来訪神 as Intangible Cultural Heritage + 奇祭

choi

(1) Japan. Intangible Cultural Heritage, UNESCO, undated
https://ich.unesco.org/en/state/ ... ements-on-the-lists
("2018: Raiho-shin, ritual visits of deities in masks and costumes: * * * Such rituals stem from folk beliefs that deities from the outer world – the Raiho-shin – visit communities and usher in the new year or new season with happiness and good luck. During the rituals, local people dressed as deities in outlandish costumes and frightening masks visit houses, admonishing laziness and teaching children good behaviour. The head of the household treats the deities to a special meal to conclude the visit, and in some communities the rituals take place in the streets. In some communities, men of a certain age become the Raiho-shin, while in others women play such roles. Because the rituals have developed in regions with different social and historical contexts, they take diverse forms, reflecting different regional characteristics")

Note:
(a) Click the images (altogether eight) in the bottom, whose captions are as follows.
(i) caption 1: "A Raiho-shin known as Toshidon places mochi, a rice cake, on the back of a young boy to grant him good luck. (Koshikijima no Toshidon)"
(A) Koshikijima 甑島 is 38km off the coast of Kagoshima. Administratively it belongs to 鹿児島県薩摩川内市
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/薩摩川内市
(map whose caption is 地理院地図")

Why it is so named, I fail to find out.
(B) There are different shapes (round, square) of 甑, which came from China. See, eg,
(I) 酒造りの道具・・・甑（こしき）. 土佐酒造株式会社, undated
https://www.keigetsu.co.jp/brewing_20131026
, which is actually huge. See
コシキ作り. 澤田酒造株式会社, 平成１４年製作 (2002).
http://www.hakurou.com/kosiki.html
(II) 甑
https://kotobank.jp/word/甑-64666
(The bottom image whose caption is: "書紀（720）大化二年三月甲申（寛文版訓）「復、百姓、他(ひと)に就きて甑(コシキ)を借りて飯を炊くこと有り」")
(C) The mochi (in Japan) can be either 餅 (same as "年糕" in China) or 糯 (glutinous rice, to make mochi rice cakes).
(D) The occasion is大晦日の夜 (the evening of 大晦日).
(E) Toshidon (katakana トシドン or hiragana としどん), where toshi is Japanese pronunciation of kanji 年 (meaning year). See
'Toshidon': The Visiting Spirits of Koshikijima, Kagoshima. Nippon.com, Feb 5, 2019
https://www.nippon.com/en/guide- ... jima-kagoshima.html
("the word is made up of toshi, referring to toshigami 年神, Shintō spirits that go from house to house during the New Year, and don, the equivalent to the name suffix –san in Kagoshima dialect")
(ii) caption 2: "Raiho-shin known as Namahage engage in dialogue with members of a family that welcomed the deities into the house. (Oga no Namahage)"
(A) Oga, Akita 秋田県男鹿市 (The o may be represented by 雄, 男, 夫 or 牡; 男鹿 is a male deer or buck; 女鹿 can be Japanese surname 姓 or place names). 鹿 has two Japanese pronunciations: "shika" or just "ka" (which is softened to ga when it is not at the beginning of a word).
The city is on 男鹿半島. Other than that, I can not find the origin of the name.

However, in the Web Japanese call male and female deer 雄鹿 雌鹿, 男鹿 女鹿, 牡鹿 牝鹿 (I do not know whether any is obsolete).

