Yuki-onna
spirit in Japanese folklore
Yuki-onna (雪女; lit. 'snow woman') is a yūrei or yōkai in Japanese folklore that is often depicted in Japanese literature, films, or animation.
She may also go by such names as yuki-musume (雪娘, "snow daughter"), yukihime (雪姫, "snow princess"), yuki-onago (雪女子, "snow girl"), yukijorō (雪女郎, "snow woman"), yuki anesa (雪姉さ, "snow sis"), yuki-onba (雪乳母, "snow granny" or "snow nanny"), yukinba (雪婆, "snow hag") in Ehime, yukifuri-baba (雪降り婆々, "snowfall witch" or "snowfall hag") in Nagano. They are also called several names that are related to icicles, such as tsurara-onna, kanekori-musume, and shigama-nyōbō.
Origins
Yuki-onna originates from folklores of olden times; in the Muromachi period Sōgi Shokoku Monogatari by the renga poet Sōgi, there is a statement on how he saw a yuki-onna when he was staying in Echigo Province (now Niigata Prefecture), indicating that the legends already existed in the Muromachi period.
Stories
In legends from the Ojiya region of Niigata Prefecture, a beautiful woman came to visit a man and became his wife from the woman's own desire. This woman was reluctant to go into the bath and when she was made to go in anyway, she disappeared, leaving only thin, fragmented, floating icicles (see also tsurara-onna).
In the Aomori and Yamagata prefectures, there is a similar story about one called the "shigama-onna." In the Kaminoyama region of Yamagata, a yuki-onna would come visit an old couple on a snowy night to warm herself by the irori. 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, when he noticed that she was chillingly cold. Then, before his eyes, the girl turned into a whirl of snow that exited the house 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), it would ask people passing by to hug the child as well.
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