The concept of "marebito" (稀人 or 客人, まれびと) represents a spiritual or divine being that visits from the 'other world' (takai, a term for the Japanese afterlife) at specific times.
Marebito is an ancient Japanese word referring to a supernatural being who comes from afar bringing gifts of wisdom, spiritual knowledge and happiness.
The term refers to any one of a number of divine beings who were believed to visit villages in Japan, either from beyond the horizon or from beyond distant mountain ranges, bringing gifts.
He interpreted the term "guest" as "marebito" and inferred from existing folk traditions and descriptions in chronicles and myths that it originally meant the same thing as "god," and that the guest-gods would visit from the Japanese netherworld, known as Tokoyo no Kuni.
Tokoyo is considered a land inhabited by souls of the dead, and it was believed that ancestors lived there who protect people from evil spirits (including demons).
In the Man'yoshu and Hitachi no Kuni Fudoki, it is recorded that on festival nights, the roles of gods coming from the outside were played by masked young villagers or travelers.
Austrian ethnologist Alexander Slawik learned of the existence of "marebito belief" in Japan through his friend Masao Oka and conducted comparative studies on the legends and customs of the "sacred visitor" among the Germanic and Celtic peoples.