Setsubun (Eve of the Beginning of Spring)節分

Originally the turning points between the four seasons — in the calendar, the day before the start of spring, summer, autumn and winter. Today it usually means the day before the start of spring, known for scattering beans while chanting 'Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi' ('Demons out, fortune in').

At the turn of the seasons, beans are thrown to drive out demons and invite good fortune — a custom for welcoming spring that traces back to ancient court rites.

Tsuina, the exorcism rite, was adopted from the Chinese 'dano' custom; the Shoku Nihongi shows it was performed in Japan by 706. It was held on the last night of the year to drive away the year's diseases. When bean-throwing began is unclear, but records show that by the Nanboku-chō period people were throwing beans while chanting 'Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi'.

Source: 国立国会図書館(external site, opens in a new tab)

Traditions explaining the use of soybeans include a Chinese materia medica stating that soybeans kill 'demon poison' and stop pain, and the wordplay 'mame' as 'ma-metsu' (destroying evil). Because Setsubun is fixed as the day before Risshun, its date shifts; in 2021 it fell on February 2 for the first time in 124 years, since 1897.

Source: 国立国会図書館(external site, opens in a new tab) / 国立天文台暦計算室(external site, opens in a new tab)

1. 01

   Mamemaki (bean-throwing)

   Throwing beans while chanting 'Demons out, fortune in' — a practice into which the disease-expelling tsuina rite was absorbed.

2. 02

   Tsuina (exorcism rite)

   A rite derived from the Chinese dano, held on the last night of the year to drive away the year's diseases.

1. 1.第1章 節分と豆まき｜本の万華鏡 第21回 大豆 -粒よりマメ知識-(external site, opens in a new tab)国立国会図書館 · Accessed 2026-09-26
2. 2.節分の日が動き出す(external site, opens in a new tab)国立天文台暦計算室 · Accessed 2026-09-26