Namahage (なまはげ Namahage) is a yōkai.
Appearance[]
In his original manga story, Namahage was deified as an oni with a square-shaped head and rocky face, big eyes and small pupils, spiky eyebrows, fangs, small horns, long hair, and a body covered in a mino straw coat.
In Shin GeGeGe no Kitarō: Sports Era, Namahage looked more like Adobarana, with a large, oval-shaped mask-like head, smaller eyes, a mouth with sharp teeth, and a long, ribbed piece in the middle from the forehead to the mouth in place of a nose.
In Saishinban GeGeGe no Kitarō, Namahage looks more like his previous design, but with a larger head.
In the 1968 anime, Namahage seems to take the form of the mask, this time with a rounder face, larger pupils, darker hair, and a smiling mouth. He is deified holding a knife, and seems to wear a long-sleeve shirt and pants under the mino, and wears boots.
In the 2007 anime, Namahage is a yōkai with a red oni face, long wavy gray hair, sharp teeth, big eyes with yellow sclerae, and blue irises. He wears a mino that covers most of his body, his arms and legs have tan skin and he wears straw boots.
Personality[]
In the manga, Namahage acts as the local god of his village, and curses anyone who disrespects it. In Shin GeGeGe no Kitarō: Sports Era, Namahage is a rough baseball captain in cahoots with Nurarihyon, though has troube understanding human emotions. In Saishinban GeGeGe no Kitarō, Namahage is also under Nurarihyon's control, but is also shown to be caught of guard himself whenever people realize he's a real yōkai.
In the 1968 anime, Namahage has a twisted sense of morality, punishing Daisuke even after learning his lesson, and manipulating the villagers as Rokubei to kill him and the people who help him. He also offhandedly mentions he scare kids, just like the Namahage of legend.
History[]
Manga[]
Namahage was originally a separate story from the GeGeGe no Kitarō series, but was later adapted into an episode of the 1968 series.
Namahage would make his debut in the Kitarō manga series in the Shin GeGeGe no Kitarō: Sports Era chapter, Baseball Crazy. In this story, Namahage was the captain of the Tomb of the Under the Grave High School baseball team. While training hard with the aim of competing in the Summer Koshien, he was one of the people who conspired with Principal Nurarihyon and others to take over the town, but he was taken to the afterlife along with the other yōkai by Kitarō.
Namahage also appears in the Saishinban GeGeGe no Kitarō chapter, The Yōkai Supreme Commander Arrives!, again under the command of Nurarihyon. Like the Namahage of legend, he appears in a house in a village in the Tohoku region. The children there mocked him, saying, "Another mask, isn't it?", but were shocked when they realized it was the real thing!
1968 Anime[]
Namahage appears in episode # 63 of the first anime adaptation, Namahage. Daisuke Higashi, an intelligent but not polite young man, became a Namahage after wearing a mask of a Namahage kept at a shrine and played pranks with it, but accidentally killed an old man called Rokubei by shocking him. Horrified, he took the mask off, but found that his face now resembled a Namahage. However, Rokubei, thought to be dead, was not only alive, but actually the real Namahage.
He later manipulates the other villagers to trap and kill Daisuke, Kitarō, and Nezumi-Otoko, but flees when the real Rokubei shows up. Later on, Namahage faces off with Kitarō, and retreats into a suspension bridge, and gets entangled, defeating him.
1985 Anime[]
Namahage briefly appeared in the film GeGeGe no Kitarō: Gekitotsu!! Ijigen Yōkai no Dai-Hanran as a mob, but was immediately knocked out by Nezumi-Otoko. He is later seen sucked up by Nozuchi.
2007 Anime[]
He is the 13th of the chosen 47 Yōkai Warriors of Japan and the representative of Akita.
The Great Yōkai War[]
Namahage is among the many yōkai who attend the meeting to meet Tadashi Inō after his first battle with Agi.
He layer appeared, alongside thousands of other yōkai, attend the Festival of Darkness near Yasunori Katō's base in Tokyo, which ends up inadvertently trashing some of his Kikai.
The Great Yōkai War: Guardians[]
Namahage appears in the army Nurarihyon gathered to fight the Yōkaijū, first seen to the right of Shōjō as they're all startled by the beast's true form.
Powers and Abilities[]
Transformation
Namahage Transmutation
Legend[]
Illustration of Namahage by Shigeru Mizuki.
Namahage are oni-like yōkai that are portrayed during New Year's festivities. They have either red or blue faces, wear mino coats, and always carry knives and buckets with them.
On the 15th day of the New Year in the Akita Prefecture, villagers would dress up as Namahage and go from house to house, scaring children into behaving themselves, all the while chanting phrases such as "Are any crybabies around?", "Is the knife sharpened?", and "Have the azuki beans been boiled?". Similar yōkai from other regions serves the same purpose as Namahage such as Amamehagi, Suneka, and Toshidon.