Our Planet

Text : Tomoko Nagao

At Yamanoko, the entire staff has been making Setsubun for the past two years, asking, “What is Setsubun in the first place?“ This time as well, discussions were held with a Setsubun team of volunteers, and the project was developed while taking over the concept from 2019 and 2020.

Yamanoko Setsubun 2021

・This is the day when “a guest from the other world“ pays a visit and children encounter the other world.
※adults do not treat them as “bad, or “a demon“.

・It’s an equivalent to a winter festival where we celebrate the beginning of the spring.
※The winter festival used to be a New Year’s Eve at the end of winter, and the next day there was a spring festival. Winter, when there are few hours of sunshine, plants die, and the territory of life is the narrowest. There, the old man and the old woman who came down from the mountain stopped the mountain spirits from rampaging and sprinkled young shoots of plants, and took actions to bring the raw territory to life again.

・Mame-sowing is performed as to sow new life (seed), joyful of the arrival of spring the next day.

Also, since more than half of the children have experienced Setsubun in 2019 and 2020, which welcomed the guest from the other worlds this year, what kind of memories and ideas are spreading among the children. We decided to look at “expressions related to Setsubun and the other world.“ In this article, we will describe this year’s Setsubun through the children’s expressions collected by the team.

 

1 week ago from Setsubun (January 26)
(This is a record of talking about Setsubun with 10 volunteers aged 4-6 years old.)

Childcare educator: Do you know what day February 2nd will be next week?“
Child A: Day to throw beans! Setsubun!
Childcare educator: How was last year? What is Setsubun?
Child: In the first Setsubun, only one guest came, but last year there were two. So this year maybe there are three. A person with a red face and a person hiding with straw. The first time I saw them, I was scared.
Child B: I was trying to beat them.
Child C: I want them to come again. They were funny! I want to dance with them
Adults: Who are they?
Child D: They were people! Demons!
Childcare educator: What did they come for?
Child A: They came to dance
Child B: They came to make everyone happy
Child C: They came to protect everyone. To protect us from injuries, misfortunes, bacteria.
Child D: They came so people don’t die! They came so we won’t get in danger. Where did those two trees go ?(pointing out to the trees that the guest brought last year). They aren’t those (pointing to the zelkova and ginkgo in the garden).“
Child E: Perhaps the guest thought that sticking a tree in the garden will make their lives more prosperous so they planted it and left it there!.
brought them good luck to make dreams come true. If you stick a tree then, you can live well, so did you plant it and leave it?
Child F: They came to deliver wishes to everyone. Your wishes will come true on that day. To make your dreams come true.

Child G: Why don’t we put a letter on the tree?
Child H: Oh, I see! Like Tanabata?

Child I: They came to make corona disappear.
Child J: They brought the leaves and trees to say bye to them. The leaves and trees are connected.

 

Setsubun day (February 2nd)
The guest from the other world come to Yamanoko Home first.
Children from Home were sprinkling rice shouting, “May Spring come!!“, and the guest came. The children clung to adults, stared at them, and as everyone’s eyes gathered in one place, the guest slowly flew away. (photo1)
At Yamanoko, when I was sowing beans with peanuts, I heard the sound of bells, and customers slowly came in and went through the window to the Akebi room.
There were children who tried to say “Hello!“
Children who threw beans out loud and repeatedly said “Ogre goes outside!“,
Children who try to give some beans, saying “Here are some beans for you“
Children who go to behind the guest to dance and dance (jumps) to the sound of a bell
Children hugging adults while crying
Children who chased the guest and ran to the Akebi room first
Children who kept their mouths half open and kept his eyes on the guest without saying a word
Children who hid their eyes and did not try to see, people who cried, people who stayed still.

 

After the guest left
The guest who came out of the Akebi room to go outside was moved under the pressure of the strong wind that blew, and left the branch with leaves on the snow.
Child educator: Something came. What was it?
Child A: An ogre!
Child B: A gentle demon.
Child C: God
Child D: Human!

Childcare educator: Why did they come here?
Child F: For a festival!
Child G: They were bringing fortune!
Child H: Humans wear masks. The red faced being is a god, so they were wearing the mask of God.
Child I: They came and left after sticking a branch again! I want to see them 100 times more!
Child J: I was singing with a demon!. I was scared at first, but it was fun. I wanted to follow, but I was scared.

There was a child jumped and imitated their dance

Child K: Don’t worry I arrested them. I’m sure Y-san will come and catch them with the police car, right? We are catching that old lady with the police car.
Child L: It was a gentle demon. I was so scared but it was a gentle demon. (the child kept on muttering at the planted branches) I was eating peanuts, it was a demon. I was afraid of their bells .

 

Later
Lunch that day consisted of a menu of soybean rice, natto soup and beans, and after a nap, the snack is Ehomaki.
Setsubun was alive in some of the children, whether in the evening or the next day.

Later that day: A child said, “a demon came!“
Childcare educator: Were you scared?
Child A: It was a kind ogre! Because he gave me beans like this (tightening my hands).
Childcare educator: I’m going home now, but what if the person I mentioned earlier was there?
Child B: Why don’t I give them rice balls? I’ll go with you.

The next morning: (Suddenly while drawing something with a pen)
A child: Oni-san is in the mountains right now.
Childcare worker: What are they doing now?
A child: They are greeting something in the mountains. They’re walking towards the mountains now. (While looking out of the window, where there was a blizzard) They might be falling in the snow.

 

After Setsubun, Akebi prepared photo files of otherworldly figures ,such as Namahage, from all over the world in the classrooms in order to open up the perspective of the otherworld.

Children’s expressions were an indication that their sensations for the other world had been working full-power while observing, reacting, and exploring them. Their responses to them were never lackluster like, “I don’t know“ or “who cares“. They were interpreting and expanding their own world saying, “it was like this and then this and that happened so it must be this!“. The exchanges over the branches and leaves as souvenirs seemed to have stemmed from the children’s sense of vitality of the evergreens and connection between the other world, the soil and the plants. Overall, children seemed to have felt protected from the visitor.

Also, the fact that children had expressed that they wanted to see and wanted to follow while being scared of this kind yet scary being that could have been an agre, a god, a monster or an old lady 100 times more, that they wanted to dance with them, indicates that this being, while foreign, was something familiar yet a close being.

Perhaps this guest’s presence was something of a familiar one to the children, it could indicate that something/someone was born from

As my friend who owns a mask store said, “Disguise often makes sense in itself as a small ritual in a limited community.“, within a community of Yamanoko, there arose a question of the meaning that Setsubun holds. This question connected to the ritual meeting the other world at the celebration of the arrival of the spring, and gave birth to someone.

It is neither a reproduction of a demon nor a substitute, but a collection of community-derived items related to this meaning.

Itagaki-san’s organic rice is served with Yamanoko rice throughout the year. At Setsubun, which is the turning point between winter and spring, we feel the presence the straw that bears the organic rice (withered grass that reminds us of winter), the sound of bells that call for spring and the spring color gathered from the staff, and the leaves of the evergreen trees (which is life reminiscent of spring)in the back mountains of Shonai. The being is a visitor and was also born from here, and by itself it makes sense to be connected to this community, and the connection with such food and land is a vibration. I think this was felt amongst the children as well.