「鹿」がつく地名. Deer Info, Feb 1, 2018
https://deerinfo.pro/placename/
("日本人は古来から鹿と共に生きてきました。  そのことを表すように、日本全国に「鹿」を含む地名がたくさんあります。 [eg, 秋田県 男鹿市; 宮城県 牡鹿郡; 鹿児島県 (and its capital_ 鹿児島市")
my translation: title: place names with deer affixed; text: Japanese have come to live with deer since ancient times. There many place names in Japan to reflect that.
(B) Namahage (hiragana なまはげ; kanji 生剥) wear all kinds of masks.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namahage
(section 1 Older tradition, section 1.2 Etymology: "Namomi signifies heat blisters, or more precisely hidako (火だこ hidako) (Erythema ab igne or EAI), a rashlike condition caused by overexposure to fire, from sitting by the dugout irori hearth")

The erythema ab igne is a disease (in dermatology) that means in Latin "redness from fire." The treatment is to stay away from fire. However, the previous Wiki page is wrong by saying namomi in Japanese means a blister; instead it is a fire mark of redness. See next.

etymology of namahage:
(I) "ナマハゲのナマはナモミで、火にあたり過ぎて脚などに生ずる火斑をいい、怠け者の象徴であり、それをはぎ取るという意味である。地方によりナモミハギとかナモミタクリともいう。"  須藤隆仙, 世界宗教用語大事典. 世界宗教用語大事典 中経出版 (2004-2005)
(II) Guichard B et al, Yamahage; A Study of folk culture in Japan. Akita International University 国際教養大学 (a public university, at Akita City, Akita Prefecture), 2013, at page 29 of 104
http://web.aiu.ac.jp/icpt/wp-con ... ulture-in-Japan.pdf
("The Namahage museum in Oga introduces the etymology of the 'Namahage:'  the word 'nama' is believed its origin [sic] to be the word 'namomi,' referring to the fire marks one gets from staying around the fireplace. Then, 'hage' has its etymological origin in 'hagu' meaning 'to eliminate.' Therefore, the Namajage is considered as the one who eliminated [sic] the people who stay near the fireplace for a long time, representing lazy members of society") (citation omitted).

The (I) and (II) say the same thing (so I will not translate (I) ). The Japanese noun "namomi" is not found in any Japanese dictionary; the noun nama 生 means raw (or uncooked, of food) and the verb hagu 剥ぐ to peel off.

In (I), the irori 囲炉裏  
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irori
is translated as fireplace in (II).
(iii) caption 3: "Raiho-shin known as Amamehagi with the family that welcomed them into the house. (Noto 能登 [能登半島] no Amamehagi)"
(iv) caption 4: "Raiho-shin known as Paantou appear and walk through the community with local people. (Miyakojima 宮古島 no Paantou)"

Paantou, where "aa' is another transliteration of Japanese that means a long voel of "a."
Paantou パーントゥ
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/パーントゥ
(section 1 語源: "宮古島の歴史について書かれた『宮古島庶民史』（稲村賢敷、1948年）には、「パーン（食む）+ピトゥ（人）」が訛化した言葉であるという説が述べられている")

my translation: According to 宮古島庶民史 (written by 稲村賢敷 in 1948), the word is corrupt from "paan" means eat and "pitou" meaning person.
(v) caption 5: "Raiho-shin known as Amahage admonish a young boy. (Yuza [山形県]遊佐[町] no Koshogatsu Gyoji 小正月行事)"

See (b) for the dictionary.
(vi) caption 6: "Raiho-shin throw buckets of water on houses in the community as part of a ritual to prevent disasters. (Yonekawa no Mizukaburi)"
(A) Yonekawa (宮城県登米市東和町)米川 -- presently a neighborhood (before 1956 登米郡米川村)
(B) Mizukaburi 水かぶり (mizu is Japanese pronunciation of 水) started in the second half of the twelfth century and is conducted by male participants at 大慈寺
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/大慈寺_(登米市)

