
is the day before the beginning of
spring in the
old calendar in
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
.
The name literally means 'seasonal division', referring to the day just before the first day of spring in the traditional calendar, known as ; though previously referring to a wider range of possible dates, is now typically held on February 3 (in 2021 and 2025 it was on 2nd February),
with the day after – the first day of spring in the old calendar – known as . Both and are celebrated yearly as part of the Spring Festival () in Japan. was accompanied by a number of
ritual
A ritual is a repeated, structured sequence of actions or behaviors that alters the internal or external state of an individual, group, or environment, regardless of conscious understanding, emotional context, or symbolic meaning. Traditionally ...
s and traditions held at various levels to drive away the previous year's bad fortunes and
evil spirits for the year to come.
History
has its origins in , a Chinese custom introduced to Japan in the 8th century.
It was quite different from the known today. According to the Japanese history book , was first held in Japan in 706, and it was an event to ward off evil spirits held at the court on the last day of the year according to the
lunar-solar calendar. At that time, was an event to drive away evil spirits that brought misfortune and disease by decorating each gate of the palace with clay figures of cows and children and using peach branches and walking sticks.
The custom of as we know it today began in the
Muromachi period (1336–1573). Every household of the aristocracy and
samurai
The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...
class threw beans from their houses into the open air. The , a dictionary compiled during the Muromachi period, states that the practice of bean-throwing during originated from a legend in the 10th century, during the reign of
Emperor Uda, that a monk on
Mt. Kurama escaped misfortune by blinding with roasted beans. The Japanese word for bean, , is pronounced , which can be written as , and some believe that the pronunciation is similar to that of , meaning 'to destroy the devil', which is why people began throwing beans during .
From the
Edo period
The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...
(1603–1867), the custom of throwing beans at
Shinto shrines,
Buddhist temples, and homes of ordinary people spread throughout Japan as an event or festival to drive away evil spirits during . It was also during this period that the custom of tying roasted sardine heads to
holly
''Ilex'' () or holly is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen o ...
sprig to decorate the gates of houses during began. This custom was intended to scare away with the thorns of the holly leaves and the smell of the roasted sardines. The original form of this custom is recorded in the , compiled in 934 during the
Heian period
The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...
(794–1185). The diary describes a
Shinto
, also called Shintoism, is a religion originating in Japan. Classified as an East Asian religions, East Asian religion by Religious studies, scholars of religion, it is often regarded by its practitioners as Japan's indigenous religion and as ...
(sacred rope) that was hung on the gate of a house during the New Year's holiday to mark the boundary of purification, and that a
mullet head pierced with a sprig of holly was attached to the .
The custom of eating on began in the
geisha
{{Culture of Japan, Traditions, Geisha
{{nihongo, Geisha{{efn, {{IPAc-en, lang, ˈ, ɡ, eɪ, ., ʃ, ə, {{IPA, ja, ɡei.ɕa, ɡeː-, lang{{cite book, script-title=ja:NHK日本語発音アクセント新辞典, publisher=NHK Publishing, editor= ...
districts from the
Edo period
The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...
to the
Meiji period
The was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonizatio ...
. is a special (
sushi
is a traditional Japanese dish made with , typically seasoned with sugar and salt, and combined with a variety of , such as seafood, vegetables, or meat: raw seafood is the most common, although some may be cooked. While sushi comes in n ...
roll) eaten on . On , people face the most auspicious direction of the year and eat the whole , an uncut sushi roll, to pray for prosperity and happiness for the year. It is believed that it was originally called simply or . The name may have spread throughout Japan in 1989, when a Japanese convenience store chain renamed it and began selling it.
Traditions
The main ritual associated with the observance of is ; this ritual sees roasted
soybean
The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean. Soy is a staple crop, the world's most grown legume, and an important animal feed.
Soy is a key source o ...
s (known as ) either thrown out of the front door, or at a member of the family wearing an (
demon
A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in folklore, mythology, religion, occultism, and literature; these beliefs are reflected in Media (communication), media including
f ...
or
ogre) mask while shouting ,
before slamming the door. The beans are thought to symbolically
purify the home by driving away the evil spirits that bring misfortune and bad health with them. Then, as part of bringing
luck in, it is customary to eat roasted
soybean
The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean. Soy is a staple crop, the world's most grown legume, and an important animal feed.
Soy is a key source o ...
s, one for each year of one's life (), plus one more for bringing good luck for the year.
The custom of first appeared in the
Muromachi period,
and is usually performed by either a man of the household born in the corresponding
zodiac
The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north and south celestial latitude of the ecliptic – the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. Within this zodiac ...
year for the new year (), or else the male head of the household.
Because
Watanabe no Tsuna, a retainer of
Minamoto no Yorimitsu during the Heian period (794–1185), is associated with the legend that he vanquished historically considered to be the strongest, such as
Shuten-doji and
Ibaraki-doji, there is a tradition that stay away from people named
Watanabe and their houses. For this reason, some families with the surname Watanabe have not practiced the custom of throwing beans on Setsubun for generations. Watanabe no Tsuna was the first person to take the surname Watanabe, and Watanabe is the fifth most common surname in Japan, with approximately 1.08 million people .
