On the Oga peninsula, men in red and blue ogre masks and straw capes visit houses on New Year's Eve, stamping and shouting, demanding to know whether there are any lazy children or idle wives inside. The householder calms them with sake and rice cakes. UNESCO inscribed the practice in 2018 as part of the Raiho-shin ritual visits.
The Sedo festival in February is a public staging of it at the Shinzan shrine: namahage descend the mountainside carrying torches, with drumming and fire.
No attendance figure is collected in this pass.
The distinction matters and is worth stating: the real namahage visit is on 31 December, in private houses, and is not something a visitor attends. The February festival is the version made public.
PlanningAnchored to the second weekend of February — a staged version of a New Year's Eve house visit.