24th April – 卯月
Suburbs and regions in Japan have many unique customs. Some of them still exists on the other hand some had already obsoleted.
One example that has inherited is なまはげ (Namahage) in Akita prefecture. Namahage is a creature which wears scary 鬼(Oni=Demon) mask and straw clothes. He holds knife and breaks into the house. On 31st December, when Namahage comes to the houses in one region in Akita, people confess their bad deed and offer liquor to Namahage to send him back.
By doing this ritual, it is believed to get rid of bad lucks from the house and being a peaceful new year. Moreover, it is also considered to bring harvest, big catch on fishes, no sickness for year.
Why is it called Namahage? Namahage came from the word ‘火斑 – Namomi’. Namomi is the red spots appears on skin when people stay in front of stove too long. Lazy people who lays in the warm place all the time gets this spot, so Namahage scares those people to make them move – 火斑を剥ぐ Namomi wo hagu, turns into the word Namahage.
On the other hand, some of customs which used to exist but already vanished can be very cruel.
One is called 人柱 (Hitobashira), killing an alive chosen person as a sacrifice. In the past, when constructing huge buildings, this custom was conducted in order to wish for the buildings to last longer without any disaster. For the dams, chosen person were sunk alive. For the bridges, chosen person were buried alive inside the bridge.
Another example is 姥捨山 (Ubasute Yama), neglecting the elders in the deep mountain. This custom was carried out due to the food shortage in the past.
There are more and more regional customs which still exist and also obsoleted. It is very interesting searching about old customs in Japan!
Little Japan Dictionary 