Driving Out the Demons

Setsubun marks the eve of the beginning of spring in the traditional calendar, at the start of February, the seasonal turning point (setsubun means division of the seasons). Its best-known observance is mamemaki, the scattering of roasted soybeans, thrown at doorways and within the home, and sometimes at a family member wearing an oni (demon) mask, to a cry that sends the demons out and calls fortune in.

The intent is purificatory: to expel the misfortune and malign influences of the departing year and season and to invite good fortune for the new one. Temples and shrines hold public bean-throwing events, sometimes with celebrities, and other customs have attached to the day, including the eating of a whole uncut sushi roll (ehomaki) facing the year's lucky direction. Setsubun draws on older court and Buddhist rites of demon-expulsion at the year's turning, adapted into a widely kept popular observance.