding out about it taking place.
Shirahata Jinja
So please allow me to share just some lines about the adorable way Shirahata Jinja (a shrine dating back to at least the 12th century) celebrated Setsubun this year.
The “mame-maki” took place throughout the day in 15-minute increments based on reservations (of course!) allowing only 30 guests each time; the main guests were the little ones because the main hosts were actual demons (local volunteers) scared away by the beans thrown by the main guests (little ones + parents) helped by some local historical figures related to the shrine’s old history. It all does sound like a very safe, well-planned, picture-worthy event, and most probably the roughly 550 guests who attended enjoyed it fully.
I am able to share this information with you because of their exquisite and timely website update - great job overall! I am seriously considering volunteering for their Setsubun celebration next year!
SETSUBUN AT HOME & LESSONS LEARNED
My last stop on the way home was the local supermarket to secure our special Setsubun dinner; several sortiments of “eho-maki” were offered and many customers, including myself, opted for the ready-to-eat option, even if “eho-maki” ingredients DIY sets were also offered for the more adventurous or experienced.
The bean part of the Setsubun food was also covered of course, with a huge variety of bean-based sweets, demon posters and masks.
Photo by Olivia S.
My Setsubun ended at home, enjoying blessed rolls (a mix of three with seafood ingredients and one with pork cutlet) and beans (the shrine lucky ones and some sweet ones with coffee-flavored-chocolate coating), while trying to remember all the rules to be followed, and also to forget the less successful part of the day. They were all delicious and, as usually on a special occasion, I definitely ate too much.
Trying to make more sense of what happened and decide on how to put together this piece, I shared the day's experiences with my husband. Our conversation led up to several valuable lessons - I guess it’s never too late to learn?
Make reservations as often as you can
Don’t assume, but triple check everything
Don’t be ashamed to ask the locals for advice
Practice what you preach***
***If you read this far (THANK YOU & Otsukaresama-desu!) and are wondering what the last one means…
The blessed direction this year is indeed North-by-Northwest!
Courtesy of Encyclopedia Britannica and Google