Though still a somewhat common practice in households, many people will also or instead attend a shrine or temple's spring festival, where the practice of is performed;
in some areas, such as
Kyoto
Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...
, this involves a dance performed by
apprentice geisha, after which the apprentices themselves throw packets of roasted soybeans to the crowds. In other areas, priests and invited guests throw packets of roasted soybeans, some wrapped in gold or silver foil, small envelopes with money, sweets, candies and other prizes. In some bigger and more central shrines, celebrities and
sumo
is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a ''rikishi'' (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring (''dohyō'') or into touching the ground with any body part other than the soles of his feet (usually by th ...
wrestlers are invited to celebrations, usually to events that are televised. At
Sensō-ji in the
Asakusa neighborhood of Tokyo, crowds of nearly 100,000 people attend the annual festivities.
Other practices
A number of other, in some cases more esoteric practices exist surrounding the celebration and observance of ; some are regional, such as the
Kansai area tradition of eating uncut rolls, known as , in silence whilst facing the year's lucky compass direction as determined by the zodiac symbol of that year. Though the custom originated in
Osaka
is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...
, it has since spread, due largely to marketing efforts by grocery and convenience stores.
Other practices include the putting up of small decorations of
sardine heads and at the entrance to a house to ward off evil spirits.
A special variety of
sake known as brewed with ginger is also customarily drunk on . Each region of Japan has its own lucky charms to eat on . Soybeans used for and
soba are the most common, but
peanut
The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), goober pea, pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics by small and large ...
s in the
Hokkaido
is the list of islands of Japan by area, second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own list of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō fr ...
and
Tōhoku region
The , Northeast region, , or consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata.
Tōhoku retains ...
, and in the
Kanto region, tea with
kelp and sardines in
Kansai region,
konjac in
Shikoku region,
sea cucumber
Sea cucumbers are echinoderms from the class (biology), class Holothuroidea ( ). They are benthic marine animals found on the sea floor worldwide, and the number of known holothuroid species worldwide is about 1,786, with the greatest number be ...
in the
Oki Islands, and
whale
Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully Aquatic animal, aquatic placental mammal, placental marine mammals. As an informal and Colloquialism, colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea ...
in the
San'in region
The is an area in the southwest of Honshū, the main island of Japan. It consists of the northern part of the Chūgoku region, facing the Sea of Japan. Specifically, it is the two prefectures of Shimane Prefecture, Shimane and Tottori Prefecture ...
are also eaten.
Historical practices
The new year was felt to be a time when the spirit world became close to the physical world, thus the need to perform to drive away any
wandering spirits that might happen too close to one's home. Other customs during this time included
religious dances,
festivals, and bringing tools inside the house that might normally be left outside, to prevent the spirits from harming them. Rice cakes were also balanced on lintels and windowsills.
Because is considered to be a day set apart from the rest of the year, a tradition of role reversal in appearance and dress was also practiced; such customs included girls wearing the
hairstyles of older women and vice versa, wearing disguises, and
cross-dressing. This custom is still practiced among
geisha
{{Culture of Japan, Traditions, Geisha
{{nihongo, Geisha{{efn, {{IPAc-en, lang, ˈ, ɡ, eɪ, ., ʃ, ə, {{IPA, ja, ɡei.ɕa, ɡeː-, lang{{cite book, script-title=ja:NHK日本語発音アクセント新辞典, publisher=NHK Publishing, editor= ...
and their clients when entertaining on .
, who were normally shunned during the year because they were considered
vagrants, were welcomed on to perform
morality
Morality () is the categorization of intentions, Decision-making, decisions and Social actions, actions into those that are ''proper'', or ''right'', and those that are ''improper'', or ''wrong''. Morality can be a body of standards or principle ...
plays. Their vagrancy worked to their advantage in these cases, as they were considered to take evil spirits with them.
Regional variations
In the
Tōhoku area of Japan, the head of the household (traditionally the father) would take roasted beans in his hand, pray at the
family shrine, and then toss the sanctified beans out the door.
Peanuts (either raw or coated in a sweet, crunchy batter) are sometimes used in place of soybeans.
There are many variations on the famous chant. For example, in the city of
Aizuwakamatsu, people chant
See also
* , a sushi roll often eaten for good luck on .
*
Exorcism
*
Feast of the Lemures (a similar Roman custom)
*
Holidays of Japan
*
*
*
*
*
Saint John's Eve
*
Taoism in Japan
*
Walpurgis Night
*
Zvončari (the custom dating to pagan times in
Croatia
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
whose goal is to scare away evil spirits of winter and to stir up new springtime cycle)
References
External links
Ultimate Guide to Setsubun: Soybeans, Ogre, and SushiBean scatterer calculatorSetsubun (Bean Throwing Festival)
{{authority control
February observances
Buddhist festivals in Japan
Oni
Japanese words and phrases