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20-608: The frightfully dressed men impersonating the oni -demons wearing masks, dressed in long straw coats or mino , locally called kede or kende . They are armed with deba knives (albeit wooden fakes or made of papier-mâché ) and toting a teoke ( 手桶 , "hand pail" made of wood) , march in pairs or threes going door-to-door making rounds of people's homes, admonishing children who may be guilty of laziness or bad behavior, yelling phrases like "Are there any crybabies around?" ( 泣く子はいねがぁ , Nakuko wa inee gā? ) or "Are naughty kids around?" ( 悪い子はいねえか , Waruiko wa inee ka? ) in

40-406: Is dairisekiyō hihan ( 大理石様皮斑 ) , but hidako is glossed as onnetsusei kōhan ( 温熱性紅斑 ) in medical literature, which corresponds to Erythema ab igne . Folklorist literature such as Ine mention hidako , but not the precise medical term for it. A rashlike condition caused by overexposure to fire, from sitting by the dugout irori hearth. Thus "fire rash peeling" is generally believed to be

60-467: Is a New Year's ritual, and the namahage visits nowadays take place on New Year's Eve (using the Western calendar). But it used to be practiced on the so-called "Little New Year" ( 小正月 , Koshōgatsu ) , the first full moon night of the year. This is the 15th day of the first lunar calendrical year, which is not the same thing as January 15; it usually falls around mid-February, exactly two weeks after

80-460: Is based on a yukinko , a Japanese folklore spirit from the snow, which also wears a mino . The sound ninja from Naruto Dosu Kinuta wears a Mino on his shoulders. Oga Peninsula The Oga Peninsula (男鹿半島 Oga-hantō ) is a rugged peninsula which projects west into the Sea of Japan from the coast of Akita in northern Honshū , the main island of Japan . Politically it coincides with

100-463: Is called Minomucchi ( ミノムッチ ) in Japanese, which is a portmanteau of ミノムシ ( minomushi ) , the Japanese word for bagworm, and the Japanese suffix -cchi , which denotes a cute nickname. Minomushi itself is a portmanteau of mino and mushi , meaning "bug". This means that Burmy's Japanese name roughly translates to mean "a cutie in a straw coat". The Ice-type Pokémon Snorunt

120-573: Is the Namahage creation, inspired by the appearance of a foreigner who had washed ashore. In this theory, the people of Oga regarded the foreigner, who had a strange appearance and spoke a language they had never heard before, as an oni . The fourth theory is the Namahage creation, inspired by the legend of Emperor Wu of Han . According to this theory, the Namahage was inspired by the appearance of five bats that followed Emperor Wu to Oga peninshla and turned into oni . The oni established quarters in

140-639: The Chinese New Year ( Japanese : Kyūshogatsu ). The aforementioned Namahage Sedo Festival, which was not established until 1964, is held annually on the second weekend of February (roughly coinciding with the "Little New Year"), at the Shinzan Shrine  [ ja ] . Some of the namahage's other spoken lines of old were "Knife whetted yet?" ( 包丁コとげたかよ , hōchōko togetaka yo ) and "Boiled adzuki beans done yet?" ( 小豆コ煮えたかよ , azuki ko nietaka yo ) . The knife apparently signified

160-574: The city of Oga ), for example. The straw attire are often described as a mino (standard Japanese), but these are considered particular items of clothing known locally as kede (or kende ; kedashi ). The namahage's purpose was to admonish laggards, who sit around the fire idly and do nothing useful. One of the refrains used by the namahage in the olden days was "Blisters peeled yet?" ( なもみコ剝げたかよ , namomi ko hagetaka yo ) . Namomi signifies heat blisters, or more precisely hidako ( 火だこ , hidako ) ( Erythema ab igne or EAI), which in Japanese

180-526: The New Year celebrations of the Oga Peninsula , where men dress as ogre -like namahage wearing masks and mino . Mino are also seen in some kabuki plays. Sarumino ( 猿蓑 , "The Monkey's Raincoat") is a 1691 anthology of Bashō -school poetry. It is widely considered to be one of the most important compilations of classical Japanese verse. The bagworm Pokémon , Burmy,

