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Description
During the Setsubun / "Change of Season" festival held at the end of winter by the lunar calendar, mame-maki / "bean throwing" is accompanied by shouts of "Fuku wa uchi, oni wa soto" / "Good fortune in, demons out!" The beans are usually thrown out by a toshi-otoko, a man whose zodiac sign matches that of the new year, and in this print he is the shadowy figure beyond the shoji screen. Children are gathering up the scattered beans to use in cooking the first rice pot on risshun / "the first day of spring," hoping this will bring them good health and good luck. Setsubun decorations hang above the door to the sliding door panel, and a plum tree blooms in the garden.
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