OGA, Akita Prefecture--Even grotesque demons are taking safety precautions against novel coronavirus infections.

Oga city has garnered international praise and attracted visitors from around Japan for the Namahage festival held in various parts of the municipality on New Year’s Eve. Locals dressed as Namahage demons storm homes and scream at crybabies and lazy individuals.

But the pandemic has forced changes to the familiar winter sight in some communities. Others, including Oga’s Ashizawa district, have decided to call off their events this year.

Satoshi Tamaki, 61, head of the Ashizawa Namahage committee who has served as a demon for more than 40 years, was reluctant to give up the act.

“I cannot control myself on New Year’s Eve, and I tell people around me to put it (the costume) on me,” Tamaki said.

But he was persuaded to skip this year’s ritual by Yasuaki Takeda, 41, who has also served as a Namahage.

“The festival should not take place if there is even a 1-percent risk of infection,” Takeda said. “I do not want people to think that the virus has spread because of the Namahage ceremony.”

The Namahage festival, organized by each district in Oga, was added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2018.

Namahage masks in Ashizawa are said to have been admired by famed artist Taro Okamoto (1911-1996) during his visit to Oga, and they are featured in Akita Prefecture’s promotional poster as a symbol of the tradition.

The Ashizawa district has accepted sightseers from outside the prefecture every year to view the festival.

Takeda said it could have been possible to hold the festival while rejecting visitors from areas with many confirmed infections. But he noted that it would be inappropriate to exclude people based only on their addresses.

Both Tamaki and Takeda said they cannot remember a New Year’s Eve without the shouts of Namahage.

Takeda said he will watch Japan Broadcasting Corp.’s year-end “Kohaku Utagassen” (Red and white song contest) show for the first time in many years.

According to Oga city, 93 of 148 zones in the municipality hold the Namahage rite. Six areas had already decided to cancel the festival because of the pandemic, seven still planned to hold the service, and the other 80 districts had yet to reach a conclusion as of late November.

The bizarre-looking deities are actually welcomed by households, which offer meals and drinks to pray for happiness in the coming year. Namahage are believed to be the incarnation or emissary of divinity.

The number of places holding the Namahage festival had declined mainly because of a lack of successors, but the UNESCO registration inspired some zones to revive the tradition.

To continue with their reintroduced events this year, some areas introduced measures to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, including a ban on shouting by the demons.

The Honden district held the Namahage festival in 2018 for the first time in more than two decades. The demons toured 23 of 65 households there last year.

Home owners traditionally entertain Namahage with alcohol, but the deities this year will only pretend to gobble the drinks to prevent their mouths from possibly contaminating the cups.

To prevent droplets from leaving the performers’ mouths, the actors will just groan to warn idle people. People accompanying the performers will shout outdoors on behalf of the Namahage.

The deities will also wear face masks under their costumes.

“We will preserve the local tradition in such a new form,” said Yoshihiro Kimoto, 61, head of Honden’s Namahage association.

The Okura district, which also revived the festival in 2018, decided that Namahage should visit a home for up to 10 minutes without entering the building.

Households will be prohibited from offering meals or beverages, and only locals who have not left the prefecture since Dec. 15 can serve as Namahage.

“We desperately want to continue the tradition, as it marks the end of the year for better health of residents next year,” said Kazuhito Yoshida, 37, who greatly contributed to the reintroduction of the festival in the area.