200-426: The derivation of the name namahage . Although the namahage are nowadays conceived of as a type of oni or ogre, it was originally a custom where youngsters impersonated the kami who made visitations during the New Year's season. Thus it is a kind of toshigami . The practice has shifted over the years. According to 20th century descriptions, the namahage would typically receive mochi (rice cakes) from

220-521: The households they visited, but newlywed couples were supposed to play host to them in full formal attire and offer them sake and food. The namahage still receive hospitality in likewise manner during the New Years, but in a reversal of roles, the namahage distribute mochi to visitors (tourists) during the Namahage sedo matsuri ( なまはげ柴灯まつり , Namahage Sedo Festival ) held in February. This

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240-485: The houses of villages after their rigorous ascetic training in the mountains such as Honzan ( 本山 ) and Shinzan ( 真山 ) . The second theory is the Namahage creation, inspired by the image of the messenger of the mountain kami . In this theory, the Oga Peninsula looks like a mountain from the sea and is revered as the place where the mountain kami resides to protect the lives of the villagers. The third theory

260-473: The instrument to peel the blisters, and it was customary to have azuki gruel on the "Little New Year". The legend of Namahage varies from region to region. There are four theories or legends about the origin of Namahage on the Oga Peninsula in Akita Prefecture . The first theory is the Namahage creation, inspired by the appearance of yamabushi ( 山伏 , Shugendō practionner) who prayed in

280-449: The lessons to the children before leaving the house. Some ethnologists and folklorists suggest it relates to a belief in deities (or spirits) coming from abroad to take away misfortune and bring blessings for the new year, while others believe it to be an agricultural custom where the kami from the sacred mountains visit. The tradition where the ogres are called namahage occurs in the Oga Peninsula area of Akita Prefecture . Although

300-532: The lower body alone. Similar straw capes were also used in China , Vietnam and Korea . Rice straw has naturally water-repellent properties, with water droplets that hit a mat of straw tending to flow along the length of the fibres, rather than penetrating underneath it. For this reason, early Japanese rain gear was often made of straw, which had the added benefit of being cheap to acquire, easy to weave and fasten, and being light in weight; however, this rain gear

320-399: The namahage of Oga has become the foremost recognized, cognate traditions occur in other regions throughout Japan, viz. : Mino (straw cape) A mino ( 蓑 ) is a traditional Japanese raincoat made out of straw . Traditional mino are an article of outerwear covering the entire body, although shorter ones resembling grass skirts were also historically used to cover

340-424: The pronunciation and accent of the local dialect. Traditionally, the namahage have worn painted wooden masks, sometimes made of wood bark, and primarily painted red. But in recent years they have been manufactured using bamboo strainers as frames, cardboard material, or flattened metal canisters, etc., and the namahage may travel in pairs, one red-faced, the other blue-faced, in the hamlet of Yumoto (incorporated into

360-441: The task they would have to leave. Just as the ogres were about to complete the work, a villager mimicked the cry of a rooster, and the ogres departed, believing they had failed. An obvious purpose of the festival is to encourage young children to obey their parents and to behave. Parents know who the Namahage actors are each year and might request them to teach specific lessons to their children during their visit. The Namahage repeat

380-443: The two local high peaks, Honzan ( 本山 ) and Shinzan ( 真山 ) . These oni stole crops and young women from Oga's villages. The citizens of Oga wagered the demons that if they could build a flight of stone steps, one thousand steps in all, from the village to the five shrine halls (variant: from the sea shore to the top of Mt. Shinzan) all in one night, then the villagers would supply them with a young woman every year. But if they failed

400-491: Was also bulky in size, and highly flammable. In earlier eras, straw clothing had the additional advantage of affording a significant degree of camouflage in certain terrain, including forests and wetlands, similar to modern ghillie suits . As synthetic fibers and later plastics were introduced to Japan, mino lost much of their practicality and fell out of use. Today, however, they are still worn as costumes in various traditional folk traditions and festivals , such as

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