Setsubun Festival at Nishi-Arai Daishi Temple

Feb. 3rd--We spent the morning going to the Daruma Kuyo and the following festival.  The afternoon was dedicated to Setsubun.  Setsubun (literally means "seasonal division"), is marked with spring cleaning.  Not the kind of spring cleaning that we have in America where we deep clean our homes.  This is a spiritual deep cleaning, where we clean out the bad and evil spirits in our lives.  This festival, also called Bean-Throwing Festival or Bean-Throwing Ceremony, is the day before the beginning of Spring in Japan on February 3rd.  It is celebrated at many shrines and temples throughout Japan.  We knew that it would be celebrated at Nishi-Arai Daishi Temple after the Daruma Kuyo, and we wanted to be a part of it.

 We wandered around quite a bit looking at all the booths, but around 2:30, we went back into the gate for the Bean-Throwing Ceremony.

 In front of the Haiden they had this high platform set up.  It was in the shape of a U, with the ends connecting to the balcony for the Haiden. 
We got a good place in the front on the outside of the platform, but one guard kept coming up to me and talking to me in Japanese and gesturing.  After the third time, he motioned for me to get the stroller and follow him.  I did so, and he led me to a place where other strollers were located.  Ahhh....he didn't like the fact that I had a stroller.  Well, I wanted to be with the rest of the kids, not in the nose-bleed section with the strollers.  I parked the stroller, took Kirstin out of it, and carried her back to where the rest of the kids were. 
It didn't take that guard 3 minutes to notice me again.  He still didn't like what I was doing.  He motioned for me to follow him again, and managed to say in English, "For safety."  The kids and I followed him, and he led us under the platform to the middle of the U.  Looking around, there were many older people and others with small children in this section.  The guard bowed to us, and gestured for us to stay in the middle part, again saying to us, "For safety."  We were a little bothered by this, but obeyed his advice.  Later on, we were glad we did!

 Soon, many Buddhist priests, official looking men, and beautiful women in kimonos came out carrying big wooden crates of roasted soybeans.

 They each filled a smaller wooden box with the soybeans and began to walk out onto the platform.  Everyone in the crowd was full of anticipation.

 

The people began to throw soybeans out to the crowd on both sides of the platform.

Bean-throwing ceremonies are performed during Setsubun with shouts and chants of "oni wa soto!" (get out demons!) and "fuku wa uchi!" (come in happiness). The beans are meant to drive away wandering and mischievous spirits before they can come into homes and people's hearts to cause trouble.  It is also believed that catching the soybeans will bring fortune into your life.  In essence, if you catch the beans, you are catching your blessings. 



 You are supposed to have little wooden boxes in which to catch the soybeans, but we didn't have any.  Some of the kids had the idea to take their hoods off of their coats and use them like a net, like Nathan is doing in this picture.  Others just used their hands or scrambled for them on the ground.

 Caitlin caught one!

We ended up with a lot of soybeans!  More than we were expecting! 

 A Buddhist priest looking on as the beans are thrown.

 The crowd was in a frenzy to get some soybeans.  As the beans were thrown, they would scramble and dive for them and one could hear excited yelling. 

There were a lot of people crowded in a very small space.  Even though they were all diving for the same thing, they were courteous of each other and shared the beans between each other. 

 Until the Yokozuna, Hakuho, (the boys had seen him wrestle at the tournament they went to and were really excited to see him again--and so close!) came around the platform. 

 The crowd went wild with excitement as seeing such a great celebrity!  Instead of the small box of soybeans, Hakuho just had one of the wooden crates.

 He picked up great handfuls of soybeans and threw them high into the air.  Everyone began to scream with delight....

 ....and then the tremendous scramble for Hakuho's beans began.  Now, remember, we were in the senior citizen and young children section.  "For safety".  Things had stayed relatively mild up to this point.  But, when those soybeans landed, a huge part of the crowd suddenly hit the ground and were scrambling on their hands and knees for the beans.  Old ladies were knocking each other over.  It had a domino effect and didn't take long before the kids and I were knocked over also.  Caitlin had put Audra down just a couple of seconds earlier and the poor girl got knocked down and buried.  Nathan got buried also.  I was holding Kirstin and was holding on to her as tight as I could while being smashed on all sides.  As soon as I could get my feet under me, I passed Kirstin onto Caitlin while I started picking up one older person after another looking for my kids at the bottom of the pile.  At the bottom, I found a sweet, very old Japanese lady holding herself--and everyone on top of her--up so that she didn't smash the two little Americans kids underneath her.  Thanks to her amazing strength, they were a little scared, but just fine.

