Arab News Japan

TOKYO:  As they have done so since the eighth century, people in Japan celebrated the end of winter and the coming of spring, February 3 according to the lunar calendar, by symbolically clearing away any bad lack with the tossing of roasted soybeans at oni (demons).

This Friday at Zozoji Temple in central Tokyo, a large crowd gathered in the aisles of the temple as a procession of monks and Japanese children born during the year of the rabbit dressed as ceremonial samurai with demon masks, met at the temple altar to perform the ceremony.

A few women carried dogs to the altar in homage to Shogun TOKUGAWA Tsuneyoshi who loved dogs, and  is known to have enacted the law for the protection of animals.

After a ceremonial pounding of glutinous rice into Mochizuki (rice cakes), participants in the procession threw dried roasted soybeans from the platforms, shouting ritual phrases supposed to chase away demons from the home, and bringing luck to the people.  As they tossed their beans, families cried out, “Oni wa Soto!  Fuku Wa Uchi.” (Demons out of the house, Luck within).

The origin of the Setsubun festival can be traced back to China but bean throwing, or mamemaki, developed during the Muromachi period.