来訪神（らいほうしん）
Raihōshin
Visiting deities: masked figures who come to the houses of a village at the turn of the year.
On fixed nights of the year, in villages from Akita to the Yaeyama islands, young men put on masks and costumes of straw or leaves and go from house to house as gods. They stamp, roar, ask whether any lazy people or crying children live there, and are received with food and drink by the head of the house, who sends them away with a blessing left behind. The Namahage of the Oga Peninsula are the most famous; the Toshidon of Koshikijima and the Paantu of Miyako are others.
In 2018 UNESCO inscribed ten of these rites together as Raiho-shin, ritual visits of deities in masks and costumes. The figures look like oni and are sometimes called that by the children, but they are gods, and their visit is a blessing.
Related yokai
Namahage
なまはげ
On New Year's Eve in Oga, Akita, young men in fierce masks and straw capes go from house to house as Namahage — visiting deities who rebuke idleness and bring blessings for the year. Each household receives them with food and sake.
Oni
鬼（おに）
The horned, red-skinned oni with a club is a late composite. The word first named an invisible spirit of the dead, then hell's wardens, mountain monsters, outsiders — and even the figure who once chased oni away.