Abstract
In Japan there exists the custom of masked or disguised men visiting homes on the night of the first full moon of the year, sometimes making threatening noises, and begging or demanding money or rice-cakes. In the Ryukyus, the visitors are welcomed with far more religious awe than in Japan proper, and their divinations for the coming year are still believed. The possibility of some kind of connection between such customs and primitive secret societies has been discussed in the ethnological literature. The present writer tries to classify all the hitherto known materials by their characteristic features, and suggests some problems which would be basic to future studies. (The distribution map on p.128, and the classification of types on p.134)
