Yuki-onna

Yuki-onna (雪女^?, snow woman) is a spirit or yōkai in Japanese folklore. She is a popular figure in Japanese literature, film, and animation.

She may also go by such names as yuki-musume ("snow girl"), yuki-onago ("snow girl"), yukijorō (雪女郎, "snow harlot"), yuki anesa ("snow sis'"), yuki-onba ("snow granny" or "snow nanny"), yukinba ("snow hag") in Ehime, yukifuri-baba ("snowfall hag") in Nagano. They are also called several names that are related to icicles, such as "tsurara-onna", "kanekori-musume," and "shigama-nyōbō."

Yuki-onna come from old times, and in the Muromachi period Sōgi Shokoku Monogatari by the renga poet Sōgi, there is a statement on how the poet saw a yuki-onna when he was staying in Echigo Province (now Niigata Prefecture), indicating that the legends already existed in the Muromachi period.

In legends, in the Ojiya region of Niigata Prefecture, a beautiful woman came to visit a man and became the man's wife from the woman's own wishes, but she was very reluctant to go into the bath and when she was made to go in anyway, she disappeared, leaving only thin fragmented icicles floating there (see also: tsurara-onna). In the Aomori Prefecture and Yamagata Prefecture, there is a similar story about the one called the "Shigama-onna." In the Kaminoyama region of the Yamagata Prefecture, a yuki-onna would come visit an old couple on a snowy night to warm herself at the irori, and when late at night the yuki-onna would again go out on a journey, the old man would attempt to take her hand to stop her from going, when he noticed that she was chillingly cold. Then, before his eyes the girl turned into a whirl of snow that went out through the chimney. Also, it has some points of similarity with the kokakuchō and on the night of a blizzard, as the yuki-onna would be standing there hugging a child (yukinko) and ask passer-bys to hug that child. When one hugs the child, the child would become heavier and heavier until one would become covered with snow and freeze to death. It is also told that if one refuses instead, one would be shoved down into a snowy valley. In Hirosaki, it is said that there was a warrior (bushi) who was asked by a yuki-onna to hug a child the same way, but the warrior held a short sword (tantō) by the mouth and hugged the child while making the blade go close to the child's head, which allowed the warrior to avoid the aformentioned phenomenon, and when the warrior gave the child back to the yuki-onna, the yuki-onna gave many treasures as thanks for hugging the child. It is also said that those who are able to withstand the ever-increasing weight of the yukinko and last all the way through would acquire great physical strength.

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