 The Bean-Throwing Ceremony ended with someone important saying a few words as the other bean-throwers stood in a solemn line.  Hakuho can be seen in the middle of the line.

We had our lucky beans....time to get on the metro for the long ride home.

Another part of Setsubun involves eating Nori Maki, a special sushi roll.  Nori Maki is made with specific ingredients symbolizing the seven gods of happiness. I couldn't find all of the required ingredients, but I did the best I could and did have seven items in each roll.  There was fish, egg, tofu, cucumber, carrot, mushroom, and Dashi.   They were big!

 Normally, when I make sushi rolls, I cut up the rolls into bite size pieces.  However, you are not supposed to do that for the Nori Maki.  If you cut them, you will be cutting your good fortune.  One must eat them whole.

 While eating the roll, one must face a "lucky direction" (the direction is determined by the year's zodiac symbol.).  This year, the lucky direction was west-south-west.  One must try to eat the entire sushi roll without saying a word. Those who are able to accomplish this feat are promised luck with their business, longevity, and freedom from illness.  We didn't do so well on the not talking part.  They were also so filling that some of the little ones couldn't finish all of their rolls.  They were just too full.

 According to Japanese tradition, if you eat the same number of beans as your age, you will enjoy a year of good health and good fortune.

 The kids counted out everyone's beans according to their age.

 We weren't looking forward to eating roasted soybeans, but surprisingly, they weren't too bad.  The Picky One even liked them.  Christopher, however, thought they were awful! He had to drink a lot of water to get all of his beans down.

 Now, it was time for the mame-maki at home.  This is to symbolize the act of ridding the evil spirits from one's life which appear as "Oni" (Japanese devil figure). People throw soy beans at Oni, wishing evils out from their body and heart.  One person acts as the Oni and runs around, while the others throw beans at them. At some schools, the students make Oni masks and enjoy mame-maki.  We didn't make our masks, instead we got them at the 100 yen store.

 I divided the kids into two groups and told them that one side would be the evil spirit and have beans thrown at them, then we would switch. 

 Silly me, I thought I could keep this "bean-throwing-in-the-house-and-at-my-sibling" thing orderly and calm.  Before I knew it, there were beans being thrown everywhere as the kids scrambled and screamed with delight at the fun.

Setsubun is a lot of fun!  What an amazing day!!!!  Daruma dolls and Setsubun--two great festivals that are so much fun to celebrate!

Here's what the kids thought about the day:
Caitlin:  So much "for safety".  It was fun, but by the end of the day, I was ready to go.  The lady who was blocking Nathan and Audra was getting stepped on at the same time and she ended up getting hurt.  I felt really bad for her.  Chris' face, eating the roasted soybeans, is hilarious. 
Tayla:  I really liked the bean-throwing and I got a lot of beans, but my favorite part was when I got the candy that was thrown with the beans.  I thought the ladies in kimonos were really, really pretty.  My sushi roll was too fat and the soybeans were really gross.  I think we look weird when we wear the oni masks. 
Christopher:  I hate the soybeans.  It was fun and the sushi roll was good but I needed a drink before I finished, so maybe I won't have all the luck since I had to take a drink.  The oni masks look weird, especially on some of us.  It was fun to catch beans and scramble between people's legs looking on the ground for beans and candy.
Logan:  At the Bean-Throwing Festival, it wasn't that squishy.  But it got squishy when Hakuho threw beans.  I caught more than 30 bean packets.  I got three pieces of candy.  I think we look weird in the oni masks.  I got a couple of bean packets from Hakuho, but then I got buried.  If it wasn't for an old grandma, I would have got squished more.  In return, I gave her two bean packets from Hakuho.  It was a long day.
Nathan:  The bean throwing was awesome at home.  The bean throwing at the temple was just o.k. because I was getting smashed while I was catching beans.  People were taking beans from me.  Dad told me that they took them to give me good luck.  I still don't like that.  The soybeans were good, even if they were cut in half. 
Audra:  The masks are scary.  I don't like them.