Setsubun: demons, beans, fish heads, sushi and screaming children

On Setsubun people across Japan look forward to spring witb demons, beans, sushi rolls, and stinky fish!

Setsubun Water Purification Ritual at Toukasan

Enruji Temple (A.K.A. Toukasan) commemorates Setsubun on the last Sunday of January with a cold water purification ceremony.

Many people from surrounding neighborhoods gather at the riverside Sumiyoshi Shrine on the afternoon of February 3 to commemorate Setsubun.

Oni ni kanabou [鬼に金棒] is a Japanese saying which literally means giving an iron club [kanabou/金棒] to an ogre [oni/鬼],

Peter Peberhardt is getting around Hiroshima’s winter festivals. Following his set of January’s Tondo Matsuri on the beach next to

Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi, “Out with the Devil and in with the luck” is the traditional cry of