The Season Division, SETSBN

3rd of February is thought to be the major season division day in Japan.

And the day is called Setsbn.

It is normally spelled as “setsubun”, but I prefer spelling it as close as possible to pronunciation.

On this day, we throw dry Daiz beans to demons to scatter them away from house, and welcome good gods into, by yelling as

Oni wa Soto!

Fuku wa Uchi!

We Japanese think the seasons are divided by the changing of guards gods.

Oni the demons may be thought to sneak into when the guarding gods change and there occurs a slight gap in defense.

Well, I think so.