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YO U ・ SHO U
ma tsu ri
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「Setsubun (節分, Bean-Throwing Festival or Bean-Throwing Ceremony) is the day before the beginning of Spring in Japan. The name literally means 'seasonal division,' but usually the term refers to the Spring Setsubun, properly called Risshun (立春) celebrated yearly on February 3 as part of the Spring Festival (春祭 haru matsuri). In its association with the Lunar New Year, Spring Setsubun can be and was previously thought of as a sort of New Year's Eve, and so was accompanied by a special ritual to cleanse away all the evil of the former year and drive away disease-bringing evil spirits for the year to come. This special ritual is called mamemaki (豆撒き)…[literally「talented dispersal scattering pox beans.」…see related glyph 痘 as the 'bean disease']. Setsubun has its origins in tsuina (追儺), a Chinese custom introduced to Japan in the eighth century.」
[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Setsubun 2013-08-03, emphasis ours ]
The two tsuina (追儺) glyphs refer literally to「pursuing genitals of person for condemnation」or「in pursuit of assholes, persons in distressed courtship displays」in the attempt to rid the local population of folks spreading disease by others who didn't want to contract the pox 痘, also known as syphilis or「that bean disease」perhaps since pustules resemble beans under the skin, or, was thought to be spread by female sexual services providers working in the brothels. Today, all this history has been forgotten, and most folks have no idea why they「throw beans at the corkscrew demons」(so, see 節 for details).
External source definitions …excluding politically incorrect concepts and other meanings deemed offensive today; may include extended definitions, euphemisms, and mnemonics)
Japanese EDRDG: to drive out demons, etc., (as was done at the new-year)
Unihan extended: to drive out demons, etc., as was done at the new-year
Always keep in mind that these glyphs most likely were originally designed by groups of clever old men as vulgar riddles for their own entertainment
(see 籒 for that),
representing Chinese society many thousands of years ago, but intended NOT as a written or spoken language when created.
If these glyphs had been intended for language use, the sages could not have possibly designed a worse system!
Is it truly possible that all these glyphs started out as off-color jokes and puzzles?
Yes! It is, and often with multiple correct answers to each riddle, the same as is true today.
Sex had no shame in ancient China.
Why would it?
But, have there been necessary rewrites and altered explanations of the original elemental meanings over the centuries?
No one is suggesting these glyphs depict contemporary life in China, Japan, or anywhere else.
This site describes glyph meanings, not people.
These glyphs however, describe many and various things, including people, long before there were any notions of becoming politically incorrect.
The question to be answered is, should these glyphs continue being used, by anyone, anywhere, for expressing language?
(More...)
Despite how seemingly bad our human existence is today, do you actually believe that the so-called good old days were any better?
Or could they have been worse?
By the way, with a limited number of the same elements used by the sages again and again to form these glyphs,
you should expect to find the same explanations again and again, as tedious as that may become, and as an inherent trait of any lexicon.
This site explains multiple meanings of glyphs ignored or censored by other sources, generally as being too embarrassing to admit today.
Primal elements
Related glyphs [ Toggle font ]
Similar glyphs with related meanings: 25 entries
- Glyph.07100
- Strokes: 13
- other
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This publication has included material from the JMdict (EDICT, etc.) dictionary files in accordance with the license provisions of the Electronic Dictionaries Research Group.
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