Setsubun
3 February 2026 · movable holiday — Demons out, luck in! Throw the beans!
Setsubun means “seasonal division”. Today the name usually refers to the day before the beginning of spring in the old Japanese calendar (Risshun, the first day of spring). It is normally 3 February, and in 2021 and 2025 it fell on 2 February. The central custom is mame-maki, throwing roasted soybeans while shouting “Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!” – “Demons out, good luck in!” Often one family member wears an oni mask (an oni is a demon from Japanese folklore) and the others chase him away with beans. Afterwards people eat as many beans as their age, wishing for health in the coming year. Some households hang a holly twig with a sardine head by the door as a charm. Many shrines and temples hold large ceremonies, and in some regions people eat a long sushi roll, ehō-maki, facing the lucky direction of the year. The festival reflects the old calendar: Risshun lies roughly halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox.
Flying across the sky: An ethereal, bluish-silver star figure made of luminous dots and thin lines, like a constellation: a funny little horned oni demon with a round belly, running across the sky while a shower of tiny glowing bean-like stars scatters behind and around him
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