(曹洞宗の寺院), 毎年2月の初午の日, where 午 refers to 十二支の中で第7番目, which is horse AND 初午 is 最初の午の日/
(vii) caption 7: "Raiho-shin known as Kasedori bang a bamboo pole on the floor of a house to ward off misfortune. (Mishima no Kasedori)"
(A) Mishima 見島 (an island of 山口県萩市)
(B) Kasedori カセドリor カセ鳥 or 加勢鳥 (tori is Japanese pronunciation of 鳥).
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/カセ鳥
("毎年2月11日に開催される旧暦小正月の祭事。名称は「稼ぎ鳥」または「火勢鳥」に由来しており、商売繁盛や火伏せを祈願するための行事とされている。  祭りが始まると、数人の若者たちが「ケンダイ」とよばれる藁蓑を身にまとい、からかさ小僧にも似た妖怪「カセ鳥」に扮し、上山城前の焚き火を囲み「カッカッカーのカッカッカー」と歌いながら踊り回る")

my rough translation: held on Feb 11 (used to be Feb 15 of lunar calendar); カセ鳥 nomenclature is derived from 稼ぎ鳥 or 火勢鳥; pray for 商売繁盛 and 火伏せ (fire prevention); the festival consists of young people wearing straw raincoat (called kendai) in a costume of kasedori monster that looks like monster 唐傘小僧.
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/からかさ小僧
and dance in a circle.

唐傘 and 藁蓑 are defined in (b).
(viii) caption 8: "A Raiho-shin known as Suneka asks a young boy whether he has behaved well over the past year. (Yoshihama no Suneka [吉浜のスネカ])"

Yoshihama 岩手県大船渡市三陸町吉浜 (neighborhood)

(b) Jim Breen's online Japanese-English dictionary:
* raihōjin 来訪神 【らいほうじん】 (n): "joy-bringing spirit from the divine realms"  (神's Chinese pronunciations are two: shin and jin.)
* koshiki (Jap[anese pronunciation) so (Chinese pronunciation)  甑 【こしき; そう】 (n): "(1) (See 蒸篭・1) steaming basket (traditionally clay or wood); (2) (こしき [koshiki] only) steaming vat (for steaming rice in sake production)"
* ōmisoka 大晦日 【おおみそか】 (n): "New Year's Eve; December 31st"  (晦日, misoka, is the last day of every month.)
* koshōgatsu 小正月 【こしょうがつ】 (n): "Little New Year (festival held on January 15); 14th-16th days of the first month of the year"
   ^ shōgatsu 正月 【しょうがつ】 (n): "(1) New Year (esp. first three days); (2) the first month of the year; January [a definition almost unknown in Japan]"
   ^ ōshōgatsu 大正月 【おおしょうがつ】 (n): "(See 小正月) first seven days of the year"  (The "ō" and "ko" are Japanese pronunciations of kanji 大 and 小, respectively.)
* gyōji 行事 【ぎょうじ】 (n): "event; function"
* karakasa 唐傘 【からかさ】 (n): "bamboo-and-paper umbrella [or] parasol"
* wara わら 《藁》 (n): "straw"
* mino 蓑 【みの】 (n): "straw raincoat"

choi

(2) Alex Martin, Stranger Things: Weird Ways to Get Festive in Japan. Japan Times, June 8, 2019.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/lif ... -get-festive-japan/

the first three paragraphs:

"Men in straw capes wearing ferocious horned masks with gleaming eyes and long, pointed fangs stare down at a group of reporters. Others donning masks of a devil, monkey and a long-nosed tengu birdman squat as they pose for photographs during a news conference on Nov. 30 — the day after UNESCO added a group of 10 rituals featuring Raiho-shin (visiting gods) to its Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

"From the famous Namahage deity of Oga, Akita Prefecture, to the exotic Paantou, the mud-caked, foul smelling gods of Okinawa's Miyako Island, the roster was an all-star lineup of some of the visually intriguing mythical creatures featured in festivals handed down through generations and practiced in communities across Japan.

"It was also a rare occasion for the nation's peculiar festivals, or kisai, to come under the international spotlight, and an opportunity to showcase these unique traditions to a wider audience while they still exist. In graying Japan, many festivals are struggling to survive.

