(2 Feb 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tokyo – 2 February 2025
1. Various of beans, snacks and rice cakes being thrown from the stage, and people trying to catch them with their hands and bags, UPSOUND (Japanese) “Oni wa soto, Fuku wa uchi!
2. Close of rice cake and bag of beans
3. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Yasuhito Emoto, 61-year-old, visitor who lives in Tokyo:
++AUDIO AS INCOMING++
"(I started coming) 15 years ago."
(Reporter: You have been coming for the last 15 years?)
"Yes, yes. I started coming since 2010."
(Reporter: Has it brought you good luck?)
"Yes!"
4. A mother holds her 2-year-old daughter, who is wearing a mini
red demon mask on her head
5. People try to catch the beans and snacks thrown at them
6. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Utako Iibuchi, visitor from Kawasaki, with her husband Massaki Iibuchi:
"We have around 20 (bags of beans). And we also have these (snacks) for our grandchildren."
7. People try to catch the beans and snacks thrown at them
8. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Utako Iibuchi, visitor from Kawasaki:
"Yes, we have been coming every year. But we have never caught this much!"
9. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Masaaki Iibuchi, visitor from Kawasaki:
"It is the first time it rained, actually."
10. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Utako Iibuchi, visitor from Kawasaki:
"Yes, it is first time we came when it took place indoors."
11. People try to catch the beans and snacks thrown at them
12. Front image of people collecting and catching beans and snacks
13. Low-angle shot of people gathering bags of beans from the floor
14. Banner with Zojyoji’s logo, wooden board, reading (Japanese) "Zojyoji"
15. Wide of people queuing to attend event
16. People joining a queue behind sign that reads (Japanese) "Bean throwing event attendees to wait here”
STORYLINE:
Residents of downtown Tokyo descended on a Buddhist temple to mark the last day of winter in the Japanese lunar calendar by having dried soybeans, rice cakes and other snacks thrown at them. The traditional event is said to drive away evil spirits and bring good luck.
At the Zojoji temple in downtown Tokyo, the participants held up their hands high up, some holding up bags in hopes of a better haul, as sumo wrestlers, actors, singers and other celebrity guests threw small packs of “fukumame” beans from an elevated stage.
"Oni wa soto, Fuku wa uchi! (Demons out, fortune in!)” both the throwers and the participants chanted in sync with the rhythmical throw, which was heard even outside of the temple, where people queued up for a next round.
Utako and Masaaki Iibuchi woke up early to catch a train from Kawasaki to attend the festival.
The couple, who has been visiting the temple to attend this event over a decade, excitedly showed a bag full of snacks and beans they collected.
Due to rain, Sunday’s event was held inside of the main prayer hall for the first time in 16 years, according to the temple.
The weather forecast was even predicting the first snow fall in Tokyo, which also might have affected the turn-out, the couple said.
"We have never managed to catch this much! I am glad we came." Utako said with a big smile under her mask.
"Setsubun" is one of Japan’s annual festivals held at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples across the country.
Well-wishers throw the roasted soybeans in a ritual known as "mame-maki", or bean-throwing.
The Bean-throwing ritual is also held at home, where a family member wears a mask of a red-faced demon to play the role of the evil while the rest of the family members throw the beans at him or her.
AP video shot by Mayuko Ono
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