Namahage

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 . Namomi signifies heat blisters, or more precisely (Erythema ab igne or EAI), which in Japanese is , but hidako is glossed as 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 is caused by overexposure to fire from sitting around the dugout irori hearth. Thus "fire rash peeling" is generally believed to be the derivation of the name namahage. ==Tradition==

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. though in the past they were held on the , it usually falls around mid-February, exactly two weeks after the Chinese New Year (). 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 . Dialogue or phraseology Some of the namahage's other spoken lines of old were and it was customary to have azuki gruel on the "Little New Year". ==Legend==

The legend of the 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 inspired by the appearance of who prayed in the houses of villages after their rigorous ascetic training at mountains such as and . The citizens of Oga thus 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 (in one 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; if they failed 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. ==Interpretations==

One 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 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. Namahage the Japanese demonlike being 01.jpg|Namahage-kan or Namahage Museum, Oga, Akita Namahage the Japanese demonlike being 02.jpg|Namahage Museum ==Similar ogre traditions==

The tradition of namahage visits occurs in the Oga Peninsula area of Akita Prefecture. Although the namahage of Oga has become the foremost recognized, cognate traditions occur in other regions throughout Japan, '''': • , a parallel but secretive practice of the Yaeyama Islands, Okinawa • in Ehime Prefecture (Shikoku) • of Yamagata Prefecture. • of Ishikawa Prefecture. • of Fukui Prefecture. • of Noshiro, Akita. • , Anmo, Nagomi or Nagomihakuri in northern Iwate prefecture. • , parallel practice in Koshikijima Islands, Kagoshima prefecture • Yamahage in the former Yūwa, Akita, now part of Akita, Akita. ==See also==