The strongest Japanese person who even demons fear is Mr. Watanabe!

Thursday 29/02/2024 | 23:48 PM

Demons are terrifying creatures that have strength far beyond that of humans. Since the presence of demons brings misfortune, there is an event on February 3rd to drive them out by scattering beans. This is called Setsubun.

You are free to believe that it is only a superstition, but if you can get rid of bad luck just by scattering beans, what do you have to lose?

It may not be so common these days, but when I was a child, on the day of Setsubun, you could hear children’s voice from each home saying,

Oni wa soto! （Out with the demons!) Fuku wa uchi!（In with the good fortune!)

This mantra is chanted in order to invite gods of good fortune, or blessings, to bestow benevolence on the household.

But there was a family that wasn’t concerned about such a custom. The Watanabe clan had no need for bean-throwing. It’s said that that the name “Watanabe” was so scary that demons stayed away from them. This is attributed to an old tale that has become a legend.

This legend is a tale from the Heian Period (794-1185). During this period, the nobles were the ruling class, and the word was that many demons lived in the large city of Kyoto.

These demons made people sick and brought bad luck. Troubled by this, the aristocrats asked the samurai, who were still playing a security role at that time, to exterminate the demons.

A samurai named Yorimitsu Minamoto took his men to exterminate demons. They came in groups of four, not one, so first, the samurai would kill the top demon, named Shuten Doji.

Later, a demon named Ibaragi Doji arrives to get revenge, but the samurai cuts off his arm and fights him off.

The samurai who cut his arm off was none other than Tsuna Watanabe. Ibaraki Doji, now armless, recounts to his fellow demons about what occurred.

“A super strong guy cut off my arm.

　Beware of Watanabe! “

So, it is said that the demons no longer touch families with the Watanabe bloodline.
Incidentally, Sakata Kintoki, one of the members of the demon-slaying hit squad, was also a legend among the demons, and the Sakata clan doesn’t need to scatter beans.

There is more to the legend of Tsuna Watanabe, who wrestled with a demon in Kyoto and cut off its arm, but let it escape. With that severed arm in his luggage, he would travel around Japan, searching for that demon to defeat.

Next, we come to a place called Ubagafukoro.
It is located in present-day Miyagi Prefecture.

This seems to have been Tsuna Watanabe’s hometown, and his aunt came to him as he was resting. She pestered him repeatedly, begging him to show her the “demon arm”. At first he refuses, but she is so persistent that he takes out the arm from his luggage and..

…to his surprise, she turned out to be an ogre in disguise, and he grabbed the arm and ran away. When the demon tried to cross the river, he lost control and put his hand on a stone.

In the end, the demon ran away, but the stone on which it put its hand is still there today, and is called, “Oni no tekakeishi” (the stone on which the demon put its hand).

There is actually a precise mark remaining but it’s unclear whether it is a hand or a foot.

The words for Setsubun are unique in this area, since the demons have fled outside, so “Oni wa soto!” is not said here.

I will leave it up to you to decide whether you believe in the demon legend or not, but if you know any Japanese named Watanabe or Sakata, they may be surprised when you tell them this story.

It is currently 23:43 on February 3rd.
While writing this, I remembered the bean-throwing ritual, and since I had no beans to scatter at hand, I instead grabbed some cashew nuts to snack on, but I doubt these are going to be helpful in eliminating any demons!

Abe Kengo