Night Parade wing
Ryukyuan and Amami traditions entered through their own framing.
8 entries
Cultural framing comes first
First rule (inherited from akamata-kuromata, binding): some of this wing's traditions enforce their own privacy — photography, recording, and discussion of the Yaeyama secret rituals are prohibited by the communities that own them. The site documents what published scholarship documents and stops. No imagery, no reconstruction, no workaround.
Second rule (parallel to the-north-wing): the Ryūkyūs were an independent kingdom with their own language family, cosmology (Nirai Kanai — the realm beyond the sea), and colonial history; Amami sits apart again, with its own history including the Satsuma period. Material here is cited as Ryukyuan or Amami — never silently absorbed into "Japanese folklore."
Field-guide entries
the gods you may not photograph
RegionalAt the harvest festivals (lunar May–June) of the Yaeyama Islands, the visiting deities come: Akamata (red-faced, male) and Kuromata (black-faced, female) — masked, covered entirely in vines, about 180 cm, "with distinctive eyes, teeth, and whiskers that reflect light mysteriously".
the goddess who found only ocean
RegionalThe Ryukyuan creator: Amamikyu (Amamikiyo, Amamiku), who made the islands and the people "under orders from a higher god".
the girl who fell from heaven
RegionalAmami Ōshima's celestial maiden: Amorōnagu — the name itself the doctrine, "girl who fell from heaven" (天降女子) — descending "to bathe in the secluded pools and waterfalls of ravines", with the hagoromo feather-mantle marking her origin.
the Amami tree-child between two worlds
RegionalAmami's spirit-child: child-sized, thin elongated limbs with club-like tips, a monkey-hairy body (red or black), sharp red eyes, pointed mouth, "a yam-like odor" — and a plate on its head containing mystical water or oil.
the red-haired children of the banyan
RegionalIn the aerial roots of Okinawa's gajumaru banyans live red-haired children — three or four years old forever — who love fishing, hate octopus, and eat only the left eye of every fish they catch.
the Okinawan demon class
RegionalThe collective name for Okinawa and Amami's evil spirits — a class, with one shared attack and a membership list.
the mud gods of Miyako
RegionalOn Miyako, masked deities come smeared in mud and smear everyone in their path — people, houses, cars — to drive out evil spirits.
the guardian lions of Okinawa
RegionalOn nearly every roof and gatepost in Okinawa sits a pair of lion-dogs: one mouth open — "traditionally wards off evil spirits" — one mouth closed — "keeps good spirits in".