Setsubun (Bean-Throwing Festival)

Setsubun, held on February 3 (or occasionally February 2), marks the day before the start of spring in the traditional Japanese calendar. The central custom is mamemaki — throwing roasted soybeans while shouting 'Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!' ('Demons out! Fortune in!'). At shrines and temples, this is often performed as a grand public event with celebrities and sumo wrestlers hurling beans (and sometimes candy and mochi) into crowds of eager participants.

The ritual is rooted in the belief that the transition between seasons is a time when the boundary between the human and spirit worlds is thin, allowing demons (oni) and malevolent forces to slip through. The beans, believed to possess purifying power, drive these forces away and invite good fortune.

In households, one family member (often the father) wears an oni mask while other members throw beans at them. After the throwing, each person eats the number of beans corresponding to their age (plus one for the coming year) to ensure good health. In recent decades, the custom of eating ehomaki — a thick uncut sushi roll consumed in silence while facing the year's lucky direction — has spread nationwide, promoted heavily by convenience store chains.