from the floating world

ica-zakura:

八坂神社 節分祭01 (by yuta35)

a Shinto ritual in snow （雪中神事） by photoholic image on Flickr.

Bugaku (舞楽) and kagura (神楽) at a Setsubun event. Via youtube:

Fujinomori Shrine in southern Kyoto puts on a great Setsubun event with ancient traditional dancing - Miko Kagura and Bugaku.

Miko Kagura is a ritual dance performed by shrine maidens known as Miko. In old times Miko were like shamans and their dance was thought to channel spirits.

Bugaku is old Imperial dance going back 1200 years. This style here was children dressed as celestial beings known as Karyobinga, a type of bird-man, who enjoys music and dance.

After the dances, the setsubun devils came accompanied with their own sound effects. They were dispatched with beans thrown by the Karyobinga dancers and another pair was defeated by Miko shooting arrows and throwing some kind of silly string.

(I have to say it’s pretty funny when the miko hits the man dressed as an oni in the face with an arrow.)

geisha-licious:

2012 Setsubun festival in Kyoto

“Setsubun”

okiya:

Geisha dance for Setsubun at Yasaka Shrine in Kyoto (2012)

okiya:

Setsubun and Obake

Setsubun is a Japanese festival celebrating the beginning of Spring in Japan. On this day it is traditional for familes to throw beans out of their house while chanting “Devils out, luck in!” to ward off bad luck for the coming year.

In Kyoto there are many “Mamemaki” ceremonies where preists and invited guests (such as maiko and geisha) throw lucky beans people visiting shrines.

There is also another custom in Kyoto called “Obake”, which is like Japanese Halloween. This custom is now confined mainly to the geisha districts, where geisha go from tea house to tea house and perform a skit while dressed in outrageous costumes. One of the rules of Obake is that things are topsy-turvey. Old dress as young, men dress and women and vice-versa.