節分 (Setsubun) was last week and I totally missed it ^^;

February 8, 2025

Last Sunday, while I was out grocery shopping, I noticed that the vibes of the スーパー (suupaa // supermarket) I was at were a bit… different than usual.

Notably, some of the employees were wearing bright red or blue afro wigs with tiger-print horns protruding from them.

At first, I thought it was some sort of うる星せいやつら (urusei yatsura // Urusei Yatsura) collab or something. It's a popular anime/manga after all, and the horns had the same kind of tiger print as one of the main characters in the show:

This came to mind first because I remember reading a lesson that talked about うる星やつら on NativShark…

Acknowledging that something is true with 〇〇っちゃ〇〇
The mention of ラム is at the end!

…and I've been noticing a bunch of collabs and merch ever since. But then, some music that had familiar lyrics flowed into my ears. The lyrics went like…

鬼おには外そと！福ふくは内うち！

Demons out! Good fortune in!

…which is a set phrase used during 節分せつぶん (setsubun // Setsubun). Shortly after, I remembered that many 鬼おに (oni // Oni; Japanese demons) are depicted with this kind of tiger print clothing.

Then it hit me that I was letting 節分せつぶん slip by without realizing it ^^;

節分せつぶん (setsubun)

Here's the summary from the Nativshark lesson on 節分せつぶん:

節分せつぶん (Setsubun) is the day before the first day of spring according to the Japanese lunar calendar. There are many customs and rituals associated with this day, with a main theme of warding off evil and bringing in good luck. Also, beans.

For whatever reason, this day isn't marked on any of the electronic calendars I use, which is why I missed it. But there are a lot of interesting traditions involving 節分, so let's take a look at them.

The most well-known is probably 豆まき (mamemaki // bean scattering), where 炒いり豆まめ (irimame // roasted soybeans) are thrown at people dressed as 鬼 while saying the above 鬼おには外そと！福ふくは内うち！

When I went to the supermarket, those 鬼おに would have been the employees with those wigs and horns. I didn't see anyone throwing beans at them though

Anyway, apparently soybeans have the highest concentration of 精霊せいれい (seirei // spirits) compared to other beans, so they're good for getting rid of 鬼おに. That makes them the bean of choice for 豆まめまき. Additionally, you're supposed to eat a number of beans equal to your age + 1 or 2 (depending on the region), which is supposed to bring good fortune.

There's also 恵方巻えほうまき (ehoumaki // Ehomaki; "luck direction roll"), which you're supposed to eat in silence while facing the "lucky direction" of the year.

All this is covered in more detail in the 節分せつぶん lesson (like how 恵方巻えほうまき was originally clever marketing from 711 and it's stuck ever since)!

Words and phrases related to 節分

If you find any of the Japanese in the above lesson to be difficult, no worries. Just gotta show up, hit Study Now and you'll get all the tools you need to readily understand it when you get there:

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Anyway, I still haven't had an 恵方巻えほうまき myself yet. I'll have to mark the day in my calendar for next year so I don't let it slip by without realizing it next time.

That said, there were other signs that 節分せつぶん was coming up that I didn't make the connections to ^^;

While I was hiking about two weeks ago, I passed through 竈門神社かまどじんじゃ (kamdo jinja // Kamado shrine) and there was a giant 鬼面きめん (kimen // Oni mask) there:

This 鬼面きめん seems to go hand-in-hand with another type of giant mask called おたふく面めん (otafukumen // Otafuku mask):

From Wikipedia.

According to the sign I saw explaining these masks at 竈門神社かまどじんじゃ, passing through the 鬼面きめん wards off evil, while passing through the おたふく面めん brings good fortune.

While I was reading more about it, I learned that this is a part of the 節分せつぶん tradition here in Fukuoka specifically. These masks get put up at various shrines a few weeks before 節分せつぶん and then are taken down once it's over.

But I didn't know that until after I started writing this newsletter.

And after sending this newsletter, I went back to 竈門神社かまどじんじゃ and the mask was still up, about a month after 節分せつぶん. So it looks like there is more research to be done here

Anyway, other prefectures have their own traditions. Be sure to visit whatever shrines you might be near leading up to 節分せつぶん to see if you can spot anything unique ^^

Hope you enjoyed this one!

If you happened to miss 節分せつぶん like me, now might be a good time to mark it in your calendar for next year. It'll be on February 3rd.

By the way, since 節分せつぶん is based on the lunar calendar, it doesn't always land on the same day, so be sure to check in advance for the upcoming years~

〜の字じ (~no ji)

Certain kana and kanji can be used to describe shapes, and they'll be followed by 〜の字じ when this happens:

From Milestone 19 (Phase Two, Unit 197).

Be sure to check out the full lesson with other common examples here! ↓

Describing shapes with Japanese characters

NativShark goodie bag

NativShark Units

4 new Units have been added to Phase Three!

As always, these Units are filled with vocab in unique contexts, any relevant new kanji, and natural conversations called Dialogues at the end, all of which are designed to get you functional in Japanese as efficiently as possible.

These Units also feature the following lessons:

Hope you enjoyed this one,
Ty & the NativShark team