Minami Hamabe, Akari Takaishi and Other Stars Bring Smiles to Naritasan Setsubun Festival
About 20,000 worshippers visited
“Fortune in! Fortune in!”
February 3 was Setsubun. Festivals were held all over the country that day, but in the Kansai region—currently buzzing with NHK’s taiga drama Toyotomi Brothers! and the NHK morning drama Bakebake—main cast members were scattering beans at various venues.
At Naritasan Fudoson (Naritasan Osaka Betsuin Myoo-in, Neyagawa City, Osaka Prefecture), known for prayers for traffic safety, Minami Hamabe (25), who plays Nene in Toyotomi Brothers!, appeared on a special stage from 1 p.m. wearing a pink haori and hakama, together with Sosuke Ikematsu (35), who plays Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
“At Naritasan Fudoson it is said that even demons reform, so the chant ‘Demons out’ is not used. Hamabe and Ikematsu held armfuls of fukumame taken from what is said to be Japan’s largest senshō daifukumasu (150 cm square, 80 cm high, weighing 200 kg), and scattered them energetically with the call ‘Fortune in!’ A huge number of worshippers rushed forward hoping to catch the beans thrown by Hamabe,” said one attendee.
From 11 a.m. at the same venue, Akari Takaishi (23), the heroine of Bakebake, along with her on-screen husband Tommy Bastow (34) and her father in the drama Takashi Okabe (53), had already appeared. At that point there were about 20,000 visitors. The two, who play a close married couple in the drama, shouted together as they vigorously scattered beans in perfect sync, drawing loud cheers.
That same day, Bastow updated his Instagram and posted a video of himself throwing beans, writing:
“Today was so much fun—thank you to everyone who came!”
Meanwhile, at the “Fukumame-throwing Event in Nagahama Castle” held at Hōkōen in Nagahama City, Shiga Prefecture, Anna Kurasawa (20), who plays Asahi—the younger sister of the brothers in Toyotomi Brothers!—and Nagi Inoue (20), who is scheduled to appear as Chacha, took part and scattered beans full of energy.
The spectators who caught the beans they threw seemed to have already received their share of good fortune.
