Seasonal

Setsubun: Bean-Throwing, Silent Sushi, and the February 3 Ritual

Early February — throw roasted beans to chase out bad luck, eat a giant sushi roll in total silence facing that year's lucky direction, and eat your age in beans. Here's how to do it right.

Throwing any old beans in any direction

A tourist throwing a handful of unroasted beans in random directions around a room on setsubun while a family member holds a demon mask looking confused
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Grabbing a handful of raw beans and tossing them around the room

Setsubun's bean-throwing ritual (*mamemaki*, 豆まき) is specific. You use **roasted soybeans** (*irimame*, 炒り豆) — not raw, not black beans, not peanuts (though some snowy parts of northern Japan do use peanuts for easier cleanup). And you don't throw them randomly: you throw toward the open door or window yelling *'Oni wa soto!'* (鬼は外, 'Demons out!') and then toward the inside of the house yelling *'Fuku wa uchi!'* (福は内, 'Fortune in!'). Throwing raw beans is said to risk the beans sprouting where they land — bad luck — and skipping the direction ritual misses the whole point.

A Japanese family throwing roasted soybeans at a parent wearing a red oni demon mask near an open door, children laughing with handfuls of beans
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Roasted soybeans, outward-then-inward, with the phrases

Grocery stores stock small bags of *fukumame* (福豆, 'fortune beans' — pre-roasted soybeans packaged specifically for setsubun) from late January; they're cheap and widely available. One household member (traditionally the father or the year's *toshi-otoko*/*toshi-onna* — the person whose zodiac year it is) puts on an oni (demon) mask and plays the demon. Everyone else throws beans at them out the door shouting 'Oni wa soto!', then turns and scatters beans inside shouting 'Fuku wa uchi!' It's fun, it's messy, and kids love it. 👹

Chatting through the ehomaki

A group of friends happily chatting and sharing a cut ehomaki at a dinner table on setsubun night, laughing and pointing in different directions
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Talking and sharing the giant sushi roll with friends

The other main setsubun ritual is eating an **ehomaki** (恵方巻) — a thick uncut sushi roll (*futomaki*), about 20cm long, eaten whole in one sitting. The rule is that you eat it in **complete silence**, **without cutting it**, while **facing that year's lucky compass direction** (*eho*, 恵方). Chatting while you eat is said to let the good luck 'escape.' Cutting the roll is said to 'cut your luck.' Sharing it breaks the whole point. It looks absurd — five people all sitting at the table facing the same way, chomping in silence — and it is absurd. That's kind of the joy of it.

A person sitting at a dinner table eating an uncut thick ehomaki sushi roll in silence, facing the same compass direction as the clock on the wall
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Silent, uncut, facing this year's eho direction

Pick up the whole ehomaki, face the year's lucky direction (easy to look up — grocery stores even post the year's direction on the ehomaki wrapper), close your eyes, make a silent wish, and eat the whole thing in one sitting without speaking. The direction rotates each year based on the zodiac: for reference, 2026 is **south-southeast (slightly south)**. Takes 5–10 minutes; your jaw gets tired; you think about your wish the whole time. That's the ritual.

Eating the wrong number of beans

A tourist on setsubun eating a huge random handful of roasted beans all at once without counting
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Eating a handful of beans and calling it done

After the bean-throwing, there's a small eating ritual: you pick up and eat roasted beans **equal to your age**, or **your age plus one** (depending on family tradition — the 'plus one' version is for the coming year's luck). This is supposed to transfer the luck of the beans into you for the year ahead. Eating the wrong number — way too many, or just whatever you grabbed — misses the ritual point, though obviously no one is counting your beans except you.

A smiling older family member carefully counting and eating roasted soybeans one at a time at a kitchen table on setsubun night
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Count your age, add one if your family does, eat them one by one

Count out your age in roasted soybeans — so 35 beans if you're 35, 36 if your family adds one for the year ahead. Eat them one by one, slowly, thinking of health and good fortune. For kids, this is especially fun because 6 beans is an easy number; for older family members it becomes a bit of a chore and a running joke. Either age-count or age-plus-one is correct — there's regional variation. If you're way over a reasonable number, some traditions let you eat one bean per decade of age and call it even.

