Eho is the direction of the god of fortune and happiness and she changes her direction every year. The ehomaki, rolled sushi, with 7 lucky ingredients, is eaten without pause or chatter while facing the auspicious direction of the year. We are hoping for an extra happy and prosperous year, so we bought a lunker ehomaki with 12 ingredients.

We hoped to buy our ehomaki this year from Hisago Sushi again, but they were sold out. Hisago, a very traditional Kyoto shinise makes an ehomaki (seen below) is not traditional in appearance but it tastes good and looks super funky. This year, we settled on a monster 12 ingredient sushi roll from an up-and-coming company in Osaka that we scored at Kyoto Takashimaya. It was pretty huge, so we cut it in half and split it. It was one of the tastiest sushi rolls I have ever eaten, with lots of fresh and yummy ingredients.

We also grilled some super-sized sardines. Miwa can’t future out why the demons don’t like sardines, they taste really good to us! (See this Setsubun article for more about demons, sardines and holly.)

Setsubun Dinner and Decoration

Setsubun 12 Ingredient Ehomaki

One half of this ehomaki KO’ed Miwa. I have great piks of her out on the floor, but she won’t allow me to post them. She claims that one half of this ehomaki was is equal to 6 bowls of rice. (Not even close.)

Origin of Ehomaki
There are two competing theories regarding the origin of ehomaki. One says that merchants in the late Edo and early Meiji eras Senba (a part of Osaka) ate this special makizushi at Setsubun hoping for a new year of prosperity. Therefore this custom is more common in the Kansai region, rather than Kanto. Another theory states that a samurai under Toyotomi Hideyoshi coincidentally ate makizushi at Setsubun the day before a battle and was victorious; it then quickly became a custom. Peko likes the merchant theory best.

Ehomaki Sushi Roll
Usually ehomaki has seven ingredients. Seven Gods of Fortune, also known as the Seven Lucky Gods 七福神, are the origin of this. Seven is considered the luckiest number in Japanese culture too. The usual ingredients include kampyo, shiitake, eel and egg. However, ehomaki can contain more ingredients. The metaphor of the roll is essential, ‘roll’ is the ‘maki’ in makizushi, and all that good fortune is rolled-up tight in the sushi roll.

How to Eat Ehomaki
The ehomaki custom requires that you face the eho, auspicious direction for the year, this year it was east by northeast, because that is the direction the the god of happiness and good fortune. The god is called Tokutoshijin.

So, you get your ehomaki, face the direction and eat the entire makizushi without stopping, eat quietly, don’t talk to anyone until everyone is finished and most importantly, make your wish for the new year. Some say that you should close your eyes while you eat too. Oh, and eat one whole roll yourself.

Marketing: The Death and Rebirth of Ehomaki
After WW2, eating ehomaki at Setsubun nearly disappeared in many regions, especially large cities. The nori (seaweed) union got together, planned a big promotional campaign and reintroduce the culinary culture to Japanese which they launched in 1973. It was obviously a big success.

Setsubun Mame Beans, Otafuku and Oni Masks

Setsubun Grilled Sardine with Hiiragi

‘Stinky’ grilled XL sized sardine, tastes great to us but the demons can’t stand it.

Last Year’s Ehomaki from Hisagozushi

The yellow makizushi from Hisago Zushi is now a legend in Kyoto, and has the oni demon branded on the egg roll. We waited in line again this year but were unable to purchase one. The makizushi to the right is the conventional ehomaki.

Links

KyotoFoodie Setsubun Articles
Setsubun Ehomaki, Mame-maki and Grilled Sardine (this one)
Setsubun Customs: Hiiragi Iwashi (Holly and Sardine Head)
(2008) Setsubun: The Day Before Spring, Demons, How to Eat Eho-Maki and Throw Your Beans

Seven Lucky Gods

On February 3, Setsubun, the eve of the beginning of spring, it is essential eat maki-zushi, throw beans out your front door, eat sardines, impale a sardine head on holly and place it near your front door to ensure a healthy and prosperous new year. Notice, everything involves food!

Hiiragi Iwashi, literally ‘holly sardine’ is a cooked sardine head impaled on a holly branch. The hiiragi iwashi is attached to the exterior of the house, usually next to the front door.

Demons, which bring illness and poverty are said to dislike the strong smell of sardines and they fear getting their eyes poked by the sharp points on holly leaves. So, if you combine the two, you have a powerful weapon, a double wammy that demons are just no march for. If this talisman is on your house at the coming of spring, demons won’t come in your house and get your year off to a bad start.

Hiiragi Iwashi On Guard at the Front Door

The hiiragi iwashi is not a very common sight in Kyoto, I am not sure if I have even seen one in Kyoto. In near-by Nara, it is very common. I remember when I first came to Japan, long before I knew much about Setsubun and before I had ever heard of hiiragi iwashi, I was sightseeing in Nara and it happened to be Setsubun. I remember walking around the old town (Nara-machi) and seeing fish heads on twigs nailed to nearly every house. I kept asking my friend what was with it but she didn’t know exactly.

Well, this year Miwa and I decided to do hiiragi iwashi in Kyoto! It was pretty fun. We bought some big, fat sardines at Fuji Daimaru Department Store and asked the dude at the fish stall for some holly, being used for decoration which he kindly gave us.

