Namahage

Namahage is a raiho-shin (visiting deity) of the Oga Peninsula in Akita Prefecture, appearing on New Year's Eve in demon mask, straw kera cape, and carrying a knife or bucket. Crying "Are there any crying children? Are there any bad children?", they enter homes to drive away laziness and admonish children, then receive sake and rice cakes from the head of the household. The earliest systematic records appear in Sugae Masumi's travel diaries (Bunka era, 1804-1818). Yanagita Kunio discussed Namahage within his theory of visiting deities, and Orikuchi Shinobu placed it within his marebito framework. In 2018 UNESCO inscribed "Raiho-shin: Ritual visits of deities in masks and costumes" (including Oga no Namahage) on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.