Driving away demons from my mind?
Setsubun ceremonies were held in many shrines in Kyoto this year too.
I went to Goo jinjya Shrine near my house to take new photos for Green Tour Kyoto website.
This shrine is located next to the Imperial Palace on the way to my office.
On New years days I pray for a happy new year at this shrine and at the end of June I asked the shrine to purify me and my family.
So I can say Goo jinja Shrine is my family-shrine.
However it was the first time to see the Setsubun ceremony of this shrine actually.
When I visit around 2pm on February 3rd, a male enka singer was singing on the shrine stage. I was surprised to see that. It was like a soinging show. One of many senior fans surrounded him is said to have come from Hokuriku region.
While he was singing, two demons appeared.
Demons frightened visitors especially young kids. I heard they screamed and adults laughed to see that. Umm..it was a kinds of abuse!?
Not only for kids, also for me they looked scary. He was looking at me..it was shivering!
After the ceremony, the highlight started same as other shrines.
A shrine priest performed to hit an arrow heading to bad directions. The priest and other Setsubun-day staff threw beans and rice cakes to visitors.
More than demons, I scared to see people being desperate to catch just beans. It was really really dangerous! It is so lucky every year there are no injures or accidents.
Eventually one pack containing chocolate covered beans hit my head and I caught it. That was my “lucky harvest of the day”.. Thank you.
Anyway, I could take nice new photos of this event. I can post them to update the information on the website!
Goo jinja Shrine (護王神社)
http://www.gooujinja.or.jp/