Spilling The Beans

After a slight lull in online posting, blog opportunities are coming thick and fast it seems. This weekend it was setsubun - or 'seasonal division' - and another trip down to the Ikuta Shrine.

Setsubun is an occasion for banishing evil spirits prior to the onset of spring. And what do they banish those little devils with? Roasted soybeans of course! With a cry of "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" ("Devils out, happiness in"). This ritual is known as mame-maki, or bean-throwing.

The beans are usually thrown 'by a respected citizen, like a priest or actor', which would suggest that lucha libre wrestlers, buck-toothed clowns and Disney-esque baseball characters are held in high regard in Japanese society. Unless those were priests and actors.

As one might expect, this is a very old Japanese tradition (dating back to the 14th century) and although the assembled crowd was a little undignified in their scrambling for the flying beans of fortune (you have to eat your age in beans to ensure health and good luck), it was a lively and colourful event. And beans are a distinct, environmentally friendly improvement on the previous means of driving away evil spirits, which was the strong smell of burning dried sardine heads.