Snow on Plum Blossom - Spring Stories from Japan
by Malte Jaspersen

Script Editor: Barbara Entrup / Assistant Director: Beate Lehner
Sound: Monika Steffens / Peter Avar
broadcast March 2004 by Radio Berlin-Brandeburg / Kulturradio

7:00 of 53:16 duration

Japanese Springtime: the motif of countless Haikus and soulful pop songs, spectacular Kabuki and elegant Noh plays, short stories and novels. The time of the ritualised new start and – the annual tax returns. In Japan spring begins in winter. Setsubun, the festival of the start of spring, comes at the beginning of February, the time of the first plum blossom. In Shinto shrines people ask their gods for luck. Then they throw beans at the devils of winter. The devils flee, screaming...

Music: Isezakicho Blues

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Snow on Plum Blossom
Spring Stories from Japan
A feature programme by Malte Jespesen.

Atmo: praying priest, crowd

Narrator: In front of the temple sits a devil. He has shaggy red hair, a fat stomach and arms like a Sumo wrestler. A little girl is standing in front of him and looking into his shining gold eyes. Slowly he lifts a silver sword. The little girl looks down. For one moment the devfil stops as though he was thinking of hitting her. Then he cautiously touches her head, circles his sword on her black hair and brushes her temples. Again the girl looks into his golden eyes. Relieved, she thanks him. Then she runs quickly back to her mother. It’s snowing. I'm cold.

Original Sound: Female Japanese speaker:

    Umasona
    Yuki ga fuwari
    Fuwari kana.

Female Speaker 1:

    Delicate!
    Floating dancing, dances
    The snow floating

Narrator: Again the devil raises his sword. A long queue of people waits in front of him. The symbolic strokes of the sword liberate them from greed, envy and rage. I don't join the queue. I view the blossoming plum bushes.

Atmo: (group of praying priests / Shomyo chanting, gongs)

Narrator: In Japan the spring begins in the middle of winter.

Original Sound: A Japanese woman

Speaker 2: This is the coldest time of year. It snows a lot. But somehow at Setsubun you feel that spring is coming. The joyful anticipation is intensified by the snow.

Narrator: Setsubun. A snowy festival, celebrated at the beginning of February in shrines and temples. Celebrated with rice wine and – beans.

Music: Taiko

Speaker 1: Long ago a winter devil visited an old widow. In order to disguise his true appearance he wore a wonderful silk kimono. When the widow saw this kimono she was overcome by temptation. She decided to get the devil drunk on rice wine so she could steal the kimono from him. But as she stretched out her hand, the demon awoke and revealed his true face, baring his teeth. In panic, the old woman grabbed the first thing that came into her hand—a bowl full of beans—and threw it at him. The beans worked wonders. The demon fled in horror.

Music: Taiko

Original Sound: Male and female Japanese speakers

    Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi!

Speakers 1 and 2:

    Out with the devils, in with the luck!

Narrator: The devil with the red hair has meanwhile met with ill luck. He and two other demons had broken into the temple with burning torches. The priests' prayers had driven them out again. The jeering crowd finished them off. The devils of winter staggered off under a shower of beans. Actually that's rather ungrateful after the luck-bringing ritual, I thought. Bit in view of the badly insulated Japanese houses with their thin walls and no central heating and my cold feet, anything is worth it to chase out the winter. I treat myself to a glass of hot sake. At last I start to get warm. There’s snow on the plum blossom.
Music: Shamisen

Original Sound: Female Japanese speaker

    Haru kaze ga soyo to
    Fuku wa uchi e to kono yado e
    Oni wa soto e to ume ga ka soyuru
    Oya – ame ka yuki ka mama no mama yo
    Kon’ya mo ashita mo itsuzuke ni
    Shogazake

Female speaker 1:

    The spring wind whispers –

in with the luck!
    The plums smell good –
    away with the devils!
    Is it raining?
    Is it snowing?
    I don’t care –
    tonight and tomorrow
    we shall drink ginger sake!

Atmo: Noodle soup and sake sellers / shell horns / gongs / praying priests fading into 1000 chanting monks / music—"Shamisen"