PROJECT Bean-Throwing for Setsubun
FUKU wa UCHI ONI wa SOTO
Bring in Good Fortune! Throw out the ogres!
DOWNLOAD a recipe for Fuku Mamé roasted soybeans
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Setsubun, a marker on the ancient, lunar-based koyomi calendar indicates the start of a new season; setsubun breaks occur many times during the year. Today in Japan the setsubun that is most celebrated occurs in early February (this year, 2025, it falls on February 2).
Setsubun corresponds to the start of the lunar New Year and in other parts of Asia, China for example, this break is celebrated as New Years. But in Japan, since it switched to using the Gregorian calendar in the Meiji period, Setsubun is quite apart from Oshōgatsu (New Year activities), which comes to a close in mid-January.
Setsubun rituals developed to insure that evil was left behind in the old year, and good things could (and would) happen in the year to come. Oni monsters personify bad things and are traditionally expelled by shouting and throwing dry-roasted soybeans. Throughout Japan, school children make monster masks to don while they yell:
ONI WA SOTO 鬼は外 (throw the ogres out!)
This is shouted standing at the entrance to your home, school and/or place of business while throwing several beans OUT, over your shoulder.
FUKU WA UCHI 福は内 (bring in good fortune!)
This said after you turn around and throw a few beans over your shoulder IN to your place of business, school, or home.
Finally, eat the same number of beans as your age. (I love dry-roasted soybeans and each year I am glad to eat more of them!)
Visit my Kitchen Culture blog to learn about An Edible Ode to Winter: Sleet & Snow.
Read my January, 2025 newsletter.
PROJECT Springtime Sweets
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Celebrating Sakura
The Japanese take great pleasure in celebrating the seasons and SAKURA (cherry blossoms) are emblematic of spring. From the time buds (tsubomi 蕾) first appear to the official pronouncement of blooming (kaika 開花) it is often less than a week. And from there to...
PROJECT Temari Sushi
This KITCHEN PROJECT features temari-zushi, bite-sized spheres of tart rice topped with various ingredients. HINA MATSURI is celebrated on March 3 and during the weeks leading up to it, and for several weeks thereafter, scattered chirashi-zushi and/or temari-zushi ...
Cooking Cloth
Cloth is the work horse, and often unsung hero, of the kitchen. In the Japanese kitchen, cloth enables the cook to perform a wide range of tasks such as lining steamers, draining and straining, enveloping, and shaping.Cloths known as fukashi nuno 蒸し布 are used to line...
PROJECT Springtime Sweets
洋菓子・yōgashiWestern-Style Confectionery Japan's food culture includes ingredients, techniques and dishes that have been adopted and/or adapted from non-Japanese sources. One large category is confectionery. Earliest influences were from the Portuguese in the 16th...
Celebrating Sakura
The Japanese take great pleasure in celebrating the seasons and SAKURA (cherry blossoms) are emblematic of spring. From the time buds (tsubomi 蕾) first appear to the official pronouncement of blooming (kaika 開花) it is often less than a week. And from there to...
PROJECT Temari Sushi
This KITCHEN PROJECT features temari-zushi, bite-sized spheres of tart rice topped with various ingredients. HINA MATSURI is celebrated on March 3 and during the weeks leading up to it, and for several weeks thereafter, scattered chirashi-zushi and/or temari-zushi ...
Cooking Cloth
Cloth is the work horse, and often unsung hero, of the kitchen. In the Japanese kitchen, cloth enables the cook to perform a wide range of tasks such as lining steamers, draining and straining, enveloping, and shaping.Cloths known as fukashi nuno 蒸し布 are used to line...