What is "namahage"

in traditional Japanese folklore is a demonlike being, portrayed by men wearing hefty ogre masks and traditional straw capes ( mino) during a New Year's ritual of the Oga Peninsula area of Akita Prefecture in northern Honshū, Japan.

The frightfully dressed men, armed with deba knives (albeit wooden fakes or made of papier-mâché) and toting a , march in pairs or threes going door-to-door making rounds of peoples' homes, admonishing children who may be guilty of laziness or bad behavior, yelling phrases like or in the pronunciation and accent of the local dialect.