Category: Craft

Setsubun is celebrated on the 2nd of February in Japan. There are two customs that Japanese people do to celebrate this day.

Mamemaki: Means bean throwing. In homes family members dress up as Oni (ogres) and the younger people in the household will throw beans. The Oni are meant to be bad luck so throwing beans at them is like chasing out bad luck from your home.

Ehomaki: In the Kansai area of Japan (Osaka and Kyoto) a lot of people will eat a long sushi roll while facing that year’s lucky compass direction.

Why not try having your own Makimaki at home by printing out and colouring in the Oni bandanna below. (For an alergy safe time you can use packing foam instead of beans.)

In these videos you can learn about all the different rooms in a Japanese house and how to make your own paper popup house. This activity goes great with the Family and Home lesson on this website.

Genkan – Entrance

Washitsu – Japanese room

Daidokoro – Kitchen

Ofuro – Bathroom

Information

Activities

1. Draw the kanji for toradoshi

Try copying this kanji that is used in toradoshi.

2. Easy pop-up card

Shonen (boys) manga

Shojo (girls) manga

Template Files

When children in Japan want the rain to stop they will make Teru Teru Bozu dolls. Here is a video with instructions.

You will need:
* Two pieces of tissue paper.
* Scissors
* A marker/texta

In honour of the year of the mouse here is an instructional video on how to draw like an old Japanese painting and imitate the simple brush stroke designs with a mouse motif.

You will need:
* A piece of paper/empty page in your book.
* Something to draw/paint with.