In some regions, it’s said that the model for the Namahage was originally a foreigner that drifted into Japan from the sea. What supposedly caused the outlander to shipwreck into Japan was a line of strangely-shaped boulders along the coast of the Monzen region. And indeed, there are people with long, vaguely Western facial characteristics within Monzen and the surrounding regions. There is also a theory that says the 999 Stairs of the Goshado were actually built by a foreign artist who drifted into Japan.

According to legend, the outlander who rose from that shore had long red hair and blue eyes, like those of a monster, and yelled in a bizarrely shrill voice. Perhaps the outlander was crying out for help in a foreign language? Or perhaps he cried for his faraway home? That monster eventually went on to live in the mountains and descended into the villages sometimes to ask for food. The sight supposedly inspired the Namahage; maybe the outlander looked like an ogre to the Japanese people of that era because they were unaccustomed to seeing foreigners.