JAPAN: A traditional Japanese festival celebrated before the Chinese New Year is given a simian-twist. as people throw beans at gorillas

Record ID: 463590

  • Title: JAPAN: A traditional Japanese festival celebrated before the Chinese New Year is given a simian-twist. as people throw beans at gorillas
  • Date: 10th February 2007
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) RYO IMANISHI, GORILLA HANDLER, SAYING: "We threw beans at the gorillas so they can live healthy and long lives and that the females and males get along better in order that they produce more gorillas."
  • Embargoed: 25th February 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVADXUUCPOZNUDLGWVVSMU6ZXX48
  • Story Text: Apes at a Tokyo Zoo are baffled by an ancient tradition as humans throw beans at them to promote good fortune and scare away bad luck. Piko the gorilla was not sure what hit her when crowds of humans gathered around the ape cage at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo on Saturday (February 3) shouting incantations and throwing beans at her. What she did know was while the scene was a frightening one, at least the roasted soya beans were tasty. What she didn't know was that this was a traditional Japanese blessing that seeks to call in good fortune and chase out the bad. This ritual, which used to take place on the eve of the Chinese New Year, is usually not reserved for her species -- namely the Western Lowland Gorillas, but rather exclusively reserved for the other dominant species at the zoo -- namely the homo sapiens.
    And while the chants of "In with fortune, out with the devil" may have seem terrifying the ritual was all in good faith.
    "We threw beans at the gorillas so they can live healthy and long lives and that the females and males get along better in order that they produce more gorillas," Ueno zoo gorilla handler Ryo Imanishi told Reuters.
    There are currently seven gorillas inhabiting Tokyo's Zoo right now, many of them in their prime and part of the international efforts to breed the endangered species.
    Poaching, the destruction of their natural habitat in central Africa by man, commercial hunting for their meat and the Ebola virus is believed to have brought the ape close to the brink of extinction.
    "I really hope this helps the Gorillas species increase," said 19-year old zoo visitor Akiko Ishikawa.
    The act of throwing roasted beans around during the traditional festival of Setsubun (pronounced Seh-tsoo-boon) is believed to have purifying qualities and is hoped, in this case, to bring the ape more good fortune than they have had so far in the wild.
    Setsubun, was originally performed on what would have been the Chinese New Year eve, but with Japan now celebrating the New Year according to the western calendar is celebrated every February 3rd.
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