節分 (Setsubun)

Setsubun is observed on the day before Risshun, the traditional first day of spring, so it usually falls on February 3, though the date can shift to February 2 or 4 in some years. Across Japan, homes, schools, shrines, and Buddhist temples hold mamemaki, the bean-throwing rite that gives the day its best-known image. Roasted soybeans are scattered to drive away misfortune and invite good fortune for the new season. People chant “Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi” — “Demons out, fortune in” — while throwing beans at a doorway, into rooms, or at someone wearing an oni mask. Many families do the ritual in the evening.

The beans used for Setsubun are usually called fukumame, “fortune beans,” and after the throwing, many people eat the same number of beans as their age, or age plus one, for health and luck. Another common custom is eating ehōmaki, a thick sushi roll associated with the year’s lucky direction; many people eat it facing that direction without cutting it. At major shrines and temples, visitors gather for public mamemaki, where priests, local officials, sumo wrestlers, or celebrities throw packets of beans and small gifts from a stage. In some regions, holly-and-sardine decorations called hiiragi iwashi are hung by the entrance to keep evil away.

The pack has 36 words spread across these domains.