Setsubun (February): The Bean-Throwing Festival

Setsubun Japan centers on a short, loud ritual held on the eve of spring: households scatter roasted soybeans to drive out demons and welcome fortune.¹² The whole event fits into one evening, and a supermarket bag of beans plus a paper demon mask is enough to join in.

Confirm current details with official sources

Practices, event schedules, and the year's lucky direction can change. Confirm current details at the National Diet Library's Setsubun guide, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries regional-cuisines page, and each temple or shrine's official event page.

Overview

Setsubun now means the day before 立春 (risshun, "start of spring") in the traditional calendar.¹² It is a social custom, not a legal or administrative procedure, and it works the same way regardless of nationality or visa status.

The evening has three familiar parts: 豆撒き (mamemaki, "bean scattering") at home or at a public venue, eating beans for the year, and eating an uncut 恵方巻き (eho-maki, "lucky-direction roll") while facing the year's lucky direction.¹²³ Public bean-throwing at major temples draws crowds, while home practice stays small and family led.⁴⁵

This article covers only the resident's February observance. Building-wide duties and neighborhood-association events run on separate customs and sit outside this article's scope.

When Setsubun Falls and What It Marks

Setsubun means seasonal division, and it once named four days a year. Only the spring eve kept the name, which is why February carries the festival.¹⁶

The February date and occasional February 2 shift

Setsubun usually falls on February 3, but the date moves with the calendar. Web Japan gives February 3 or 4 depending on the year, MAFF gives a February 2 to 4 band, and the National Diet Library phrases it as around February 3.²³⁶

Recent years show the shift directly. The 2025 observance fell on Sunday, February 2 (as of 2025-02-03; confirm current year dates with each venue's official page), with the Zojoji rite in Tokyo held on that day.⁵⁷ The 2026 observance fell on February 3 (as of 2026-02-04).⁴⁸

Observance	Date	As of	Notes
2025 Setsubun	February 2, Sunday	2025-02-0357	Zojoji Tokyo rite held Feb. 2
2026 Setsubun	February 3	2026-02-0448	Sensoji Tokyo event listed as 2026-2-3

Setsubun is not a national holiday. Shrines and temples across the country hold celebrations on the day itself.⁷

Season division and the spring-eve position

Season change happens four times a year in the old calendar: spring, summer, autumn, and winter.¹ Originally each eve was a setsubun, covering the eves of Risshun, Rikka, Risshu, and Ritto.⁶²

Risshun was the start of the year in the old lunar calendar and was treated as especially significant.⁶ That weight is why the spring eve became the famous one.

The demon-driving side has separate roots. The Chinese exorcism rite 追儺 (tsuina, "demon-expelling rite") reached Japan and became an imperial court event in the Heian period.¹⁶ A 1447 diary entry already shows bean scattering with the chant 鬼は外、福は内 (Oni wa soto, Fuku wa uchi, "Demons out, fortune in"), and by the Edo period the Tsuina and season-eve strands were fully joined.⁶

Mamemaki at Home

Home mamemaki is a short family activity. You throw beans, shout the chant, close up, then eat beans for the year.²

The flow above cites the room-plus-outside throwing and the age-count eating described by Web Japan.²

What to buy: beans and mask sets

The standard bean is roasted soybean, called 福豆 (fukumame, "fortune beans").²⁵ Households traditionally fill a 升 (masu, "wooden measuring cup") with the beans before throwing.²

Two traditional rationales explain the soybean choice. Soybeans rank among the five cereals and are said to house the spirit of grain, and the word 豆 (mame, "bean") is linked by wordplay to destroying evil.¹ Earlier practice also used rice, wheat, millet, charcoal, adzuki, or mixed grains, so soybeans are the settled norm rather than the only historical option.⁶

A supermarket or convenience-store Setsubun set covers the rest: roasted soybeans plus a paper demon mask in one box.⁷ For the sushi side, depachika food halls and convenience stores are the easiest eho-maki sources in the days before Setsubun (as of 2026-01-21; confirm current availability with each store).⁸ Some takeout sushi shops and major chains make rolls to order and may need advance reservations (as of 2026-01-21).⁸

