Got Demons? Use Mame.

This past weekend was Setsubun. According to Wikipedia, Setsubun is described as follows:

"In Japan, Setsubun (節分) is the day before the beginning of each season. The name literally means "seasonal division", but usually the term refers to the Spring Setsubun, properly called Risshun (立春), celebrated yearly on February 3. In its association with the Lunar New Year, Spring Setsubun can be thought of (and indeed was previously thought of) as a sort of New Year's Eve, and so was accompanied by a special ritual to cleanse away all the evil of the former year and drive away disease-bringing evil spirits for the year to come. "

You can't get any more succinct than that.

Setsubun on a popular level is also a chance for really really big street festivals. Since I live near Yoshida Jinja, I got to see all the hoopla up close and not have to worry about rushing to find a bathroom. ;-) According to my teachers, Yoshida is the most famous shrine for Setsubun, and has special omikuji (fortune papers) inside little daruma dolls that are only at Yoshida. I got myself one and it said "Daikichi" - which is the best of luck! I also got a normal paper omikuji which said "kichi" (average) so I guess it all balances out and looks like I will have a decent year.

But the street fairs were a ton of fun. I ate myself silly! I had okonomiyaki, yakisoba, choco-banana, choco-ichigo, kobe-beef-on-a-stick, takoyaki, 2 crepes and a doughy fish with bacon and egg. Yum yum! Stall food is soo good but rather expensive.

On the first day of Setsubun, Colleen and I were at Yoshida in the evening for Tsuinashiki, a special procession done by people dressed in Oni (demon) costumes and Shinto priests - there is one big Oni and a bunch of smaller ones, and then the big Oni drives out the smaller Oni. This was more of a prelude to what was going to happen the next day which was the real Setsubun. Everyone that I knew was at the Friday night events - it was so crowded that at one point I ended up in front of a group of kindergarteners. One took a look at me and said pretty loudly: "Ah! Gaijin da!" (Ah! It's a forienger!) There were not alot of foreign faces - I practically knew most of them since they were all students at Kyodai - but I thought it was kind of intersting how my sheer presence can make a little kid exclaim rather loudly (it was quite noisy at Yoshida).

So the next day (Saturday) Colleen and I trekked on our bikes to Heian Jingu for the mame-throwing. Traditionally, you are supposed to throw mame whilst yelling "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" (Demons out! Blessing in!). I found out on the net that this was going to happen at Heian Jingu at 3:00pm. Even though I did research on Heian Jingu and saw some photos, I was totally unprepared for the sheer ostentatiousness of the place. The torii was huge - and I think even though its on a smaller scale than the Daidairi, it sure as hell sticks out alot more than your typical Shinto shrine.


Colleen and I are walking around, trying to figure out what was going to happen and why the people were just standing on two sides of the courtyard. We soon got our answer: Heian Jingu did its own version of driving out the demons. After the demons were driven out of the compound, the barricades holding the crowd back were let away and total chaos ensued. For all the reputation of Japanese being orderly, they sure as hell went nuts for a bunch of soybeans in packets! Colleen and I then went closer to the crowd (after they ran to the main stage) to just take pictures of the chaos. Turns out, a packet of mame bounced off an obaa-san's head and dropped at my feet. In a split-second, I shot down and grabbed it! total impulse but I figured hey why not, I am in the midst of the corwd and being shoved I might as well get some mame. I shared the packet with Colleen, even though that for good luck I am supposed to eat one mame bean for each year that I am, plus one for good luck - 23.

Some of the people that were throwing out the mame packets were boring old officials and old ladies with poorly died hair in kimono. However, three of them were real maiko. Turns out, at the larger shrines across Japan, celebrities and famous sumo wrestlers and other personalities go to the shrines and toss mame packets to the crowd. So in kyoto, the local celebreties are the maiko and geiko.

After the crazy Japanese run, Colleen and I then went to Mibu-Dera to see a play about Setsubun and met up with her friend Charlie. Even though it was Kyogen, the play was rather boring. After, I rode my bike back to my apartment and met up with Mayuko who was back in Japan. We are going to meet up in Osaka at the Apple store this Thursday to get my iPod shuffle (in orange! My iPod died twice on me yesterday). Ate some more, walked around Yoshida some more and then went back home because my body was so tired from the long bike ride.

Before I left, I had my palm read by computer - it was in English. In addition to the printout that I got, a man read my palm and Mayuko translated for me. He said:

1) That I will live till 93 and be healthy;
2) I have "so much good luck" because my maternal grandmother (who is alive still) is protecting me;
3) And that I had better marry the guy that I am with since he is a very good match with me.