Ungeheuer

A grotesque, red face with horns, wide eyes, a large nose, crooked fangs, and a fringe of shaggy hair. Depicts an oni, a kind of hideous ogre in Japanese folklore.

On New Year’s Eve in some parts of Japan, men may wear oni masks and straw coats to dress up as namahage, another mythic being, to chide naughty children or ward off evil. May popularly denote supernatural or figurative beasts and demons.