It’s Setsubun day here in Japan (節分の日). A festival marking the end of winter and beginning of spring, this day carries a lot of traditions with it. First and foremost Mamemaki, the bean throwing ceremony, where the Dad plays the role of an Oni (traditional demon), usually by wearing the cheap cardboard mask that comes with a bag of roasted soybeans (fuku mame or “fortune beans”) which are thrown at him by his family.

Setsubun scene from the manga Urusei Yatsura

Another tradition is eating ehoumaki (恵方巻), a giant uncut sushi roll (aka futomaki), filled with seven ingredients (seven being lucky). You are meant to eat this in total silence, facing that year’s lucky compass direction (恵方 ehoe).

My 2011 ehoumaki, eaten with grave silence while facing southeast

Shot a lot on film today, so only a few to post at the moment. As always, more ash clean-up in Tarumizu:

Tags: ash, ehoumaki, futomaki, manga, sakurajima, setsubun, sushi, tarumizu, tradition, urusei yatsura, volcano, えほうまき, 節分