Zōkyō

Setsubun was yesterday, the day before the first day of spring. Its a Japanese household ritual to purify a family’s home of all the evil spirits and bad luck of the previous year, and bring in all the good spirits and fortune of the new year. Usually the father of the house wears an Oni (demon) mask and  Japanese kids throw roasted soybeans at him that they have collected at the local shrine earlier in the day. They shout “Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!” which means, “Out with the Demons In with the Hapiness!”. Then its customary to eat one bean for each year of one’s life plus one more for bringing good luck for the new year.

These are all the kids earlier in the day at the local shrine trying to catch the beans thrown from the monks that they will throw at the Oni later. I couldn’t help but think of a park pond’s gold Koi fish swarming the bridge’s bread crumb thrower.

New Hokkaido series up at brianscottpeterson.com