Some of the Japanese people eat dried soy beans on Setsubun. The number of soy beans we can eat depends on our age. For example, my husband ate 63 pcs. because he turned 63 years old two weeks ago. If we follow that tradition, it is said that we won't catch a cold and will be healthy for the whole year.
To drive out devils and attract Gods of fortune, Japanese people throw dried soy beans both indoors and outdoors while shouting, "Get out devils! Come in Gods of fortune!" It's called bean-scattering ceremony in Japan. It's sad that some people in nowadays are getting too busy to do the tradition anymore.
When I lived in the Eastern part of Japan ten years ago, I didn't know anything about "Ehomaki" or fortune suchi rolls tradition which people in the Western part of Japan eat as a Setsubun's supper. In the recent 5 years or so, the tradition became known to all across Japan.
Many grocery stores sold "Ehomaki" yesterday. We bought the Ehomaki or fortune sushi roll at the grocery store yesterday.
Two rolls of Ehomaki
One for my husband and the other for myself
They are about 20 centimeters long.
The sweetened egg was tasty.
Anago or conger-eel is our area's speciality.
The fresh cucumber was crispy.
According to the old Chinese calendar, good fortune comes from south south east for 2016. So my husband checked the direction with his compass while I was preparing for the hot green tea. As soon as the tea was prepared we both sat down looking at south south east and started to eat the rolls. We also followed the tradition which is said that that we must not say a word before finishing the roll. The quiet moment continued as long as 20 minutes because the roll was heavy to my stomach. It took me so much time to finish it. It sounded strange to us because we usually chat while we are eating together.
If you buy a package of dried soybeans at grocery stores in this season, they may give you a devil's mask on your request. Japanese young fathers wear this mask so that small kids enjoy throwing beans at the devils. You may also enjoy the ceremony if you visit famous shrines.
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