HAKONE: Scores gathered at a shrine in Japan’s Hakone to try and catch “lucky beans,” hoping to ward off evil spirits as they celebrate the last day of winter in the Japanese lunar calendar.
Setsubun is also known as “mame-maki,” or bean-throwing. It falls around Feb. 3, on the eve of Risshun, marking the beginning of spring in Japan.
Long before modern calendars, the change of seasons was viewed as a vulnerable moment when illness and misfortune could enter lives. Setsubun was meant to contain that instability; people throw the same lucky beans at representations of demons to bring the loathed creatures misfortune.
As people pitch the soybeans, they chant, “Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi” — demons out, fortune in.
Families perform the custom at home, while temples and shrines conduct formal ceremonies.
Though the practice may appear playful, its origins lie in ancient purification rites.
Founded more than 1,200 years ago, Hakone Shrine stands beside Lake Ashi in the mountains of Kanagawa Prefecture, west of Tokyo, and for centuries, travelers crossing the mountains often stopped there to pray for protection before continuing through terrain known for sudden weather changes and difficult routes.
On Tuesday, winter still dominated the landscape as the shrine marked Setsubun.
Visitors arrived quietly, bundled against the cold. Shinto priests conducted formal rites, reciting prayers; their movements were deliberate, reflecting the shrine’s emphasis on continuity.
As part of the ceremony, a Shinto priest and a figure dressed as a demon were pulled across the surface of the lake, briefly skimming the water before disappearing in the distance. By carrying the “oni” across the lake, the ritual symbolically removes misfortune from the community.
The ceremony then continued on land. Roasted soybeans were thrown, voices briefly rising with the familiar chant before falling silent. The beans scattered across stone steps and earth, left where they landed.