{"id":1286,"date":"2021-02-08T03:21:23","date_gmt":"2021-02-08T03:21:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/?p=1286"},"modified":"2021-02-08T03:21:23","modified_gmt":"2021-02-08T03:21:23","slug":"setsubun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/setsubun\/","title":{"rendered":"Setsubun &#8211; the day dividing the seasons"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id='full_slider_1'  class='avia-fullwidth-slider main_color avia-shadow   avia-builder-el-0  el_before_av_section  avia-builder-el-first   container_wrap sidebar_right' style=' '  ><div   data-size='featured'  data-lightbox_size='large'  data-animation='slide'  data-conditional_play=''  data-ids='1289'  data-video_counter='0'  data-autoplay='false'  data-bg_slider='false'  data-slide_height=''  data-handle='av_slideshow_full'  data-interval='5'  data-class=' '  data-el_id=''  data-css_id=''  data-scroll_down=''  data-control_layout='av-control-hidden'  data-custom_markup=''  data-perma_caption=''  data-autoplay_stopper=''  data-image_attachment=''  data-min_height='0px'  data-src=''  data-position='top left'  data-repeat='no-repeat'  data-attach='scroll'  data-stretch=''  data-default-height='28.666666666667'  class='avia-slideshow avia-slideshow-1  av-control-hidden av-default-height-applied avia-slideshow-featured av_slideshow_full   avia-slide-slider '  itemprop=\"image\" itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\" ><ul class='avia-slideshow-inner ' style='padding-bottom: 48.11320754717%;' ><li  class=' av-single-slide slide-1 ' ><div data-rel='slideshow-1' class='avia-slide-wrap '   ><img src='https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Setsubun-beans.jpg' width='636' height='306' title='Setsubun beans' alt=''  itemprop=\"thumbnailUrl\"   \/><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>\n<div id='av_section_1'  class='avia-section main_color avia-section-small avia-no-border-styling  avia-bg-style-scroll  avia-builder-el-1  el_after_av_slideshow_full  el_before_av_section   container_wrap sidebar_right' style='background-color: rgba(10,90,130,0.19);  '  ><div class='container' ><div class='template-page content  av-content-small alpha units'><div class='post-entry post-entry-type-page post-entry-1286'><div class='entry-content-wrapper clearfix'>\n<div  style='padding-bottom:0px; margin:0 0 0 0; ' class='av-special-heading av-special-heading-h1  blockquote modern-quote modern-centered  avia-builder-el-2  avia-builder-el-no-sibling  '><h1 class='av-special-heading-tag '  itemprop=\"headline\"  >Setsubun &#8211; the day dividing the seasons<\/h1><div class='special-heading-border'><div class='special-heading-inner-border' ><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><!-- close content main div --><\/div><\/div><div id='av_section_2'  class='avia-section main_color avia-section-small avia-no-border-styling  avia-bg-style-scroll  avia-builder-el-3  el_after_av_section  avia-builder-el-last   container_wrap sidebar_right' style=' '  ><div class='container' ><div class='template-page content  av-content-small alpha units'><div class='post-entry post-entry-type-page post-entry-1286'><div class='entry-content-wrapper clearfix'>\n<div class=\"flex_column av_three_fourth  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding first  avia-builder-el-4  el_before_av_one_fourth  avia-builder-el-first  \" style='border-radius:0px; '><p><section class=\"av_textblock_section \"  itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/BlogPosting\" itemprop=\"blogPost\" ><div class='avia_textblock  '   itemprop=\"text\" ><p>READING TIME: 5 MINUTES.<\/p>\n<h3>When is Setsubun<\/h3>\n<p><img alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright wp-image-1294 \" src=\"https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Fukumame.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"401\" height=\"267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Fukumame.jpg 640w, https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Fukumame-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Fukumame-600x400.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 401px) 100vw, 401px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Something I love about life in Japan are the seasonal festivals and celebrations. Almost every month has its unique celebration and to me that adds a sweet rhythm to the flow of life in this country. There is always something enjoyable to look forward to. The festival for February is called <em>Setsubun.<\/em>\u00a0Literally translated that means &#8216;the day dividing the seasons.&#8217; According to the Japanese Lunar calendar it marks the end of winter and for the last 123 years it had fallen on February 3rd. This year, in a similar way to a leap year the date was adjusted so, for the first time in generations we celebrated <em>Setsubun<\/em> on February 2nd. But how can winter end so early, you may ask and how the day was decided? Here are some answers to that.<\/p>\n<h3>The day separating the seasons<\/h3>\n<p><img alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-1292 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Ume-blossoms.