JJNN: Setsubun

Today I want to introduce a modern take on an old Japanese tradition. Every year in early February (usually on the 3rd) the Japanese celebrate a tradition called setsubun. Setsubun occurs on the day before Risshun, which is the technical start of spring according to the old calendar that was used in Japan. Setsubun literally means the separating of the seasons because it is the line in the sand (so to say) between winter and spring. There are actually 3 more setsubun days for the changes between the other seasons, but they really don't get any press for some reason.

So, what do the Japanese people do on setsubun? Well, setsubun is an important part of the year because it marks the beginning of the solar year. As with the start of the solar year, the Japanese people are want to purify themselves for the coming year. As for the beginning of the solar year they have what is called Oosouji, which is basically their version of spring cleaning. In the case of setsubun, it is purification of the soul than a physical purification.

The main tool in the arsenal this time is a roasted soy bean sometimes called a fuku mame. Beans (along with salt and some other foods) have been known as tools for purification for a long time. The head of the household (or sometime another person in the household if that year corresponds with that person's Chinese zodiac) takes the beans and throws them out of the house. He would usually throw them at someone wearing a demon mask while saying "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" or, in English, "Demons out! Good luck in!" The family members than all eat a number of beans that corresponds to their age (in some places it is age plus one). That all leads to a home and family that is nicely purified for the coming lunar year (so the tradition goes).

Setsubun can also be seen in temples and shrines on this day. In some places tens of thousands of people gather just to see some famous person throw beans into the crowd. Some schools also do setsubun, but instead of soy beans they usually use shelled peanuts because they can be taken home and eaten by the students later. Below is a video from this year's setsubun in Narita (a place near Tokyo).



I said at the beginning of the post that I wanted to talk about a modern take on setsubun. By that I am not talking about a new high tech soy bean or a robotic demon to throw the beans at. I am talking about a new place to hold setsubun. When I say a new place I am not talking about a weird place in Japan or even another country. I am talking about in space. At this time on the international space station is a Japanese astronaut named Noguchi Soichi. On the first of February Noguchi decided to celebrate setsubun a little early. You can see his picture below. He is holding the mask of a demon that is traditionally used for setsubun.



Unfortunately Noguchi did not have any soy beans so he used chocolate instead. I guess it should work just as good as soy beans because it is also made with a type of bean. Maybe next year I will use chocolate instead...it will be more yummy.

Any way, it is now time for the word of the day. Today's word is 鬼(おに). It is pronounced oni and it means demon. I think the demons in Japanese literature are actually cute compared to the ones in the west (though they are just as dangerous.

See you next time at JJNN

JJNN Saturday: Pseudoscience - 08

Welcome again to JJNN for Saturday September 27th, 2008. Today we will be talking about a Japanese lake monster.

Almost every culture that lives near water has to deal with some sort of creature that lives within the depths of the water. Weather it be a deep river, a lake or the ocean there are almost always Gods or monsters associated with the body of water at some point in its history. Wether it be the famous Loch Ness monster or Champ who lives in Lake Champlain in New York. Other examples are Whitey, the monster that lives in the White river in Arkansas, or the Kraken that is said to live in the ocean.

Large body of water, even if it is shallow and can't really support large animals, is said to have one of these monsters. The one thing that connects these monsters is that the bodies of water that support the animals are murky. If the water is murky you can't see what is just below the surface so any disturbance on the surface could very well be a monster. Sure, those ripples could be made by a large school of fish that are looking for something to eat (something that happens everywhere in nature) or it could be some sort of undiscovered or forgotten anima: AKA a lake monster (something that is extremely rare).

Like everywhere else in the world lake monsters are not rare in Japan. They have special monsters called Kappa that are said to live in almost every river in Japan (though no one has ever actually filmed or taken a picture of one). Also, in some lakes, there are lake monsters.

In one lake in Kagoshima prefecture called Lake Ikeda there is suppose to be a lake monster. This lake monster is called Isshii. It is suppose to be named after Nessie. Below you can see a picture of Lake Ikeda fronted with a sign that is suppose to show what Isshii looks like.



Well, apparently Isshii was not only named after Nessie, but the statue was also made to look like the statues of Nessie. The basic story of Isshii started in 1961. Apparently someone saw a hump coming out of the water and it was estimated that the length of the creature that had that hump was from 10 to 20 meters (about 32 to 64 feet) long. Later it was said to be sighted in 1978 and 1991.

What could this thing be? Well I doubt it looks anything like that statue, because no one has ever seen its head. The best way to figure out what the creature might be is to look at what animals we know live in the lake. A lot of fish live in the lake, but the best known of these can be seen below.



That is a huge eel. Like it says in the picture it measures to 170cm (about 5 and a half feet) in length. Probably the most likely explanation for Isshii is one of these eels coming to the surface and swimming around looking for food. The way the eel moves can be described as a hump coming out of the water if you can't actually see the eel (black eel on dark colored water). It is basically case closed in my book, but what do you guys think?

Thanks to Isshii the number of people that go to Lake Ikeda has gone up a lot. Thanks to the monster and the way town uses it to draw people in, the town around the lake is booming. I guess pseudoscience can be used for good, but I would rather not see it at all to tell you the truth.

Any way, it is now time for the word of the day. Today's word is 鰻(うなぎ). It is pronounced unagi and means eel. Unagi refers to fresh water eels while anago is Japanese for salt water eels. Both taste good though!

That's it for today. See you next time at JJNN.