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Eerie shouts of the Namahage, or young men disguised as ogres,
echo throughout the Oga peninsula on New Year's Eve. The Namahage
come out from the darkness, treading down the snow-covered slope.
"Wrooooo! Wrooooo!" The roar breaks the silence, and
children start sobbing. Namahage are messengers of God, and
the festival is certainly one of the most peculiar in Japan.
The following describes how the Namahage proceeds in the Shinzan
district, Oga city. Wearing masks and straw raincoats, the Namahage
go from house to house in pairs. Whether or not to let them
in is up to the head of the family. Once the Namahage are admitted
in, they enter the house with a roar and stamp their feet on
the floor seven times. This ritual enables them to walk through
the house freely. They will shout, "We smell lazybones!"
"Where are the lazybones?" and walk through the rooms.
At this point, fear takes over the children, and they invariably
burst out crying. The family head will show hospitality and
try to calm down the infuriated Namahage, inviting them for
a drink and meal. The Namahage will again stamp their feet,
this time five times, before being seated. While the shouting
Namahage are encouraged to eat and drink, questions and answers
are exchanged with family members. Finally, they wish for a
good harvest in the coming year, stand up again and stamp their
feet three times. They then leave for the next house saying,
"We will be returning next year!"
The stamping of the feet is performed so that the children of
the house can welcome in a happy year, without falling ill or
having accidents. It is a traditional event befitting New Year's
Eve.
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Tourists can see the Namahage at the annual "Namahage Sedo
Festival," which is a three-day event held from the second
Friday of February through Sunday. At the Shinzan Shrine in
Oga city, the festival opens with the unique purification kagura
dance and music called the Dance of Chinkamayu. It is followed
by the Namahage Dance, Namahage Drumming, and in the finale,
fifteen Namahage, torches in hand, descend the mountain by way
of the shrine's ancient path. The red glow of the torches glimmer
on the snow, and those witnessing the event are left with a
mesmerizing feeling that they have, just for an instant, come
in contact with a mysterious world. It is a festival of snow
and flames intermingled with local customs of the Tohoku region.
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