節分の日
I'll just jump right in here and pretend I didn't disappear off the face of the earth for a month.
Today was 節分の日, setsubun, the day before the beginning of spring, apparently! I've never experienced this before, and didn't really know anything about it until a couple of days ago. There are still many mysteries surrounding this tradition, but I felt I had a good go at trying to learn more about it.
Setsubun is also known as "bean throwing festival". Because... you throw beans. To prevent evil demons from entering your house. Demons hate beans. Duly noted.
You shout 鬼は外、福は内！ (out with evil, in with fortune!) while throwing the beans. This is good fun, this chant alone is enough to make this one of my favourite traditions of all time.
Apparently it's thought to be good luck if you eat the same number of beans as your age. I ate exactly 0 beans today, so I didn't do too well with this.
I did, however, go to Kanda Myojin to take a look at the setsubun ceremony taking place at the shrine. It was all fairly confusing, but a procession of people, lead on by people representing the different kami enshrined at Kanda Myojin, entered the shrine. Everyone said a prayer together, and then released confetti from giant gold balls hanging from the roof of the shrine. The procession then split up into groups, and they took turns walking on to a balcony overlooking the crowd. Where they stopped to throw out bags of beans. Also mikan, and possibly candy. I didn't get to the front, but I almost got hit in the head by a mikan, so I know for sure they were throwing those.
It was so much fun, the crowd went wild. I spent a little over an hour at the shrine just watching this event taking place. Hopefully next year I can be in front, bag ready to catch all the fortunes.
The entrance to the shrine was blocked with people, so I went off to the side. Lucky I did, otherwise I would have missed the procession!
Kanda Myojin has a sacred horse (Shetland pony). I can't remember seeing info about it at the shrine before, but here's an old site with lots of neat pictures.
The start of the procession, I recognise one of the kami. The dude with the fish under his arm is Ebisu. He is the Japanese god of fishermen and luck (also hard work and perseverance, I think). His legend is pretty epic, which is why I remember him. According to legend, he was born without any bones, but grew legs at age 3 after he was set adrift at sea in a boat of reeds. He washed ashore and became a god. There's a statue of him at Kanda Myojin riding a huge tidal wave in his boat, surrounded by turtles and other sea creatures.
The confetti is released!
Bean throwing!
Convenience stores and supermarkets sell beans and demon masks. I think it's tradition for the father in the family to put on the mask and then let the kids throw beans at him. But I am not 100% sure. I like to think it's done this way, because it makes everything 100% cuter.
There's also 恵方巻き, ehoumaki. A special kind of sushi roll with 7 ingredients that are considered lucky (... though ingredients do differ, I saw all sorts!). An important part of ehoumaki is that you have to face in a specific direction while eating it! "恵方" literally means "direction of blessing". The direction depends on the year of the Chinese zodiac. It's the year of the rooster this year, so for 2017 you had to face nort-northwest while nomming on your ehoumaki. I recommend looking at the ehoumaki tag on twitter. It's phallitastic.
An example of the varieties available at one single department store. I really wanted to try 万世's, but they were enormous. I wouldn't have been able to finish it by myself. Maybe next year!
So 7/11 to the rescue. I guess a demon themed setsubun roll cake will do. Should I still face north-northeast while eating this??
Tomorrow is the first day of spring! Time truly flies.
Today was 節分の日, setsubun, the day before the beginning of spring, apparently! I've never experienced this before, and didn't really know anything about it until a couple of days ago. There are still many mysteries surrounding this tradition, but I felt I had a good go at trying to learn more about it.
Setsubun is also known as "bean throwing festival". Because... you throw beans. To prevent evil demons from entering your house. Demons hate beans. Duly noted.
You shout 鬼は外、福は内！ (out with evil, in with fortune!) while throwing the beans. This is good fun, this chant alone is enough to make this one of my favourite traditions of all time.
Apparently it's thought to be good luck if you eat the same number of beans as your age. I ate exactly 0 beans today, so I didn't do too well with this.
I did, however, go to Kanda Myojin to take a look at the setsubun ceremony taking place at the shrine. It was all fairly confusing, but a procession of people, lead on by people representing the different kami enshrined at Kanda Myojin, entered the shrine. Everyone said a prayer together, and then released confetti from giant gold balls hanging from the roof of the shrine. The procession then split up into groups, and they took turns walking on to a balcony overlooking the crowd. Where they stopped to throw out bags of beans. Also mikan, and possibly candy. I didn't get to the front, but I almost got hit in the head by a mikan, so I know for sure they were throwing those.
It was so much fun, the crowd went wild. I spent a little over an hour at the shrine just watching this event taking place. Hopefully next year I can be in front, bag ready to catch all the fortunes.
The entrance to the shrine was blocked with people, so I went off to the side. Lucky I did, otherwise I would have missed the procession!
Kanda Myojin has a sacred horse (Shetland pony). I can't remember seeing info about it at the shrine before, but here's an old site with lots of neat pictures.
The start of the procession, I recognise one of the kami. The dude with the fish under his arm is Ebisu. He is the Japanese god of fishermen and luck (also hard work and perseverance, I think). His legend is pretty epic, which is why I remember him. According to legend, he was born without any bones, but grew legs at age 3 after he was set adrift at sea in a boat of reeds. He washed ashore and became a god. There's a statue of him at Kanda Myojin riding a huge tidal wave in his boat, surrounded by turtles and other sea creatures.
The confetti is released!
Bean throwing!
Convenience stores and supermarkets sell beans and demon masks. I think it's tradition for the father in the family to put on the mask and then let the kids throw beans at him. But I am not 100% sure. I like to think it's done this way, because it makes everything 100% cuter.
There's also 恵方巻き, ehoumaki. A special kind of sushi roll with 7 ingredients that are considered lucky (... though ingredients do differ, I saw all sorts!). An important part of ehoumaki is that you have to face in a specific direction while eating it! "恵方" literally means "direction of blessing". The direction depends on the year of the Chinese zodiac. It's the year of the rooster this year, so for 2017 you had to face nort-northwest while nomming on your ehoumaki. I recommend looking at the ehoumaki tag on twitter. It's phallitastic.
An example of the varieties available at one single department store. I really wanted to try 万世's, but they were enormous. I wouldn't have been able to finish it by myself. Maybe next year!
So 7/11 to the rescue. I guess a demon themed setsubun roll cake will do. Should I still face north-northeast while eating this??
Tomorrow is the first day of spring! Time truly flies.