This is a visiting deity clad in a stout, dumpling-like body wrapped in layers of vines, wearing a red or black mask. It is said that only once a year does it reveal itself from a bottomless subterranean cavern known as Niroo—an otherworld beyond the sea—to bestow bountiful harvests and fruitful yields upon the village. No one but the permitted local residents of the district may lay eyes on its form or hear its voice, and no photographs or spoken words of the ritual may ever leak to the outside world. It is an entirely different entity from the snake yokai Akamata, who shapeshifts into a handsome man to visit maidens. It is precisely by remaining unseen that its divine majesty is preserved, standing as the master of this silent, secretive festival.
Character Profile
This section is our own creative profile for storytelling. It is not historical fact or scholarship.
Personality - Silent and profoundly solemn. It manifests only within the tight-knit unity of the community, bestowing its harvest blessings while strictly refusing to be observed by outsiders.
Compatibility - It is highly compatible with those who revere the land and its rituals, and who can keep its secrets. It utterly despises the curious gazes and loose lips of outsiders.
Abilities - Bestows divine protection that brings bountiful harvests and fruitful yields to the villageVisits the human realm once a year from the subterranean otherworld known as Niroo
Weaknesses - Its greatest offense is the breaking of the secret festival's taboos—such as photography or speaking of it to outsiders—and being exposed to the curious eyes of the outside world.
Habitat - The Harvest Festivals of the Yaeyama Islands (Komi on Iriomote, Uechi on Aragusuku, Kohama, and Miyara on Ishigaki). It is said to visit from the subterranean otherworld known as Niroo.
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