How to throw and what to chant

On Setsubun night, households scatter beans through the room, throw beans outside through open doors or windows, and shout Oni wa soto, Fuku wa uchi.²¹ The rite began as a New Year ceremony to drive out evil spirits and seeds of misfortune and to pray for family well-being and good business.²

One person often plays the 鬼 (oni, "demon or ogre") while the rest throw beans. Press description commonly names an elder family member in a red-faced demon mask, while Web Japan notes that families with small children especially enjoy the chase and that schools have children make demon masks.⁵²

After driving the demon out, shut the door so evil does not return.⁷ Customary telling adds that beans are roasted partly so stray beans do not sprout, which would symbolically let evil take root.⁷

Keep the indoor scatter small in apartments

A full handful per throw suits a house, not a one-room apartment. Use a restrained scatter or small packets indoors, then gather every bean the same night.

Eating beans for the year

After mamemaki, everyone eats the same number of beans as their own age. Several sources add one more bean for the coming year, for luck and health.²⁵⁷

Older and regional variants widen the picture. Roasted beans have also been offered at shrines or temples to pray for a year without illness, and one locale reports cooking the previous day's beans into the next morning's rice.⁶ One rare regional telling even reverses part of the chant, though the standard form dominates everywhere else.⁶

Do not give whole beans to children aged 5 or younger

Hard beans and nuts can block a small airway. The Consumer Affairs Agency raised its alert age from 3 to 5 after a 4-year-old died choking on beans at a childcare Setsubun event, and it asks families with older siblings to hold the line even when younger children ask for beans (as of 2021-02-01).⁹

Shrine and Temple Bean-Throwing Events

Public mamemaki scales the home rite up to a stage. Priests, community figures, sumo wrestlers, actors, kabuki actors, or other celebrities throw beans or small packets to crowds who catch them for luck.⁵⁷

What happens on stage

At Zojoji in Tokyo on February 2, 2025, sumo wrestlers, actors, and celebrities in formal kimono threw small packs of fukumame from an elevated podium while the crowd chanted in sync (as of 2025-02-03; confirm current year programs with each venue).⁵ Lucky participants collected packets of soybeans, snacks, and mochi rice cakes.⁵

Sensoji frames its own rite differently. GO TOKYO describes Sensoji's Setsubun-e as the first bean-throwing opened to the common people, memorialized in an old Edo guidebook.⁴ At Sensoji the usual chant is replaced with long life, fortune in, because no demons can be present before Kannon, the Buddhist goddess of mercy to whom the temple is dedicated.⁴

The Sensoji program also includes the Seven Lucky Gods dance, properly the Fukuju-no-Mai, followed by bean-throwing by personalities connected to Asakusa (as of 2026-02-04).⁴

How to attend without friction

Sensoji's 2026 shape ran parades around 11:30 and 13:30, then a Buddhist service, mamemaki, and the Fukuju-no-Mai dance, with the bean-throwing ceremony starting around 16:00 under the Asakusa Tourism Federation (as of 2026-02-04).⁴ The temple sits about 5 minutes on foot from Asakusa Station on the Tobu Skytree, Ginza, and Tsukuba Express lines, plus the Toei Asakusa Line at Exit A4.⁴

One secondary guide puts pre-pandemic Sensoji attendance at about 100,000 people (as of its 2025-07-17 update); treat that as a historical scale marker, not current capacity.⁷

Bean-throwing lasts a minute or two at festivals

Arrive early, dress modestly for the temple or shrine grounds, and keep throws careful in a crowd. The main scattering is brief, so a late arrival can miss it entirely.⁷

Eho-maki: The Lucky-Direction Roll

Eho-maki is a thick, whole sushi roll eaten on Setsubun for the year ahead. MAFF lists it as an Osaka-prefecture regional cuisine, with Semba in Osaka named as the main lore area.³

