50cm Furoshiki Mike no Setsubun (February)

50cm Furoshiki Mike no Setsubun

Mike ミケ is the cat.  This furoshiki captured a scene of a Japanese custom ‘節分 Setsubun‘ held on the 3rd February.

This Furoshiki comically depicted ‘豆まき Mamemaki’ (bean-throwing) and two demons are running away from the house where Mike (the cat) lives.

In the garden, 梅 Ume (plum blossoms) are beautifully bloomed and 鯉 Koi (carps) are swimming in the pond.

On the left above of Furoshiki, there are two masks of Oni (Demon) and Fuku.

About Setsubun

Setsubun has the meaning of dividing the seasons, and February 3rd is the day when spring starts.
In the old days, the beginning of the year was spring, and people used to get rid of demons on the day before spring came, hoping that they would be able to spend the year safely.
It’s not that there are really demons, but that we compare illnesses and various invisible bad things to demons and throw beans at them.
They say beans have the power to kill bad things, and there is a story that people used to use beans to kill demons.

I wrote about it in our blog if you are interested in: Setsubun

How can you use it?