John Carroll 
The Hanshin Tigers pitcher Javy Guerra and outfielder Johan Mieses (right), who was with the team at the time, participate in a Setsubun event in 2024. (©Sankei by Keisuke Mizushima)
In 2025, Setsubun, the day marking the beginning of spring, falls on Sunday, February 2. The term Setsubun means "division between seasons," so actually there are four such occasions within the calendar year.
However, it is typically used to refer to the start of spring, the most important of the breaks. This is when special rites were traditionally performed throughout Japan to say good riddance to bad luck experienced during the previous year as well as drive off any evil spirits in the area.
Nowadays, it is a day to sweep away misfortune and invite in good fortune by throwing beans and chanting "Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi." ("Demons out, good fortune in"), while driving off "demons" dressed in colorful costumes.
Goodbye Evil Spirits, Hello Good Fortune!
The beans used for bean throwing are roasted soybeans called "lucky beans." Why throw beans? There is a bit of wordplay at work here. Mame is the Japanese word for "bean," while the expression ma o messuru literally means "to destroy evil."
Traditionally, in rural areas, the "demon for a day" was the oldest man or woman or the head of the household. But now the rules are not all that strict. It is said that if you pick up the scattered beans and eat the number of them equal to your age, you will be able to maintain your health in the coming year.
The Setsubun ceremony conducted at the Heian Shrine in Kyoto and some other shrines throughout Japan has its origin in the Tsuina ritual. It was conducted in the Imperial Palace on the last night of the old year by the lunisolar Chinese calendar during the Nara and Heian periods. The roots of this ceremony are entirely different from the traditions of either Buddhism or Shinto.
Shamanistic Origins
Tsuina is the name of an ancient court ceremony transplanted from China, which dates back perhaps as far as the Chou (Zhou) dynasty 3,000 years ago. In the rite conducted at New Year's, an official known as a hososhi would a mask and special costume, carrying a shield and spear. He would perform incantations in four directions designed to exorcise wicked demons and evil spirits while banging his shield against the spear.
This individual was believed to have special powers that allowed him to discern evil demons with his four spiritual eyes. The demons, originally probably meant to represent epidemics, were then driven off by other officials shooting arrows.
The roots of this ceremony are obviously shamanistic. Also, during royal funerals in both China and Japan, this same official performed the role of leading the cart carrying the casket to the burial site.
The Gambler Oni
Setsubun is, of course, today a nationwide tradition in Japan, with regional differences in how it is celebrated. There are many varieties of oni and oni lore is actually a complex and fascinating subject. There are tons of oni stories dating back to at least the Heian period. Some are scary, but many are hilarious. One of my favorites is the story of Lord Haseo and gambler oni.
Ki no Haseo (845-912) was a famous Heian-era scholar and minor aristocrat. A disciple of the statesman Sugawara no Michizane, he was an acknowledged expert in writing Chinese poetry and a top-notch sugoroku (Japanese backgammon) player.
Sugoroku was a highly popular board game among all classes in Japan during the Heian and Kamakura eras. His story appears in the Kamakura era book Haseo Soshi, as well as the 14th century Haseo Zoshi illustrated handscroll (emakimono).
A Tale of Wits and Woe
As the story goes, one day Haseo's dog started acting funny. An onmyoji fortuneteller he consults warns Haseo that on such and such a day in such and such a month an oni will appear at his mansion, so he must be on his guard. But Haseo quickly forgets about the warning.
Weeks later a mysterious stranger shows up at the door of Haseo's mansion and challenges him to a sugoroku match "at his place." Intrigued by this unexpected invitation, after thinking it over for a moment, Haseo agrees and accompanies the man. The man's "home" turns out to be an upper floor of one of the city gates that has a reputation for being haunted.
They sit down in front of the gameboard and are about to start to play when the mysterious stranger makes an astonishing proposal to Haseo, "If I lose, I'll present you with the most beautiful woman in the world," he declares. "But if you lose, I get everything you own."
Haseo is naturally taken aback, but since he has confidence in his ability as a master sugoroku player and a fondness for gambling, he readily agrees. As they get totally absorbed in the play, Haseo begins to win game after game. And as he does so, the stranger becomes angrier and more frustrated, with his face flushing beet red. The opponent gradually reveals his true form as an oni!
Nonetheless, Haseo pretends to be unperturbed and keeps on playing till he wins.
The Temptation
That night the oni reappears at Haseo's mansion accompanied by a woman of unearthly beauty. The petulant oni tells Haseo "True to my promise, I brought you the woman, she is yours to do with as you please."
Then he menacingly warns him: "But you can't lay a finger on her for one hundred days. If you don't do what I say, your life will be in danger."
As the days pass the woman appears more and more ravishing to Haseo. The young lady is not just physically enticing, but also has a pleasant personality despite the fact that she does not speak. Moreover, she treats him with such slavish devotion that when she keeps glancing at him seductively, he grows frenzied with desire.
Haseo manages to control himself for 80 days. But then lust finally wins out. Forgetting the oni's dire warning, Haseo reaches out and takes the beauty into his arms, only to have her body immediately disintegrate, turning into a puddle of water at his feet. The bewildered Haseo stands there watching the water flow away.
The Oni's Demand
Not long after, on his way home from the Imperial Palace, Haseo is accosted by this same fearsome oni who berates him for violating the terms of their agreement. The blustering oni explains that the reason for requiring the 100-day wait was that the "woman" was only a proto-human, and it took 100 days for her to come to life as a genuine human being.
She had in fact been created from various superior body parts taken from the corpses of beauties the oni had gathered from graveyards. If Haseo had managed to wait the full 100 days required, "she" would have been infused with a soul.
The oni now demands Haseo's own soul as compensation. The deal, after all, was for everything Haseo owned. Perhaps the oni is incensed at the violation of his intellectual property rights by Haseo's unwitting destruction of his magnificent creation. In any event, he seems determined to transform Haseo himself into an oni.
Divine Intervention
Scared witless, Haseo takes to his heels, with the revenge-seeking oni in hot pursuit. Haseo starts frantically praying to Kitano Tenjin as the two race in the direction of Kitano Tenmangu shrine. That famous Kyoto landmark is dedicated to Tenjin, the deified Sugawara Michizane, who became the patron god of scholars after his death.
His quick thinking saves Haseo, as the voice of Tenjin-sama thunders from the sky and the oni disappears, never to return.
The Tale of Haseo was not written until the late Kamakura period, long after the events were said to have occurred. But this is only one of several such tales about oni and scholars. Then, as now, scholars are often contemptuous of superstitions. The greed of the oni also makes him seem very human-like and oddly endearing.
RELATED:
- The 'Demons' Who Were Pallbearers for Japan's Emperors
- There's More to the Daruma Than Meets the Eye
- Something about Spring Brings Out the Demons
- Why the Dearth of Vampires in Japan?
Author: John Carroll
John Carroll is a Kyoto-based freelance writer and JAPAN Forward contributor. He is currently writing a book on the religious traditions and superstitions of Japan's ancient capital.