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"322\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Ume-blossoms.jpeg 644w, https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Ume-blossoms-242x300.jpeg 242w, https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Ume-blossoms-568x705.jpeg 568w, https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Ume-blossoms-600x745.jpeg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 322px) 100vw, 322px\" \/><em>Setsubun<\/em> is an interesting day. It is exactly in the middle between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. In that sense we may look at it as a day of transition, when Winter begins to fade away to be gradually replaced by the energies of Spring. Also, the traditional Japanese Lunar calendar is divided into 24 <em>sekki. <\/em>This by itself is an interesting combination of characters:<i> \u7bc0 (Setsu)\u00a0<\/i>means a section and <em>\u6c17<\/em>\u00a0<em>(ki)<\/em>\u00a0is Chi or spirit, energy. I often find the Japanese language fascinating in how it expresses spiritual principles in its words (that&#8217;s a theme worthy of a blog by itself!) So it would appear that the ancient astrologers divided the year into 24 sections with a different flow of Chi. The day after <em>Setsubun<\/em> is <em>Risshin<\/em>, or the first day of Spring. Perhaps it is just my perception but it does feel as if winter is beginning to fade away: the first flowers of spring are blooming in the gardens and the plum trees are opening their blossoms too. Spring is on its way!<\/p>\n<h3>Celebrating Setsubun<\/h3>\n<p><img alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright wp-image-1287 \" src=\"https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Setsubun-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"405\" height=\"217\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Setsubun-1.jpg 636w, https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Setsubun-1-300x161.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Setsubun-1-600x322.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 405px) 100vw, 405px\" \/>There are several fun\u00a0<em>Setsubun<\/em>\u00a0traditions\u00a0with the most popular one being <em>mame-maki, <\/em>which in Japanese means throwing beans.\u00a0The period of time surrounding the\u00a0<em>Setsubun<\/em>\u00a0was thought to bring the spirit world closer to the physical one. Thus, practices like <em>mame-maki<\/em> became popular. Tossing the beans is symbolic of driving away any evil spirits (<em>Oni <\/em>in Japanese,) who might have wandered too close to the physical realm. Traditionally a man from the household dresses as an\u00a0<em>Oni<\/em> and puts on a scary mask. It is believed that the <em>Oni<\/em>\u00a0are afraid of beans so kids trow handful of roasted soy beans at the <em>Oni <\/em>shouting:<em> Oni wa soto! Fuku wa u<\/em><i>chi!<\/i>\u00a0(Demons get out! Good luck come in!) and chase him out of the house.<\/p>\n<h3>Charms that keep the Oni out<\/h3>\n<p><img alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-1293 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Setsubun-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"402\" height=\"268\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Setsubun-2.jpg 640w, https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Setsubun-2-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Setsubun-2-600x400.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 402px) 100vw, 402px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>To ensure that the evil <em>Oni <\/em>will not return to the house, a special protective charm made of <em>hiiragi<\/em> (a holly-like plant with spiky leaves) and \u00a0stalks of soy beans with the pods still attached, is placed at the entrance door of the house. To fortify its\u00a0<em>Oni <\/em>repelling powers, the\u00a0head of a dried sardine is skewered on one of the branches. According to traditional beliefs, the smell of the sardine, the spikes of the <em>hiiragi<\/em> leaves and the beans in the pods will keep the evil spirits away!<\/p>\n<h3>Setsubun auspicious foods<\/h3>\n<p><img alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright wp-image-1295\" src=\"https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Ehomaki.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"403\" height=\"302\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Ehomaki.jpg 800w, https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Ehomaki-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Ehomaki-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Ehomaki-705x529.jpg 705w, https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Ehomaki-600x450.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 403px) 100vw, 403px\" \/>An old\u00a0<em>Setsubun\u00a0<\/em>tradition<em>\u00a0<\/em>is to\u00a0eat the number of lucky beans<em>\u00a0(Fuku-mame <\/em>in Japanese) that is your age so that the year is a prosperous one for you.<\/p>\n<p>Another tradition that originates in the Kansai region but has recently become popular in other parts of the country too is eating<em> Ehomaki . <\/em>These are thick sushi rolls made with seven ingredients &#8211; one for each of the Seven Lucky Gods. These sushi should not be cut but should be served whole and eaten in silence facing the auspicious direction for the year. Cutting them would mean cutting off your luck and your relationships.