Happy New Year from the Danish Namahage Association! 👹
For the Namahage, New Year usually means a series of house visits, frightened children, and the cleansing of homes so that the new year may arrive. Unfortunately, there is no tradition of Namahage in Denmark, so only the Namahage headquarters was purified and made ready for the New Year.
When darkness falls on New Year’s Eve, the Namahage come to visit. This time, however, the Namahage had to make do with warming themselves by a bonfire instead of being invited into a warm house.
New Year’s Greeting from the Danish Namahage Association
Q&A
In 2025, the DNA visited a school for Japanese children living in Denmark, where the children asked a number of questions (read here). As a small New Year’s gift, the chairman has answered the questions below.
1: Which mask color is your favorite?
Gold and red.
2: Why did you want to become a Namahage?
Because I find it an interesting tradition and because I want to show it to people outside Japan. By presenting lesser-known Japanese culture, I hope that more people will become interested in visiting Akita.
3: How many Namahage are there?
According to the latest survey from 2019, there are around 800 active Namahage.
4: Are there Namahage anywhere other than in Akita?
Namahage exist only in Akita. However, there are similar traditions throughout Japan with costumes and rituals that may be similar or very different. In the neighboring prefecture of Yamagata, there is something called Amahage. On the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture, there is Amamehagi. These two can sometimes look almost indistinguishable from Namahage. Further south, in Kagoshima Prefecture on Koshikijima Island, there is Toshidon, and on Akusekijima, there is Boze. All the way down in Okinawa Prefecture, there is even a custom on Miyakojima Island called Pantu, where men dressed in muddy outfits chase people through the streets and smear them with mud.
There are even similar customs in Europe as well, such as Krampus in Austria or Kukeri in Bulgaria.