The three eating rules

Face the year's lucky direction, eat the roll whole without cutting, and eat in silence while wishing for luck.³⁸ LIVE JAPAN phrases the same three rules as never cutting the edges, facing the Toshitokujin direction without looking away, and staying silent until finished so luck does not escape.⁸

The direction changes each year. MAFF's older examples give 2022 as north-northwest and 2023 as south-southeast, while 2026 was south-southeast (as of 2026-01-21; confirm the current year's eho before buying).³⁸ MAFF attributes the direction to onmyodo divination, while LIVE JAPAN attributes it to the deity Toshitokujin; both agree it rotates yearly.³⁸

Year	Lucky direction	As of
2022	North-northwest	MAFF page text3
2023	South-southeast	MAFF page text3
2026	South-southeast	2026-01-218

Why seven fillings and why uncut

The recent norm is a thick futomaki roll with 7 ingredients for the Seven Gods of Fortune.³⁸ Common fillings include eel or conger eel kabayaki, thick omelet, cucumber, dried shiitake, dried gourd strips, shrimp, mitsuba, and seaweed.³⁸

There were originally no fixed filling rules, and both MAFF and LIVE JAPAN say this directly.³⁸ The number seven carries the symbolism, not any single ingredient list.

The uncut rule protects luck and ties from being cut, while the silence rule keeps fortune from escaping through speech.⁸ One secondary telling adds eating with eyes shut for maximum luck, but that reads as a variant rather than the core rule.⁷

Terminology

Term	Reading	Meaning
恵方巻き	eho-maki	Lucky-direction roll, eaten whole on Setsubun3
恵方	eho	The year's lucky direction3
七福神	shichi-fukujin	Seven Lucky Gods, the seven-fillings rationale3
歳徳神	toshitokujin	Deity of the year's fortune, whose direction is faced8
陰陽道	onmyodo	The way of yin and yang, divination behind the direction3

From Kansai custom to nationwide shelf

The custom is said to have begun in Osaka, but its exact origin is uncertain.³ Theories point to a geisha-quarter game or to Osaka and Semba merchants praying for good business.³⁸

It does not appear to have been widespread before World War II.³ Promotion from the 1970s as a seaweed-industry sales tactic, then convenience-store and supermarket sales from the 1990s, carried the practice nationwide.³ A compatible telling dates a large Osaka campaign to around 1960 and the convenience-store pickup after that.⁸

Supermarkets and convenience stores now line up many eho-maki each Setsubun, and MAFF notes some stores use advance booking to avoid food waste.³ A 2026 trend note adds that many households buy ready-made rolls rather than making them from scratch (as of 2026-01-21).⁸

Reserve takeout rolls instead of assuming walk-in stock

Takeout sushi shops and major chains often make eho-maki to order. Book ahead when a specific shop or size matters, then use convenience stores as the fallback (as of 2026-01-21).⁸

Joining In as a Foreign Resident

Setsubun is one of the easiest seasonal customs to try. Nothing needs a reservation, a form, or Japanese fluency beyond the one-line chant.

The supermarket run

One Setsubun set plus one pre-made eho-maki covers the evening. The set gives roasted soybeans and a demon mask for a small home mamemaki, while the roll covers the quiet wishing part.⁷ MAFF confirms that eho-maki and makizushi are sold at convenience stores, supermarkets, and many other stores nationwide during Setsubun.³

Add a cup of amazake, the sweet nonalcoholic drink often shelved beside the seasonal goods, for a low-effort seasonal table.⁷ Shop in the days before Setsubun, since LIVE JAPAN frames depachika halls and convenience stores as easiest in the lead-up and warns that some sushi sellers need reservations (as of 2026-01-21; confirm current availability with each store).⁸

With children, schools, and neighborhoods

Families with small children especially enjoy mamemaki, with one person playing the demon while others throw beans, and schools join by having children make demon masks.² A 2026 trend note says bean-throwing is often experienced at kindergartens or daycare while home eating of eho-maki becomes the main home part (as of 2026-01-21).⁸

