During Setsubun, people not only chase away demons, they also go to temples to try to “get” some good luck. The catching of good luck involves standing around a designated area, while temple dignitaries throw packets of “luck,” which are actually soy beans, to the crowd.

As this site succintly explains:

The custom of mamemaki involves a pun on the word “mame” and “me”. Mame can either mean beans or eyes of the demon. The word “me” means eyes or a bud of plants depending on how it is written in kanji. Thus, in order to completely make sure that the eyes of a demon(mame) will never fall upon humans again, the Japanese will poach the soybeans(mame) for mamemaki, called the fukumame, so they will not germinate. By making the beans unable to germinate people are able to seal in the evil acts that might have been performed by the demons during the year.

Having now been to two of these bean-catching sessions, I have to say it’s a little intense. There are a limited number of packets of beans which are thrown, and people become very competitive about getting as many of these packets as possible. People have many strategies for catching beans. Some hold out their hats. Some hold open large plastic bags. Other people actually fight over bags, not unlike the way you see people in a baseball game compete to catch a ball that lands in the stadium.

I’ve included some pictures of a mame-maki from Gankouji; these photos turned out better than my photos at Koufukuji.

Temple dignitaries wait on top of a stage. In this picture is a boy visiting from Afghanistan, and a young woman wearing furisode; I assume she is dressed this way because she is 20.

Small white bags of beans fly through the air and people strain to catch the bags.

I was completely unsuccessful in catching anything at the first mame-maki I went to, largely because I was completley unprepared for the experience. At the second mame-maki at Koufukji that evening, I was successful.