14.6.12

Hyottoko and Otafuku (Okame)

Hyottoko (火男) seems to have been a legendary character in the past and is now a mask. Some masks have different eye size between left and right eyes, often wearing a scarf around his head (usually white with blue dots).

There is a similar character for women called okame (おかめ) or otafuku.

The origin of the name comes from Hi (fire) Otoko (man) because the character is blowing fire with a bamboo pipe and local dialects transform it into Hyottoko (ひょっとこ).

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