Setsubun in Kyoto and Nara - Devils, Gods, and Geisha

http://therovingroninreport.blogspot.com/2010/02/gods-devils-and-geisha-setsu...
Setsubun (Feb 3rd) is a Japanese Spring ritual where Japanese drive bad luck in the form of Oni (devils) out of their homes with a handful of tossed beans. At temples and shrines, they do mame maki which is throwing beans and other things to gathered crowds.

Setsubun is one of my favorite Japanese holidays and I've been celebrating it for the past 6 years or more. In the past I always celebrated it at temples and shrines in or around Tokyo. This year I headed for Kyoto taking in Nara in the evening as well.

I started Setsubun on the 2nd with some Geisha mame maki (geisha were throwing beans that is not that they were throwing geisha). On the 3rd, I went to 6 places starting with Yasaka Shrine for a brief mame maki by people in old court costumes then I went to Heian Shrine where they were doing Kyogen, traditional comedy plays set inbetween Noh dramas. After Heian I went to the small temple Shogo-In where they pelted 3 devils then later the devils threw beans at us! At a tiny temple near the old Imperial Palace, they had three devils arrive with weapons only to be driven away by beans and chants.

After that I took a train to Nara and got there in time to see yet another Oni demonstration. Here the devils were defeated by Bishamonten or Bishamon, Buddhist deity and Guardian of the North. It was like spiritual pro-wrestling with weapons. After that I went to Kasuga Taisha Shrine for a cool down. They had their hanging lanterns lit up for Setsubun. It was very beautiful.

Whew! After all that I was Setsubuned Out!

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Japan
• Kyoto
• Nara
• Setsubun
• Oni
• Devils
• Japanese-culture
• geisha
• Bishamon
• Kyogen

[AndroidAndr3w]

Is it also traditional that the devils wear leopard underwear? To me that was the scariest part of the whole ritual.

[RoninDave]

hey, they're fashion rebels! But actually it has to do with the NE direction and the animal zodiac symbols. NE was considered an unlucky direction and the two animals on the zodiac that coresponded with that direction was the cow and tiger hence why the setsubun oni have cow horns, tiger claws and pants.

[64birdman]

Good videos Dave, but please tell me you weren't sitting on the throne making those comments between clips!

;-{)

[RoninDave]

now how many people have a scarf, coat, and a cup of cocoa while videoing themselves on the john? I was on the staircase outside of the internet cafe I was staying at.

[AFearlessAngel84]

Was Rozan-ji a jinja or o-tera?

[RoninDave]

whoa, careful with them big words! They scare me! But Rozan-ji is a temple - a very small one which made for a jampacked crowd.

[RoninDave]

@aoiahiru really? cool!

[ichiro125]

Wow... this is interesting video! thanks a lot!

[AndroidAndr3w]

Never would have believed that there was as an actual meaning for wearing tiger undies. Cool.

[73elephants]

Oh, man, this video is so cool! Makes me nostalgic for Japan!

[shiro182]

That's scary.

[BobbyHyattVideos]

Dave i hate you....you lucky soab :D JK love the vids man cant wait to get to Japan, I'm going alone in November i will be 16 (Mum isn't to pleased about that lol)

[kmah88]

great video!

victor (gimmeabreakman / gimmeaflakeman) is right ~ your cultural videos are unrivaled.

[RIchardEPfeifer]

I could use some of that here.. devils out! - .Good luck in!