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Next: 3 Feb 2027

Setsubun

The bean-throwing day marking the start of spring, with sardine and holly sprigs and a lucky sushi roll.

Photo: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Spices for Setsubun

On Setsubun, roasted soybeans are thrown out of the door to drive away bad luck, and in western Japan people eat an uncut ehomaki roll facing a lucky direction. Sprigs of holly and the head of a grilled sardine are hung by the door because the smell wards off spirits. Seasoning in Japanese cooking is subtle, but spice blends exist, such as shichimi togarashi, a mix of chilli, sansho pepper, orange peel, sesame, seaweed and ginger, sprinkled on noodles and soups in cold weather.

The spices

ShichimiSeven-flavour chilli blend for noodles and soups.SesameBoth black and white used in the blend.

Also part of it, and being written: Sansho (Japanese pepper with a numbing citrus bite.).

About this page

Written by the EveryMasala desk with AI assistance. Background: "Setsubun" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

  • Shichimi: http://www.recipelab.jp/sozai/detail/1779/, CC0, source
  • Sesame: Anna Frodesiak, CC0, source

The weekly digest

Every Monday: seven spices you may not know, what is cooking this week, and one blend explained step by step.