Last weekend was the date for a festival where temples will arrange an event where soy beans are distributed for luck to the waiting throng. I still don't quite understand the meaning behind this practice, but went along to Meguro Fudosan to check it out. The priests for the temple appear to "bless" the beans before they are thrown out to the crowd. Obviously chaos ensues. I am told that if you can manage to catch the same number of beans as your age in years (in my case 21), it is very lucky indeed. My wife managed to get around half her age - so we can probably expect 50% luck. There were some very determined grannies in the crowd who use blitzkrieg techniques to try and gain an advantage - obviously skills learned from years of practice. I had my Canon EOS 5D Mark II and EOS 1Ds Mark III along for the ride…..
Crowd control. This guy didn't seem to realise that during the entire session his megaphone was not switched on.
Preparations. A special stage is erected.
Soon a crowd had gathered.
Bean launching priests
Chaos
The packs of beans
There as a very confused peach tree that blossomed early. Snow the next day was probably very unwelcome...
Time to go home
Super hero washing?