Red monsters, blue monsters, and flying beans, oh my! Itune in to see what is going on with Setsubun in Japan! You don’t want to miss today’s edition of Japanese Culture Class.
This entry was posted on Saturday, January 28th, 2006 at 6:32 am and is filed under Japanese Culture Classes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
21 Responses to “Japanese Culture Class #4 - Setsubun - Red Monsters, Blue Monsters, and Flying Beans, Oh My!”
japanesepod101.com says:
January 28th, 2006 at 7:02 am
Where to start! 
1) Setsubun is a festival held on February 3 or 4, one day before the start of spring according to the Japanese Lunar Calendar!
Japanese Lunar Calendar - originally imported from China and used in Japan up until 1873, the year the Gregorian Calendar (the one we use 
) was adopted. The discrepancy in the seasons originates from this!
Hence the answer to the most obvious question you probably have, “Spring doesn’t start next week, does it?”
2) Setsubun is not a national holiday. Thank you Natsuko! Bad Peter!
3) Chinese Zodiac Calendar
12 year cycle - this year is the year of the dog, here is the rest:
rat (1912, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, 84, 1996),
ox (1913, 25, 37, 49, 61, 73, 85, 1997),
tiger (1914, 26, 38, 50, 62, 74, 86, 1998),
rabbit (1915, 27, 39, 51, 63, 75, 87, 1999),
dragon (1916, 28, 40, 52, 64, 76, 88, 2000),
snake (1917, 29, 41, 53, 65, 77, 89, 2001),
horse (1918, 30, 42, 54, 66, 78, 90, 2002),
ram (1919, 31, 43, 55, 67, 79, 91, 2003),
monkey (1920, 32, 44, 56, 68, 80, 92, 2004),
rooster (1921, 33, 45, 57, 69, 81, 93, 2005),
dog (1922, 34, 46, 58, 70, 82, 94, 2006),
pig (1923, 35, 47, 59, 71, 83, 95, 2007)
http://www.c-c-c.org/chineseculture/zodiac/zodiac.html
Toshi otoko/onna・年男/女 - this year, someone born in the year of the dog is Toshi otoko/onna・年男/女. Last year it was someone born in the year of the rooster, and next year it will be people born in the the year of the pig.
Natsuko mentioned that the beans are eaten after being thrown. One should eat the number of beans corresponding to one’s age. E.g. If I were, say, 30 I would eat 30 beans, and that would make me year of the rabbit! I was a toshi otoko in 1999, and the next time I will be toshi otoko is 2011.
Wow it is late to be dishing out important info like this! Sakura, can you verify this?
japanesepod101.com says:
January 28th, 2006 at 7:57 am
Happy Lunar New Year! 
From everyone at Japanesepod101.com Happy Lunar New Year!!
Scott says:
January 28th, 2006 at 10:56 am
Peter, you recommended that I use the Rikai.com website to help me read kanji. Actually, I’m using a plug-in for Firefox called “Rikaichan”. It does the same thing as going to rikai.com would, except all you have to do is right click on the page you need help with, and select “Enable Rikaichan”. No need to copy and paste any URL. 
This is a must have plug-in for anyone studying Japanese and using Firefox. Check it out at http://www.polarcloud.com/rikaichan/
Marcos says:
January 28th, 2006 at 3:33 pm
Hi there folks!
Its always so nice to know many cultural things about Japan. I didn’t know about Setsubun in Japan. Japan has really a fascinating history. You guys are doing an awesome job in teaching us regarding culture in Japan. I have some doubts on how people speak in Japan. I mean, are there any local dialects that some people use besides standard Japanese. Also, is it ok to use Animes to practice Japanese? I totemo,totemo love Nihongo. I also downloaded your videocast - it was really sugoi! I like to listen to Japanese songs to practice my Nihongo as well. I really love Japanese songs. I liked when Sakura said ” doomo” to the shop owner 
. Guys you must be rich With those expensive brands even I would have said ” doomo’ to the shop owner and think about it before buying 
. I would be pretty happy if you guys could answer those questions. Thanks scott for telling about the site you use for Kanji. I’ll be sure to check that out. Doumo arigatoo in advance to everyone at japanesepod101.com. for helping us out with these podcasts. Douzo yoroshiku. Jaa mata
Peter says:
January 29th, 2006 at 1:29 am
Scott-san! Thank you for that AMAZING post!!! My recommendation just changed, and I ll be adding you name to the person who told me about it. We will put something up recommending that everyone gets it! Thank you for sharing that with us!!
Marcos-san! Great to hear from you! Thanks for watching the video! We’re going to have many more coming. Yes, anime, anything with Japanese is a great resource. It’s great to hear all types of Japanesee.
Yes, that “Doumo” was really good! Japanese love brands! That is why we always talk about them; however, I don’t have any! But I do love the word “Dorugaba”. It so cool!
