Akamata KuromataAkamata Kuromata, the Secret Deities of the Subterranean Otherworld

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.