Let haiku be on the UNESCO list! (49)

 

Let haiku be on the UNESCO list!

 

Here is a photo and haiku about Namahage.

 

 

In the Oga Peninsula, Akita Prefecture in the northern Honshu, Japan, there is a deep feeling of mystery as the New Year begins. There is the “Devil Festival” held there on December 31, a ceremony that children find exciting and full of thrills. Two or five young men dressed in straw rain capes, large straw boots and wearing frightful masks run as fast as possible through the village in the snow and shout in a monster-like voice as they knock upon each door. When the door is open, the first devil describes himself as the spirit, while the second devil beats upon a wooden bucket with a large cutting knife.

The elders of the house receive them and bring the devils into the house and the living room. As the devils walk slowly down the hall way the devil of Namahage will shout in a loud voice. “Where are the crybabies in this house?”  Suddenly the devil slides open a door and there will be the children. Namahage will shout. “Are you good children?” “Are you working hard at school?” Of course, the children all nod their heads that they are doing their best.

 

 

神の使者童育む大晦日

Messengers of god

bring up Oga children

New Year’s Eve

 

The real purpose of the arrival of the devils is to punish the lazy fellow who does not do his work or help the parents with the house chores.                                      

The head of the family will serve the devils in a formal manner with sake and fish while the children and the housewife watch from a respectful distance. Suddenly the devil will shout to the wife “Is the cooking knife sharp?”  “Are the New Year’s beans boiled?”

 

 

The festival consists of drama between human beings and the guardian deities. It is carried out as tradition and custom in the richness and fantasy afforded people of this part of the world. The figures suddenly rush out of the house to pound on the next door in their frantic scratch for a lazy fellow.

Here is a legend about Namahage.

The legend of the Namahage varies according to an area. An Akita legend has developed regarding the origins of namahage, that Emperor Wu of Han (d. 87 BC) from China came to Japan bringing five demonic ogres to the Oga area, and the ogres established quarters in the two local high peaks, Honzan (本山) and Shinzan (真山). These oni （鬼）, as they are most commonly called in Japan, 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 will supply them with a young woman every year. But if they failed the task they would have to leave. But 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.

 

 

Here are interpretations about the festival.
An obvious purpose of the festival is to encourage young children to obey their parents and to behave, important qualities in Japan’s heavily structured society. 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 is an agricultural custom where the kami （神, or god） from the sacred mountains visit.

Lastly, let me refer to the Namahage Sedo Festival.

The Namahage Sedo Festival is held on the grounds of the Shinzan Shrine at the foot of Mount Shinzan on the second Friday, Saturday and Sunday of February every year, when the “Devil Festival” on December 31 is re-enacted for the public there.

 

 

Namahage join the festival as messengers of god in the following way.

First of all, there is a ceremony in which young men are exorcized and changed into messengers of god with devil masks handed by Shinto priest（神官）, entering Mount Shinzan as Namahage.

 

 

Then, those Namahage come down to the grounds of the Shinzan Shrine to take part in the festival.

 

 

真山の祭りに降りる神の使者

From Mount Shinzan

descend messengers of god

into a festival

 

Namahge give performances through sacred music and dance in the festival.

 

 

柴燃えて生剥げ踊る神楽かな

Firewood burning

Namahage absorbed in

sacred music and dance

 

 

The Oga people have coexisted with nature, inventing drama between human beings and the guardian deities. Giving birth to a feeling of mystery, the festival presents children something exciting and fantastic. The children gradually develop a sense of affiliation with their community and its culture, while the men who act as Namahage reinforce their identity and the continuity of their longstanding traditions.

Namahage is expected in the near future to be added to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO as Koshikijima no Toshidon in Kagoshima Prefecture was in 2009.  

We sincerely hope that UNESCO will pay more attention to the campaign “Let haiku be on the UNSCO list!” through haiku about Namahage.

Haiku will be loved more because of its brevity and its coexistence with nature, by which the earth will be a haiku planet.

 

By Hidenori Hiruta