Key Points

- Celebration marking the last day before Spring

- Numerous rituals and traditions are held to drive off negative forces and bad fortunes for the upcoming year including beans throwing to ward off evil spirits

Brief Bio 

Setsubun (節分) is the day before the beginning of spring in the old calendar in Japan. The name literally means 'seasonal division', referring to the day just before the first day of spring in the traditional calendar, known as Setsubun; though previously referring to a wider range of possible dates, 

Setsubun is now typically held on February 3 with the day after – the first day of spring in the old calendar – known as Risshun (立春). Both Setsubun and Risshun are celebrated yearly as part of the Spring Festival (Haru matsuri (春祭)) in Japan. Setsubun was accompanied by a number of rituals and traditions held at various levels to drive away the previous year's bad fortunes and evil spirits for the year to come.

Setsubun has its origins in tsuina (追儺), a Chinese custom introduced to Japan in the 8th century. It was quite different from the Setsubun known today. According to the Japanese history book Shoku Nihongi, tsuina was first held in Japan in 706, and it was an event to ward off evil spirits held at the court on the last day of the year according to the lunar-solar calendar. At that time, tsuina was an event to drive away evil spirits that brought misfortune and disease by decorating each gate of the palace with clay figures of cows and children and using peach branches and walking sticks.

The custom of Setsubun as we know it today began in the Muromachi period (1336–1573). Every household of the aristocracy and samurai class threw beans from their houses into the open air. The Ainōshō, a dictionary compiled during the Muromachi period, states that the practice of bean-throwing during Setsubun originated from a legend in the 10th century, during the reign of Emperor Uda, that a monk on Mt. Kurama escaped misfortune by blinding oni with roasted beans. 

The Japanese word for bean, 豆, is pronounced mame, which can be written as 'devil's eye' (魔目), and some believe that the pronunciation is similar to that of mametsu (魔滅), meaning 'to destroy the devil', which is why people began throwing beans during Setsubun.