Back home, we grilled the sardines and ate them, knowing that those naughty demons would not be able to deal with the smell of our tasty meal. We used one of the heads to make the talisman, and put it up well before midnight.

We are expecting an extra happy, healthy and prosperous year now!

Additional Setsubun Info
On ampontan’s blog there is a nice article with additional information about sardines and Setsubun. Matsuri da! (71): Demons detest smelly sardines

We think that last year’s KyotoFoodie Setsubun: The Day Before Spring, Demons, How to Eat Eho-Maki and Throw Your Beans article is great too!

KyotoFoodie Setsubun Articles
Setsubun Ehomaki, Mame-maki and Grilled Sardine
Setsubun Customs: Hiiragi Iwashi (Holly and Sardine Head) (this one)
(2008) Setsubun: The Day Before Spring, Demons, How to Eat Eho-Maki and Throw Your Beans

On February 3rd, people in Japan celebrate Setsubun, the coming of spring. Special sushi rolls called Eho-maki (恵方巻) and eaten while facing the auspicious direction for that year. After dinner, roasted soy beans, or iri-mame are thrown out the front door of the house to cast out demons (oni), disease and bad fortune and welcome spring and and a new year of good fortune.

Paku did some shopping at one of the major department stores in Kyoto and came over with some tasty Setsubun goodies.

Setsubun is associated with The Chinese New Year, or Lunar Calendar which was used for centuries in Japan, so this is a coming of spring festival as well as the traditional new year. It is still an important event in Japan. Setsubun properly refers to the day before the coming of any of the four season. So, this is actually, risshun (立春) , spring Setsubun.

Setsubun dinner is simple, sushi rolls (makizushi). The proper way to eat this dinner is to face a certain direction, this year it was south-east, and eat the entire sushi roll without stopping. Don’t speak, just make your wish! This takes longer than you might think, so you have time to wish for a lot!

Eho-maki, Iri-mame and Oni (demon) Mask

Eating the entire makizushi in one go is quite difficult and I would imagine that more than a few people have choked to death while eating their makizushi according to the rules.

This makizushi is called ehomaki (恵方巻) literally, ‘direction of blessing roll’, wrapped in egg is quite an innovation to my eyes. The oni is branded (yaki-in) on the sheet of egg that is used to wrap the sushi. While it is common to see a single yaki-in on various foods in Japan, usually egg based creations, we had never seen one like this where it covers the entire thing like this.

Someone must have invented a new machine, I thought!

Setsubun Sushi Rolls, Eho-maki – detail

Machine-made or not, it was one of the best damn makizishi I have ever had, and fun to eat!

It came packed in a cute little box to boot. Japanese put lots of energy and effort into packaging.

About those beans. The beans are roasted soybeans. They taste just fine if you are in to roasted soybeans, nothing to get real excited about, taste-wise.

What to do with the beans:

Iri-mame and an Oni (demon) Mask – detail

What you do here is put all the beans in a big bowl then each person counts out the number for your age, placing them in your own blog or plate. This is done after dinner.Then, together you count, one, two, three.. and eat one bean for each year.

This was actually the first time I had done this properly as Paku is a real traditional Japanese girl. Seeing my life as a plate of beans was strange.

As Paku was counting and we were eating beans, I was thinking in my mind the landmarks in my life that came to mind when I picked up each bean. First memories, first pet, t-ball, golden birthday, first kiss, — Paku was born –, lost my virginity, traveled abroad, graduated uni, came to Japan, turned 30.

As Paku was eating her last bean, she said out loud, “How long I have known you, darling!” Oh, sweet!

Some people eat one more bean, this is said to protect your from getting a cold and others say that it ensures a year of happiness.

Then with the remaining beans, you take them to the front door and say “Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!” (鬼は外! 福は内!) Literally, “Oni out, good fortune in!” Then throw them out in the street. As this is the beginning of spring, some people say “Out with the old and in with the new!”

According to Wikipedia, in one region of Japan, they say something like “Oni‘s eyeballs — SMASH! SMASH!” I like that one!

I tried it out on Paku right away. As she was quietly reading after dinner I blurted out, “Paku’s eyeballs — SMASH! SMASH!”

Terrified, she looked at me like I was pointing a knife at her. I thought she was going to run away or call the police, maybe both! (The Japanese words are really scary.) I retorted, that I was just trying out what I learned on Wikipedia and that IS what they say in up in Fukushima Prefecture.

The throwing of beans, called Mame-maki (literally, bean scattering) dates back to ancient Japan. A Heian-era monk is said to have driven away a demon by throwing roasted beans at him/it. Ah, life must really have been simpler back then.

So there you have it, Setsubun. Ehomaki and roasted soybeans. Another fun Japanese festival intricately intertwined with food.

Eho-maki, Iri-mame and Oni (demon) Mask

notice the box in the background.

KyotoFoodie Setsubun Articles
Setsubun Ehomaki, Mame-maki and Grilled Sardine
Setsubun Customs: Hiiragi Iwashi (Holly and Sardine Head)
(2008) Setsubun: The Day Before Spring, Demons, How to Eat Eho-Maki and Throw Your Beans (this one)

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