Setsubun in Kyoto

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The Japanese word “Setsubun” means a division between each two seasons, in other words, the day before the first day of each season. Setubun, accordingly, comes 4 times per year, but it has pointed out only the day before the first day of spring since the Edo period. Old Japanese people considered that the first day of spring was the beginning of a new year and thus was a very important day, from which people began to call only the day before the first day of spring Setsubun. On the other hand, people believed that evil (oni, or ogre, meaning a diseases and disaster, particularly epidemic) generated at a time of change from winter to spring. In the Imperial Court, an event for driving the oni (evil) away, including throwing beans, was performed at that time, and then the event was spread to the common people to form an event or festival performed at the present time. That is, the Setsubun festival is an event for driving the evil away at the time of the change of the seasons and praying for good health in the new year. The first day of spring is February the third in this year, and so Setsubun is February the second.
The Setsubun event originated in China. It was introduced into Japan during the Heian Period, and combined with the Japanese ancient way of thinking to form the Setsubun event peculiar to Japan. The event is performed both in temples and shrines. It may be strange somehow, because the temples and shrines are included in the different religious facilities from each other. The event, however, is based on the Shinto-Buddhist syncretism, which was a religious faith fixed in Japan before the Meiji Period. The separation of Buddhism and Shintoism edict was issued by the Government at the beginning of the Meiji Period, but before that, Japanese people believed the Shinto-Buddhist syncretism, a religion in which Shintoism, which is an indigenous belief by Japanese, was fused with Buddhism believed by Japanese to reconstruct a system of religion. In the Setsubun event, the ancient Japanese religion, the Shinto-Buddhist syncretism, still remains.
I went to see the Setsubun festivals in Kyoto. I visited Shogoin Temple, Suga Shrine, and Yoshida Shrine. Please check them out!

1. Shogoin Temple
2. Suga Shrine
3. Yoshida Shrine

1. Shogoin Temple
This temple started when ex-Emperor Shirakawa gave it to Zoyo Daisojo (Buddhist priest of the highest order) who introduced the ex-Emperor to Kumano in Wakayama. The temple is a monzeki temple of which the chief priest was an Imperial family member or nobleman who became a priest for many generations. In the Edo Period, the Emperor lived in this temple for some time. On the other hand, the temple is a head temple of the Honzan Shugen Sect practicing “Shugendo” (Japanese mountain asceticism incorporating Shinto and Buddhist concepts) in which practitioners of Shugendo train in mountains and valleys.
In this temple, if you votive a candle at the Setsubun festival, a priest prays for your good fortune. Further, we could enter the Shinden (Emperor’s residence) and the main hall, which we usually can’t enter. The halls have great images on fusuma (Japanese paper sliding door) painted by painters of the Kano school of Japanese painting. In the precincts, we met red-horned oni and green-horned oni. They answered our calls and one of them made a tale about Setsubun. They were hanging around there and made themselves pleasant to everybody; they were very kind. We could also see the practitioners of Shugendo.
We went to Shakuzenin Junteido Temple next to Shogoin Temple. Shakuzenin was built in the Kamakura Period and a sub-temple of Shogoin Temple and Junteido was built in the Edo Period, and the two temples were combined at the beginning of the Meiji Period.

2. Suga Shrine
Suga Shrine stands across a small street from Shakuzenin Junteido Temple. The temple was built in 1142, and was combined with Kotsu Shrine in 1964.
The Setsubun festival is performed by an old man and an old woman throwing beans in this shrine. When I visited the shrine, the bean-throwing was scheduled to start in 10 minutes after and so there were so many people that I could’t move at all. The Setsubun event peculiar to the shrine is performed in which a kesobumi-uri wearing an eboshi and a suikan and covering his face with a white cloth hawks a kesobumi. Here, the word “kesobumi” means a love letter, “kesobumi-uri” means a salesclerk of a love letter,” eboshi” means a headgear worn by nobles in court dress, and “suikan” means an everyday garment worn by nobles. The traditional of kesobumi-uri arose in the Heian Period when a nobleperson who was cultured but poor wrote and sold a love letter to a commoner who was uneducated and illiterate. The kesobumi is not a love letter but a letter on which fortunate words are written at the present time. I heard that when the kesobumi is put in my chest of drawers, I’ll be good looking and the amount of my wardrobe will be increased, so I bought it. I’m looking forward to my future.

3. Yoshida Shrine
When you walk about 10 minutes north from Suga Shrine, you’ll reach Yoshida Shrine, which is famous nationwide for the Setsubun festival. It was established in 859 as a guardian shrine of Heiankyo (Kyoto), and includes Daigenkyu Shrine in which all of the gods in Japan are deified in the precincts. I dropped in the shrine before going to the main shrine of Yoshida Shrine, but I gave up praying at the shrine because of a crowd of people.
The Setsubun festival of Yoshida Shrine started in the Muromachi Period (1336-1573), and became one of the most visited festivals in Kyoto. About 500,000 worshipers visit the shrine every year, and the precincts are filled with the crowd of worshipers and many street stalls. On a day before Setsubun, Yakujin-sai (an event for driving evils away) and Tsuina-shiki (a year-end ceremony) are performed at Daigenkyu Shrine and at the main shrine, respectively, and on the Setsubun day, Karo-sai is performed in the precincts in which old fuda (amulets sold at Shinto shrines) brought by worshiper and put in a furnace having a diameter of 4 meters and a height of 4 meters are burned. I saw maiko and geisha girls who masqueraded as strolling entertainers in the precincts. The oni of this shrine was fierces, and some kids burst into tears when the oni approached and shouted them. I also saw a tons of street stalls in the precincts and on the approach to the shrine.

Red Seal of Yoshida Shrine

Did you enjoy Setsubun? Could you feel the vigorous atmospheres of the Setsubun events by this report? The Setsubun event depends on the temple or shrine, and each has the event peculiar to the temple or shrine, though there are no large differences between the temples or shrines in other events such as at Obon or New Year. I heard that people in Kyoto visit as many temples and shrines as possible during the Setsubun days.