Himeji Setsubun 節分 2024

 

Setsubun is a Japanese festival celebrated February 3rd but it is not a public holiday. This year the festival was on a Saturday and it was the first full day of being in Japan for Julie! We, of course, had to take her to experience the festival as well as myself, as the last time I was here for it I was unable to go due to it being on a workday. 

After exploring Himeji Castle, we met up with some friends at Himeji Shrine. There was already a crowd of people starting to form and a bonfire (firefighters nearby to keep it under control). We worked our way to the front of the crowd where some of our friends were. There was a bit of standing waiting for the event to start, eventually there were some oni (evil spirit/demon, usually someone from the community wearing an oni mask) going around. In order to get rid of the oni, roasted soybeans must be thrown at them while saying "evil spirits out, good fortune in." The holiday is meant to clear your bad fortune/illnesses and bring in good luck for the new year. Once the roasted soybean throwing was over at Himeji Shrine we went over to another shrine known as Shosha Shrine with our friends. In the crowd you try to grab as many of the items thrown as possible, with common items being roasted soybeans, mochi, and oranges. It can get intense depending on how motivated the people in the crowd are to try and get the items. 

It was fun and a unique experience for Julie's first full day in Japan!