Have you heard of the Bean Throwing Festival? Known as Setsubun in Japanese, it is the day before “Risshun”, which was the first day of Spring in the lunar calender. On this day, people gathered at shrines and temples to receive fuku mame (fortune beans) thrown by monks, priests, toshi-onna, toshi-otoko, and people in their “yakudoshi” ages, believing the beans would ward evil spirits and bring good luck to them.

To elaborate further, Toshi-onna and Toshi-otoko are men and women in the year of of their zodiac sign, meaning their age was a multiple of 12. These people were believed to have greater fortune. As for Yakudoshi, Japanese believed these to be the unlucky ages of a person’s life. People in their yakudoshi ages had experienced and overcome these unlucky ages and therefore were believed to hold greater evil-warding powers. People who fell into either category could pay a sum of money and participate in this event as a bean thrower to spread fortune.

I paid a visit to the nearby Daiyuzan Saijoji to witness for myself this festival.

The event started at the Goshinden. When I arrived there were already plenty of people waiting with camera in hand. I went to look at the famous tengu-geta to the left of Goshinden.

Shortly after, the event started officially.

The monks and participating members of the public started throwing the beans in every direction. The crowd brought bags to catch the beans. Others picked the beans from the ground. Some of them ate the beans right away. It was believed that eating the same number of beans as one’s age would bring good health and luck.

The bean throwers chanted “oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi” (demons out, fortunes in) as they threw the beans.

After the bean throwing was done at Goshinden, it was time for the main event to start.

The bean throwers moved downwards to the main temple in a procession and continued hurling the beans at people and buildings all along the way. Beans were thrown at buildings to ward evil spirits dwelling in them.

Once at the main temple, the same process was repeated again, but this time with a far larger audience.

I was showered with a rain of beans. Some went into my clothes. I opened my bag and received plenty of beans in it. I guess my bag would enjoy a year of good fortune.

Once it was over, the floor looked like this. That’s a lot of beans aye?

As if that wasn’t enough, the procession moved into the main temple for another round… several more rounds of bean throwing.

People shoved one another while trying to catch the beans. I myself got pushed around a few times. Some staff were placed around the main temple to prevent people from falling off steps.

I got a small pack of beans from this.

And that was it for the event. This was yet another very traditional Japanese festival. Those who attended either truly believed that the fortune beans will improve their lives or perhaps simply wanted to join in the fun. For a foreigner, it was a good bit of cultural immersion. This event was held all over Japan, so if you happen to be in Japan during this period of time do consider visiting one.

By Desheng.

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* This article was written by a trainee from overseas. Please note that there might be spelling and grammar mistakes.