Bento » Kawanabe Kyosai http://blog.asia.si.edu art outside the box Fri, 17 May 2013 16:46:31 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= Demons Out! Luck In! http://blog.asia.si.edu/from-the-collections/demons-out-luck-in-3/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=demons-out-luck-in-3 http://blog.asia.si.edu/from-the-collections/demons-out-luck-in-3/#comments Fri, 01 Feb 2013 18:11:45 +0000 Howard Kaplan http://blog.asia.si.edu/?p=4781 Throwing Beans by Kawanabe Kyosai, Japan, 1889, Robert O. Muller Collection, S2003.8.496

Throwing Beans by Kawanabe Kyosai, Japan, 1889, Robert O. Muller Collection, S2003.8.496

New Year’s resolutions not quite working out for you? Winter sleet and dark skies have you down? I have one word to offer: beans. Yep, beans. February 3 marks the start of Setsubun, the Japanese festival where you drive out bad demons (oni) to bring in good fortune. After the beans are tossed, gather up as many beans as years you are old (but not one bean more!) in order to ensure good luck. So, on Sunday, pick up a handful of beans (any kind will do, though traditionally roasted soybeans are the weapon of choice), and join our Japanese friends in the Setsubun festival.

In Kyosai’s print, the woman on the left holds the tray of beans, but she seems to have the mumps. This full-cheeked woman is an Edo-period rendering of the goddess Otafaku, who, according to legend, performed an erotic dance that lured the sun goddess from a cave in which she had hidden, thus filling the world with light. Without demons hanging around your house, the world is a much brighter place.

Ready. Set. Toss.


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