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節分（せつぶん）
- Setsubun
二
月三日
（あるいは四日）は節分です。古い日本の暦では春夏秋冬の各季節が始まる日が定められていて、立春、立夏、立秋、立冬といい、それぞれの日の前日を節分と
呼んでいました。次第に新しい年の春を迎える時期にあたる立春の前日のことを主に節分と呼ぶようになり、今では節分といえばニ月三日のことだけをさすよう
になりました。節分の日には、お寺や神社､家庭などで鬼（災いのシンボル）を追い出し福を招き入れる豆まきの行事がおこなわれます。
On February 3rd
(or 4th), a
traditional event called Setsubun is practiced in Japan. In the old
Japanese calendar, the first day of each season (spring, summer, autumn
and winter) was set, which was called "risshun", "rikka",
"risshuu" and "ritto" respectively, and the day before the first day of
each season was called "Setsubun". Gradually the word setsubun changed
to mean only the day before the first day of spring as spring was
considered to be the beginning of a New Year, and later became fixed to
February 3rd (or 4th). On this day people practice a ceremony called Mamemaki
(bean-throwing) at temples, shrines and at home to expel demons (symbol
of misfortune) and invite fortune. |
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The following is a collection of links to
Setsubun web pages
specially selected for
teachers and students of Japanese. |
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About
Setsubun
節分について |
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Site 1 |
Plain Setsubun explanation
in English at the "Kids Web Japan"
website |
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Site 2 |
Good and plain Setsubun explanation in English at
the "japan-guide.com"
website |
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Site 3 |
Good explanation of how to do
"mamemaki" activity for Setsubun
in English at the "Tim's Takamatsu" website |
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Site 4 |
Very detailed explanation of Setsubun
in English at the "Astronomy in
Japan" website |
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Site 5 |
Good Setsubun explanation
in Japanese at the "All About Japan" website |
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Site 6 |
Good Setsubun explanation
in Japanese at the "こよみのページ"
website |
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Site 7 |
Good Setsubun explanation in Japanese
at the "ウィキペディア"
website |
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Site 8 |
Good Setsubun explanation in Japanese
at the "日本文化いろは事典"
website |
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| According to an email
survey done by Mainichi
Shinbun around 2005, those who practice "mamemaki" every year without fail is
46.8%, whereas 43.6% answered that they stopped practicing it, and
3.7% answered that they have never done it. So almost half of the
entire nation still practice this mamemaki activity every year! |
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| Setsubun
photos 節分の写真 |
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Site 9 |
Setsbun photos of Taga Taisha Shrine at the "曽我歯科写真館"
website |
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Site 10 |
Setsbun photos of Kushida Jinja Shrine
at the "天神コアラ"
website |
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Site 11 |
Setsbun photos of Kabukiza Theatre from
"歌舞伎座"
website |
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Site 12 |
Photos of
a Setsbun activity at a kindergarten
at the "四万十市"
website |
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Site 13 |
Photos of
a Setsbun activity at a kindergarten
at the "花山保育園"
website |
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Site 14 |
Setsubun goods advertisement web page from the "みなとや" website |
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| Setsubun
Activities
節分のアクテビティ |
◆ Online craft web pages for Oni-no-men (demon
mask) |
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Site 15 |
Paper craft page for Oni-no-men (demon mask)
from
the
"Yamaha Motors" website. (Colour
printer required).
You can download
the
PDF file for the demon
mask, then print it out and cut it out to make a Oni-no men. | |
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Site 16 |
Paper craft page for Setsubun from
the
"Sanwa Supply"
website. There are
several paper crafts such as demon horn, demon masks,
and "masu" (traditinal mesuaring cup/container)
available. (Color printer required) | |
| Site 17 |
Paper craft page for Oni-no-men (demon mask)
from
the
"キッズ＠nifty"
website. Go to this page and click on "PDFファイル"
for different colour masks. (Color printer required) | |
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Site 18 |
Paper craft page for Oni-no-men (demon mask) from
the "kids.goo"
website. You can either print out this black and white mask and have
your students colour it, or you can have your students colour the
mask on the screen (Move the pointer to one of the colour samples on
the right-hand side, and then move it onto the mask. The pointer
switches to a pen. Click on where you want to fill in with the
colour you chose.), and then print it out. (Color printer is
required)
Click here for illustrated instructions for how to make the
masks, and
click here for how to paint on the screen. | |
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Site 19 |
Paper craft page for Oni-no-men (demon mask)
from
the
"Canon Creative Park"
website. Click here for the same page in English. (Color printer required) | |
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◆ Online mamemaki games |
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Site 20 |
Online mamemaki game from the "Fuji TV" website. (Shockwave plug-in
required).
Click on "はじめ"
in the middle of the room to start a game. There will appear a "あかおに
- red
demon" or
a "ふくのかみ
- god of fortune" in the room and disappear quickly. Click on the "あかおに
- red demon"
before it disappears to score a point. If you click on "ふくのかみ
- god of fortune", a point will be taken off each time. You have 40
seconds for a game and your final score will be displayed at the end
of the game.
Click on "再挑戦"
in the middle of the room to start a new game. | |
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Site 21 |
Online mamemaki game from the "サイバー日本の行事"
website. (Shockwave plug-in
required).
Click on anywhere in the middle part of the screen to start a game.
A "あかおに
- red demon" will appear
and disappear. Use the pointer to move the wooden box and click to
throw beans at the "あかおに".
You
have 30 beans to throw. When you hit "あかおに",
you score 10 points and when you hit "あかおに"
with
tears, you score 30 points. The total score will be displayed at the
end of the game. There's no time limit.
Click on the wooden box to go back to the original screen to
restart. | |
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◆
Setsubun Worksheet |
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Click here to download Setsubun Worksheet in English
Click here to download Setsubun Worksheet in
Japanese | |
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Updated January 7, 2009 |
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