Setsubun is the day before the beginning of spring in the old calendar in Japan. The name literally means 'seasonal division', referring to the day just before the first day of spring in the tradition
Tokuan shrine
Celebrities throw roasted beans in Ikuta Shrine, Kobe
Sardine head talisman on house entrance to keep bad spirits away
Watanabe no Tsuna was a Japanese samurai of the Heian period and a companion in arms of Minamoto no Yorimitsu, one of the earliest samurai to be famed for his military exploits in a number of tales an
Setsubun
…either a man of the household born in the corresponding zodiac year for the new year (toshiotoko (年男)), or else the male head of the household. Because Watanabe no Tsuna, a retainer of Minamoto no Yorimitsu during the Heian period (794–1185), is associated with the legend that he vanquished oni historically considered…
"Watanabe no Tsuna meets Ibaraki-dōji at Modoribashi Bridge." Ukiyo-e print by Utagawa Kunisada.
"A Strange Account of the Destruction of the Bandits by the Elite Four" (Watanabe no Tsuna, Minamoto no Yorimitsu, Urabe no Suetake, and Fujiwara no Yasumasa.), Yomihon book by Utagawa Toyokuni and Takizawa Bakin.
Watanabe no Tsuna fighting Ibaraki, mid Edo-period wood carving
Watanabe no Tsuna fighting the oni Ibaraki, ukiyo-e print by Utagawa Kuniyoshi