Setsubun, Bean-Throwing Festival or Bean-Throwing Ceremony) is the day before the beginning of spring in Japan. The name literally means “seasonal division”, but usually the term refers to the spring Setsubun, properly called Risshun celebrated yearly on February 3 as part of the Spring Festival.
Setsubun and Mamemaki: Driving out the Demons. Among the variety of events are the demon-driving-out highlighted in that post, and a ceremonial bonfire (so to speak) that I wrote about in Intense Burn.
February 3rd falls on a weekday this year, so I won’t be able to attend the photogenic events at the Heian Shrine, but I thought I’d share photos from one more event from last year, the “throwing of the beans”.
As I wrote last year, the beans represent goodness and good fortune, which is why they can be used to drive out demons. For the same reasons, they are good when thrown at people, so one event at the shrine has a small group of dignitaries showering the populace with beans.