Dialects! Oh boy!! Yes there are many! However, much like most of the languages in the world, tv and radio helped to standardize many languages. There are still very strong dialects in some regions, particulary Aomori is famous for its hard to understand dialect. Osaka, or Kansai-ben, is also well known. Local dialects are a lot of fun, and we’ll get into them!
Anime, is great. They usually use a very informal way of speaking, which is actually more practical for everyday use. However, knowing which form to use is so important and can’t be stressed enough! Sometimes mistakes can lead to misunderstandings, so it is important to know the polite way of speaking, hence the reason most Japanese courses start with this. Again, we’ll get more into this in the near future.
Marcos says:
January 29th, 2006 at 11:41 am
Hey Peter!
Yes, Peter,thats what a friend of mine told me too. He said that Animes are good resources to practice Nihongo,however we should pay close attention to the way they speak. I also have some trouble trying to understand them since the actors speak pretty fast. Oh my! I still have a long way to go then because there are so many dialects out there 
Yes, Media always stadardizes a spoken language. Here we have the chance to really learn a lot on Japanese laguage. Right now,Peter, I am more concetrated on spoken language. Thats why listening to these podcasts help a lot to get the brain to “decode” and “encode” the sounds of the language. I think that the most important thing in learning a language is by listening first and then write - thats the way we learned our own language. And you guys do that by providing us with real native speakers of the Japanese language. Doumo arigatoo Peter-san for the tips on learning through Animes and dialects Jaa mata
Steve says:
January 30th, 2006 at 3:12 am
I just want to say, how much I really enjoy the Japanese Culture lessons. I do enjoy reading and learning about Japanese culture and it is one I find fascinating. Strangly, I guess for a chap, I really enjoy the history and culture of the Geisha. I have done so since I was a teenager (A werido Goth teenager…Hehehehe). I was actually wondering, could you, one day teach a little Kyoto dialect?
I know of a few people that use anime to learn Japanese. So I think anyway of hearing Japanese is a good way to learn. The best way of course is to go to Japan and stay there for a few years, so you are almost forced to use Japanese, but of course that is not possible for most people. I will often watch a Japanese film with out subtitles which really forces me to listen, and this has helped to ‘tune’ my ears in to the Japanese language when it is being spoken. You see my weakness is listening to Japanese, sometimes it is much too quick for me to pick up.
These podcasts help a lot. We can hear Natsuko-san and Sakura-san speaking a more natural Japanese.
O-genki de
Steve
Peter says:
January 30th, 2006 at 9:05 am
Thanks for posting Steve. We’re hoping to incorporate a whole lot more into the upcoming lessons, and the dialects mentioned in the this string seems like good material! Please keep checking back! As for Sakura and Natsuko (and Kazunori), we’re starting intermediate class this week so, hopefully this will be more up to speed. Yep, full speed Japanese does take quite a bit of tuning, but we’re going to definately work at it!
Steve says:
January 30th, 2006 at 2:37 pm
Oooops! sumimasen, I did not mean to forget Kazunori-san in my post.
Rebecca says:
February 8th, 2006 at 1:05 am
Thanks for the podcast about Setsubun. Completely by coincidence, I listened to it while having breakfast on Fri., Feb. 3rd. Since I teach 2nd graders at an American school, your podcast caused me to weave it into my teaching day. On my way to work, I popped into a convenience store and grabbed one of those red-faced monsters and some beans. My students HOWLED with laughter when they got to throw beans at their “monster” teacher while chanting and chasing her around the room. I believe we also brought a fair amount of luck into the room as well! It was a blast. Thanks again!
random american says:
May 16th, 2006 at 10:01 pm
dude what the heck are you guys talking about. you are all wierd go americans
Soembody says:
April 9th, 2007 at 7:56 am
i have just one thing to ask…:
how do yuo say “blue sky” in japanese? thats all i need to know!
hime-meko says:
December 22nd, 2007 at 2:53 pm
JAPAN = COOL
okay, so idk how to say blue in Japanese, but sky is sora.
thank you, thank you very much
Ja ne!
mysterious..... says:
January 25th, 2008 at 10:45 am
ooop ! i didnt spell it right 
its blue - aoi XD eheheh my bad …
Megan says:
June 7th, 2008 at 5:20 am
Red is aki
and blue is actually kon… well thats regular blue
light blue is Mizuiro.
But you guys shouldnt practice romaji…
They only speak that way… well usually.
Megan says:
June 7th, 2008 at 5:21 am
Red is aki i think you pronounce is like (aw-keeh)
and blue is actually kon… well thats regular blue
light blue is Mizuiro.
But you guys shouldnt practice romaji…
They only speak that way… well usually.
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Category: Japanese Culture Classes |
Topic: holidays, Setsubun
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