Setsubun Celebrations Kickstart Spring Anticipation!

The demons dance but a driven out by the priests!

Setsubun (February 2nd) was celebrated at the beginning of this month. Setsubun kind of means “season separation” and it comes at the time when people begin to look forward to spring.

On Setsubun, demons visit and are chased out by children who throw dried beans at them. The beans are then eaten. Traditionally you should eat one bean for each year you have lived.

At Honjoji temple in Sanjo, demons come into the crowd and grab scared children! If your child screams and shouts it is lucky. It is believed that they will grow up big and strong. This is quite a scary tradition. Sometimes the demons run away with the children (just a few metres away) which is a bit crazy. But the parents often know who is in the demon costume! So, it is OK...