<\/p>\n<h3>Temple Setsubun celebrations<\/h3>\n<p>If you happen to be in Japan on the <em>Setsubun <\/em>day don&#8217;t miss the special celebrations at the temples and the shrines. This year I was fortunate to observe the rituals at the Takahata Fudo temple, an unforgettable experience to me. The spirit at the temple was so upbeat and festive. There were many stalls, erected especially for the occasion that sold lucky charms, souvenirs, food and of course small bags with <em>Fuku-mame, <\/em>each with\u00a0a lucky coin inside. The Fire Purification ritual that the temple is famous for was performed several times and the sound of its drums and the chanting added magic to the occasion. Then there was the solemn procession of monks, dressed in their colorful formal robes moving under the rhythm of the bells attached to the scepter of their leader &#8211; we don&#8217;t see this very often and when we do it is impressive. Bellow is a short video I took of the festivities. I couldn&#8217;t take a video of the whole event because I had a virtual tour at the same time (yes, my clients was very lucky to be &#8216;visiting&#8217; the temple on that day!) but I believe it is enough to give you a taste of the festivities. And, if you want to see more of the Takahata Fudo temple through one of my live virtual tours click on the link below the video for details. For those who want to learn more about the Seven Lucky gods I added a link to my blog dedicated to them. Enjoy!<\/p>\n<div class='avia-iframe-wrap'><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Setsubun Festival at the Takahata Fudo Temple   HD 1080p\" width=\"1500\" height=\"844\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ctTJNGDsqLU?start=42&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<\/div><\/section><br \/>\n<div  class='avia-button-wrap avia-button-center  avia-builder-el-6  el_after_av_textblock  el_before_av_button ' ><a href='https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/takahata-fudo-tour\/'  class='avia-button   avia-icon_select-no avia-color-theme-color avia-size-small avia-position-center '  target=\"_blank\"   ><span class='avia_iconbox_title' >Takahata Fudo Temple Virtual Tour<\/span><\/a><\/div><br \/>\n<div  class='avia-button-wrap avia-button-center  avia-builder-el-7  el_after_av_button  avia-builder-el-last ' ><a href='https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/seven-gods-of-fortune\/'  class='avia-button   avia-icon_select-no avia-color-theme-color avia-size-small avia-position-center '  target=\"_blank\"   ><span class='avia_iconbox_title' >The Seven Gods Of Good Fortune Blog<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/p><\/div><div class=\"flex_column av_one_fourth  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding   avia-builder-el-8  el_after_av_three_fourth  avia-builder-el-last  \" style='border-radius:0px; '><div  class='avia-builder-widget-area clearfix  avia-builder-el-9  avia-builder-el-no-sibling '><section id=\"archives-3\" class=\"widget clearfix widget_archive\"><h3 class=\"widgettitle\">Archives<\/h3>\n\t\t\t<ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t<li><a href='https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/2025\/05\/'>May 2025<\/a><\/li>\n\t<li><a href='https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/2024\/08\/'>August 2024<\/a><\/li>\n\t<li><a href='https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/2023\/05\/'>May 2023<\/a><\/li>\n\t<li><a href='https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/2022\/07\/'>July 2022<\/a><\/li>\n\t<li><a href='https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/2021\/09\/'>September 2021<\/a><\/li>\n\t<li><a href='https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/2021\/03\/'>March 2021<\/a><\/li>\n\t<li><a href='https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/2021\/02\/'>February 2021<\/a><\/li>\n\t<li><a href='https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/2021\/01\/'>January 2021<\/a><\/li>\n\t<li><a href='https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/2020\/09\/'>September 2020<\/a><\/li>\n\t<li><a href='https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/2020\/08\/'>August 2020<\/a><\/li>\n\t<li><a href='https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/2020\/07\/'>July 2020<\/a><\/li>\n\t<li><a href='https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/2020\/06\/'>June 2020<\/a><\/li>\n\t<li><a href='https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/2020\/05\/'>May 2020<\/a><\/li>\n\t<li><a href='https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/2020\/04\/'>April 2020<\/a><\/li>\n\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\n\t\t\t<span class=\"seperator extralight-border\"><\/span><\/section><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><!-- close content main div --><\/div><\/div><div id='after_section_2'  class='main_color av_default_container_wrap container_wrap sidebar_right' style=' '  ><div class='container' ><div class='template-page content  av-content-small alpha units'><div class='post-entry post-entry-type-page post-entry-1286'><div class='entry-content-wrapper clearfix'><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are several fun traditions associated with Setsubun with the most popular one being mame-maki, which means throwing beans in Japanese. The period of time surrounding the Setsubun, was thought to bring the spirit world closer to the physical one. Thus, practices like mame-maki became popular. Tossing the beans is symbolic of driving away any evil spirits (Oni in Japanese,) who might have wandered too close to the physical realm. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1287,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[26,21,41],"class_list":["post-1286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-japan","tag-japanese-festivals","tag-setsubun"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1286"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1305,"href":"https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1286\/revisions\/1305"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritofjapantours.com\/staging\/8667\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}