Closely related to the customs of traditional young men’s groups and their lodgings are various village festivals found all over Okinawa. For instance, there is the tradition of the “visiting gods” called raihoshin, or “joy-bringing spirits from the divine realms” that are said to visit the human world once a year at a fixed time, such as the harvest festival held in May and June of the lunar calendar in the Yaeyama Islands of Okinawa Prefecture.
In 2018, ten raihoshin events in Japan were inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, as “Raiho-shin, ritual visits of deities in masks and costumes.”
Some of the rituals of the worshippers of visiting gods exhibit an extremely esoteric character, and some of them even have organizations similar to secret societies, such as in case of the Akamata Kuromata events of the Yaeyama Islands. The name Akamata Kuromata is said to mean red face (akaumuti) and black face (kuruumuti).
Many of these esoteric organizations related to the visiting gods are composed of young men, and eligibility is limited to local residents. In short, these are considered “secret” festivals, only parts of which are open to the public.
Under these circumstances, in 1968, a mass assault by islanders from Aragusuku and Kamiji Islands took place on outsiders who had come from Hateruma Island to watch the festival.
Photography, videography and revealing information to the public are also prohibited. While the above example of “visiting gods” is extreme both in content and in geographical position, it shows the traditional importance and involvement of young men’s groups in religious village festivals and folk performing arts (minzoku geinō).
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