Sudan's Productions

Blake, Richard Stephens and I have started a film group called Sudan's Prodctions, and have posted our first two pieces on Youtube. There's more to come, so stay posted. We're working on something with a car chase!

Setsubun 節分 （せつぶん）

If you're Japanese, the holiday season comes with an added bonus: you get to celebrate TWO New Years! One with the rest of the Western world on January 1st, and, just over a month later, a slightly more Oriental one on February 3rd. Setsubun, or more formally known as Risshun (立春) comes from the Chinese New Year tradition. Since this is the beginning of something new, its important to the Japanese to purge the evil from the old year. All of the talismans that have been absorbing bad energy from the home from the previous 12 months are brought to the Shinto temple to be burned. Out with the old and in with the new, they then place a fresh talisman in the home for the year to come. I made the SEVERE faux pas of asking the burner for one of the arrow talismans, not knowing what it was. He got this horrified and confused look on his face and just stared at the ground, frozen, trying to figure out how to deal with this gaijin who had asked asked for the unthinkable. I felt bad for him right away, even before I knew the extent of my blunder, and told him, its ok, I don't want it. Fortunately Sue jumped in and explained to me what it was, that I was attempting to prevent some poor family from getting rid of an entire year of spiritual negativity, and that that might be perceived as kind of jerky. After he saw that she had explained the situation, the guy looked like he had just been told that his wife had survived a quadruple bypass and that he won $1000. Crisis averted.

Now, for the good part. Not only can you get rid of your bad luck from the previous year at Setsubun, you've also got a shot at getting some good luck for the new year. The priests come out three times that day and shoot arrows with soft tips into the crowds of people. If you catch one of them, you've won yourself an uber-talisman of good luck. Now, keep in mind, you've gotta fight for this. People were going DOWN in the mud. Women, men, children, everyone got hip-checked, decked, punched, overrun, collided, elbowed, juked, bumped, and shoved out of the way.. all for the sake of one of these babies. So. Who caught the very first one, you might ask? ME!!! Did I get to keep it? NO!!! I just stood there, thinking "You know, I don't really want to take somebody else's good luck. Plus, I've got Jesus. I'm good." But then, the priest aimed it in exactly my direction, which I could see.. being lined up exactly with his bow. Then, I saw that he was pulling back pretty far, and I had stood in the back of the crowd, wanting to give these tiny Asians a chance. I say this to tell you that it was through no machination that it just came right at me. I literally stood there with my feet planted in the same place and just stuck my hand up and caught it. Then, this guy leaps up and grabs a hold of it too (after I had already caught it) and starts trying to yank it out of my hand. Of course, I have a grip on it, and it doesn't come loose. So he looks up at me like, "What the hell do you think you're doing, butt head?! You're not supposed to be able to have this. What do you think you're doing?... crud, how am I gonna get this thing from him?" Smelling copious amounts of alcohol on his breath and not wanting to make a scene, I tried to diffuse the situation quickly. How do we do this in Japan? Easy. Junken. (Junken is their name for Rock, Paper, Scissors.) Of course, I lost. I should have said, "Dude, I caught it first, back the smack off.", but, being the nice guy that I am, I gypped myself out of the ultimate souvenir. Oh well. Se la vie, se la guerre. At least I have my Mt. Fuji stick, and I WORKED for that one.

My good buddy Blake, on the other hand, had the right idea. Allow me to set the stage. By the time the next to last arrow was being fired, everyone was whipped up because they had been going for three or four rounds, and desperate because this was probably their last chance at good luck for the coming year. Naturally, when the last arrows were fired, the jockeying was at its best. It got to the point where at least 10 people were in a 4 square meter area.. but sometimes, 20 hands aren't enough. One of them slipped through a crowd of about 15 people and landed on the ground next to me and Blake. By the time I had looked at it, Blake.. who had been standing there quietly with his hands in his pockets.. had ducked down and nabbed it-- the uncontested owner of his very own Lucky Arrow. I think I was happier for him than if I had gotten to keep my own. The look of crushed disappointment on the faces of the 15 people who had dog piled for it, only to lose it to the opportunist gaijin (foreigner), was a beautiful sight. There was a very distinct "aaaaaah" of despair from the prizeless masses. Maybe I'm a bad person, but I think you'll agree that its a beautiful thing to see the meek inherit the earth... especially in the face of the violent and desperate. Mwa ha ha ha ha ha!

So that was Setsubun. I had a great time at the festival, plus, I got to have tayaki later. That's a fish shaped, cream-filled pastry, which is, as the Japanese say, segoi oishii, very delicious. I had two. I'll miss them when I come home. ...I think they might have opiates in them...

All the way from Japan, here's hoping you a very lucky New Year, and more importantly, a very Blessed one.

May His face shine upon you--