Setsubun stays popular largely because mamemaki is fun.² Venue rules vary by shrine or temple, including schedule and chant, but no ward-office or nationality procedure gates participation.⁴⁵

Good to know

Small apartments and shared housing: keep the cleanup short

Scatter lightly indoors and gather every bean the same night. The rite itself spreads beans through the room and outside, which is simple in a house and tedious in a one-room apartment.² Public rites avoid the mess by throwing small packets for the crowd to catch, a model worth copying at home with wrapped sweets or single-serve packs.⁵

Whole beans and small children: choking risk

Keep whole roasted soybeans away from children aged 5 or younger. The agency raised its alert age from 3 to 5 after the Matsue fatality and directs the warning especially at families with older siblings.⁹

Agency analysis counted 80 deaths age 14 or younger from foreign-object aspiration in 2014 to 2019, of which 73 were age 5 or younger (as of 2021-02-01; confirm current guidance with the Consumer Affairs Agency).⁹ A separate medical-institution series counted 164 food-related suffocation or aspiration reports in 2010 to 2020, of which 141 involved children aged 5 or younger (as of 2021-02-01).⁹ Chewing plus swallowing coordination completes only after the 6-year molars arrive, and walking or crying with food in the mouth raises the risk.⁹

The date and direction change each year

Confirm the year's Setsubun date in the February 2 to 4 band and the year's eho before buying beans or booking rolls. MAFF and Web Japan both frame the date as a yearly band rather than a fixed day.³² The worked examples above show why: 2025 fell on February 2 at Zojoji, while 2026 fell on February 3 at Sensoji with a south-southeast eho (as of 2026-02-04).⁵⁴⁸

See also

• New-Year (Oshogatsu) and the Hatsumode Visit
• Hina-Matsuri, Children's Day, and Tanabata in Japan
• Obon and the Summer Festival Season
• Tsukimi, Year-End, and Omisoka
• Shinto and Buddhism as Practice, Not Belief
• Year-End Greeting Cards (Nengajo)

References

Footnotes

1. National Diet Library. Setsubun and Jakubarai (Warding off evil spirits), NDL Image Bank. https://ndlsearch.ndl.go.jp/en/imagebank/column/setsubun ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

2. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Web Japan Kids Web Japan. Setsubun and Bean-Throwing. https://web-japan.org/kidsweb/explore/calendar/february/setsubun.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷

3. Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. Ehomaki / Makizushi (Sushi rolls), Our Regional Cuisines: Osaka Prefecture. https://www.maff.go.jp/e/policies/market/k_ryouri/search_menu/3655/index.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²²

4. Tokyo Convention and Visitors Bureau, GO TOKYO. Setsubun-e Celebration. Updated 2026-02-04. https://www.gotokyo.org/en/spot/ev133/index.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰

5. The Mainichi / Associated Press. Japanese mark the end of winter with bean-throwing ritual to ward off evil spirits. Published 2025-02-03. https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250203/p2g/00m/0na/011000c ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²

6. National Diet Library. Dai 1 sho Setsubun to mamemaki, Hon no Bankyo No. 21 Daizu: Tsubu yori mame chishiki (in Japanese). https://www.ndl.go.jp/kaleido/entry/21/1.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

7. byFood (Tablecross). How To Celebrate Setsubun: Japan's Bean-Throwing Holiday. Updated 2025-07-17. https://www.byfood.com/blog/how-to-celebrate-setsubun-p-549 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³

8. LIVE JAPAN. What is Ehomaki? Introducing the Lucky Direction for Setsubun 2026, and Where to Buy It. Last updated 2026-01-21. https://livejapan.com/en/in-kansai/in-pref-osaka/in-namba_dotonbori_shinsaibashi/article-a2000589/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹

9. The Mainichi. Do not give beans to young kids, agency warns ahead of bean-throwing rituals in Japan. Published 2021-02-01. https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210201/p2a/00m/0na/024000c ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