Doing the ritual on the wrong day

A tourist with beans and an oni mask standing outside a closed shrine on the wrong day, looking at a sign showing setsubun was the day before
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Assuming setsubun is always February 3

Setsubun marks the day *before* the start of spring on the traditional lunar calendar (*risshun*, 立春), and while it lands on February 3 most years, the date actually shifts by a day every so often based on the astronomical calendar. It was **February 2 in 2021, 2025**, and will be February 2 again in some future years. Setsubun in 2026 is **February 3**. Showing up at a temple's setsubun festival on the wrong day because you assumed it's always Feb 3 is a minor rookie move — major temple events are specifically timed to the actual date.

A packed crowd at Naritasan Shinshoji on setsubun afternoon with temple priests and sumo wrestlers on an elevated platform throwing beans down into raised hands
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Check the year's actual setsubun date

Setsubun 2026 is **February 3** (a Tuesday). Major temples — Sensoji in Tokyo, Yoshida Shrine in Kyoto, Naritasan Shinshoji, Zojoji, and many others — hold huge public bean-throwing festivals where sumo wrestlers, celebrities, and priests throw beans to massive crowds. Going to one of these is one of the best ways to experience setsubun if you're in Japan in early February. Arrive early; they get packed.

What setsubun actually is

Setsubun (節分) literally means “seasonal division” — it’s the day that marks the end of winter and the start of spring on the traditional lunar calendar. On paper, that sounds astronomical; in practice, it’s a chaotic, fun, family-and-temple festival where people dress up as demons, throw beans around the house, and eat a giant sushi roll in silence while staring at a wall. It’s one of Japan’s most joyfully weird annual rituals.

The core idea is simple: the changing of seasons is a liminal moment when evil spirits (oni) can cross into the human world, so we chase them out with beans and invite good fortune in. Modern families do it as a fun household event; Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines do it as massive public festivals.

The 2026 specifics

  • Setsubun 2026: February 3 (Tuesday)
  • 2026 eho (lucky direction): south-southeast (slightly south) — roughly 165° if you’re going by compass, but in Japan it’s just known as the SSE direction. Grocery store ehomaki usually come with a direction guide printed on the packaging.
  • Major public events: Sensoji (Tokyo), Zojoji (Tokyo), Naritasan Shinshoji (Chiba), Yoshida Shrine (Kyoto), Rozanji (Kyoto). Most start in the early afternoon and run into evening.

A few small bonus traditions

  • Hiiragi iwashi (柊鰯) — a sprig of holly with a roasted sardine head stuck on it, hung outside the front door. The sharp holly leaves and the strong smell of the fish are said to keep demons away. Still common in more traditional households, though modern apartments often skip it.
  • Oni masks for kids — cheap paper demon masks are sold at konbini and dollar stores in late January. Kids love wearing them to be the “demon” during mamemaki.
  • Ehomaki convenience-store wars — in the 2010s, ehomaki became a massive commercial event for convenience stores and sushi chains. 7-Eleven, FamilyMart, and sushi chains all pre-sell elaborate ehomaki in the week leading up to setsubun. Pre-ordering is a whole thing.

Joining in as a visitor

Setsubun is one of the more accessible Japanese rituals for short-term visitors — every major temple’s public event is free, crowded, and welcoming of foreigners. Catch beans thrown from the platform (they’re considered good luck to catch), buy an ehomaki at any konbini, and if you’re staying somewhere with a kitchen, grab a bag of fukumame and try the mamemaki at home. Your host or Airbnb landlord will be delighted you did.

Quick check

Three yes/no questions on setsubun basics.

Quick check

Can you spot the right move?

  1. Q1 Should you eat an ehomaki in complete silence?

  2. Q2 Do you throw raw beans during the mamemaki ritual?

  3. Q3 Is setsubun always on February 3?