Kristina in Tokyo: Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!

Setsubun (Feb. 3, 2006)

Had the incredible fortune of being in Tokyo for Setsubun, known to me and other ignorant (yet knowledgable) Americans as "Oni Day." For a far better, more specific description of what goes on during Setsubun, see here, here, and here. Suffice to say that beans (mame - 豆) are thrown at devils (oni - 鬼) to banish them from the home and bring good luck instead. The traditional thing to say is Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi! (Devil go out, good luck come in). My friend Jeremy and I went to Zojoji Temple to celebrate Setsubun and experienced a crowd crushing much like any standing room only rock concert that I've been to. Only this one was replete with old ladies, licking their lips and ready for the loot that would be thrown from the stage into the crowds below and old men just waiting to elbow their way past you for the free tissues and popcorn.

Don't mess with these ladies: they were armed with scarves, bags, and other catching

accoutrements and were armed and ready for the kill.

Before the festivities began, we were treated to a procession of musicians, temple patrons, and adorable kindergarteners armed with their own OniFighting gear (my guess is that they wore oni masks to confuse the actual oni - smart move!).

We were treated to three onis (red, blue, and yellow) who wore comically scary masks, gym shorts and had some pretty great fake bushy chest hair. Half the kindergartners looked like a hybrid of scared and excited while the other half were just plain glad to do some oni hunting...

Afterwards we were visited by a mystical anthropomorphic bag of popcorn, nicknamed Corn Chan by the event's announcers and the crowd moved in closer as they prepared to make the mochi by heating a gooey rice mixture and pounding it. After the mochi was made, the throwers on stage positioned themselves behind boxes on stage and tossed them out...

And one missed my eye by about an inch. I fought an old man for the mochi that had fallen to the ground and he gave up once he realized that the gaijin girl really wanted her loot. Yep. It was rock hard and not very tasty, but I won it! Corn Chan and his crew then threw out some bags of popcorn before the big event, the mame maki (bean throwing)!

Cutest little kids ever! Didn't think that they'd be devil-killers...

Oooh, red oni!

The kids ran at the onis and threw the beans to the uproarious cries of "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" and they growled and were eventually driven away. But that didn't stop there from being more throwing of presents - more tissues and dish scrubbers and scarves and bouncy balls and plenty of make (in order for people to do bean throwing at home to protect their own homes from those dastardly onis). I only got hit by one thing this time, but almost fell over when the crowd swayed back and forth in order to get in the crossfire of free loot.

So serious for people who are going to be throwing presents!

Like so!

Much fun for all! Afterwards, I went and got my fortune (big luck!) and lit some incense. We visited a shrine, but were informed that it only had one god, so it might not be worth visiting. It was still pretty neat though and was able to take some good photos and then take my own revenge on an oni (see OniBun below). All in all, a pretty good Setsubun.