The masked figures shout ‘aren't there any lazy children?’: the rite has been UNESCO heritage since 2018.
On New Year's Eve, men masked as namahage (masked deities, not demons, who drive away laziness and misfortune) go knocking from house to house on the Oga Peninsula shouting ‘泣ぐ子は居ねがー’ (‘aren't there any crying children?’), amid straw and carved wooden masks. For the rest of the year you can see the re-enactment here, at the Shinzan Denshōkan, where actors from the village stage the whole visit again inside a traditional farmhouse.
The name comes from namomi, the cracked skin from fire burns that the rite originally mimed ‘peeling off’ the lazy who had stayed by the hearth all winter. A national Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property since 1978; UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage since 2018, in the group ‘Raihōshin, ritual visits of deities in masks and costumes’ (来訪神：仮面・仮装の神々), together with nine other similar Japanese traditions.
ℹ️ Demonstration rooms open all year round inside an old farmhouse; show times to be checked on site or by phone: no source that could be opened with the current times was found. By car or taxi from Oga Station; the peninsula has no frequent bus service.
Holidays in Japan? Plan them with us.Over 2,000 real places, a day-by-day itinerary.FreeOpen the map →Sources: ja.wikipedia.org
Nearby
Oga Aquarium GAO5.5 kmphoto by 掬茶 · CC BY-SA 4.0