Note:
(a) View photos only.
(b)
(i) photo caption 1: "Winter is coming: Men dressed as Namahage, an ogre-like deity from the north, descend a mountain during the Namahage Sedo Festival in Oga, Akita Prefecture, in February. | KYODO"
(A) Namahage Sedo Festival   なまはげ柴灯(せど)まつり (where matsuri まつり is Japanese pronunciation of 祭).
(B) Namahage, the 来訪神, disperses and for local consumption. But in recent years, for the sake of tourism it concentrates as 柴灯祭 (which is kanji) at 真山神社 around 小正月 in LUNAR calendar.
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/真山神社
(following, or taking over from, the first Sedo festival in 1964 at 男鹿温泉郷の星辻神社 pf the same 男鹿 city).

なまはげ
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/なまはげ
(section 1 概要, section 1.3 「観光」化, section 1.4  「鬼」化 [from the original deity form-; section 5 観光, section 5.1 なまはげ柴灯まつり)

There is no need to read text of the preceding Wiki page -- the table of contents is enough.
(ii) caption 2: "People dressed as mud-caked gods take part in the Paantou festival on Miyako Island in Okinawa Prefecture. | KYODO"
(iii) caption 3: "Women take part in the ‘Nanyadoyara’ dance around the purported grave of Jesus Christ during the Christ Festival in Shingo, Aomori Prefecture. | COURTESY OF SHINGO VILLAGE"

Shingō  (青森県三戸郡)新郷(村)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shingō,_Aomori
(section 7 Local attractions)
(iv) caption 4: "People hurl insults at priests during the Akutai Festival in Kasama, Ibaraki Prefecture [茨城県笠間市]. | COURTESY OF OMATSURI JAPAN"

Akutai Festival 悪態まつり -- where aku is Chinese pronunciation of kanji 悪; 悪態 is defined in (c) -- is held on the third Sunday of December at 愛宕神社.
(v) caption 5: "Participants carry a giant effigy of a penis during the Kanamara Festival in Kanagawa Prefecture. | COURTESY OF OMATSURI JAPAN"

Kanamara Matsuri
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanamara_Matsuri
(at the Kanayama Shrine 金山神社 at City of Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture 神奈川県川崎市; the main festivities fall on the first Sunday in April)
(vi) caption 6: "A child screams as a man tries to separate her from her mother during the Yokkabui [ヨッカブイ; about 水神; name origin unknown] Festival at Tamate Shrine [玉手神社] in Minamisatsuma, Kagoshima Prefecture [鹿児島県 南さつま市], in August 2007. | KYODO"
(vii) caption 7: "Four men splash cold water over each other in temperatures of minus 5 Celsius during a Shinto ritual dating back to 1831 to pray for bumper fish and farm crops at a shrine in Kikonai, Hokkaido [(北海道 渡島総合振興局 上磯郡)木古内(町)], in January 2017. | KYODO"

木古内町寒中みそぎ祭り
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/木古内町寒中みそぎ祭り
(毎年1月中旬; at Samegawa Jinja 佐女川神社)

みそぎ misogi is defined in ©.
(viii) caption 8: "Yuko Kato [代表取締役 加藤 優子, whose correct transliteration of name is yūko, where ū signifies a long vowel of u], president of Omatsuri Japan [株式会社オマツリジャパン] | COURTEST OF OMATSURI JAPAN"
(ix) caption 9: "A villager dressed in death robes drinks from a bottle of sake during the Jalanpon festival in the village [formerly a village but presently a neighborhood] of Kuna 久那 in Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture [埼玉県秩父市]. | COURTESY OF SHIN SASAKUBO"

Name origin or meaning unclear, Jalanpon festival ジャランポン祭り is held on a Sunday closest to Mar 15. In each (indoor) festival only a male in pure white enters a coffin.

(c) Jim Breen's online Japanese-English dictionary:
* kisai 奇祭 【きさい】 (n): "strange festival; festival with bizarre or unusual ritual"
* akutai 悪態 【あくたい】 (n): "abusive language" or insult
* misogi 禊 【みそぎ】 (n,v): "{Shinto} purification ceremony (performed with water)"