JAPAN: Elephants throw beans to beat bad luck and fight off ogres as part of Japanese traditional event

Record ID: 185193

  • Title: JAPAN: Elephants throw beans to beat bad luck and fight off ogres as part of Japanese traditional event
  • Date: 30th January 2010
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) SAYURI SAKAMOTO , 60-YEAR-OLD ZOO DIRECTOR, SAYING: "As the elephants are living in Japan, we're definitely thinking of letting them do more of these type of traditional Japanese events in the future." ELEPHANT WAVING WITH TRUNK ELEPHANTS TAKING FINAL BOW
  • Embargoed: 14th February 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA8K6LY6KCX5D19WQCQCANXS5PC
  • Story Text: Elephants at the Ichihara Zoo in Japan took part in an age-old tradition of throwing beans on Saturday (January 30) in order take on both bad luck as well as the occasional ogre.
    The tradition, called called "Setsubun" (pronounced SEH-TSOO-BUN) is held every February 3rd or 4th, which is believed to be the day ogres begin plotting evil and mischief for the coming year and people throw beans, a food that ogres hate, to drive them away.
    This year, the three elephants took part in driving away the ogres, who were dressed up by zoo performers, with the recently born, two-year-old elephant "Yumeka" taking part for the first time.
    While "Setsubun" doesn't take place until the 3rd this year, many of the children who came to watch still enjoyed seeing the elephants ward off the ogres.
    "It was really fun because the elephants were throwing beans around," said 7-year-old Maho Suzuki after watching the performance.
    Her brother however seemed more intent of getting a bit closer to the elephants.
    "I want to ride on the elephant, on its back," explained 3-year-old Yoshitaka Suzuki.
    The other major draw for those bringing their children to the park is how close people are allowed to get to the animals.
    "There's not really that many places in Japan's zoos where you can interact and touch the animals up close," 30-year-old housewife Kiyomi Hayashi told Reuters after the performance.
    While elephants are not normally associated with Japanese traditions, park director Sayuri Sakamoto explained that is was quite appropriate given where they live.
    "As the elephants are living in Japan, we're definitely thinking of letting them do more of these type of traditional Japanese events in the future," Sakamoto explained.
    This is the fourth year that the elephants have been doing this type of "Setsubun" event and with no signs of stopping, the ogres look to have a bean-filled holiday next year as well.
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