TALE OF YUKI-ONNA

Hello Guys, welcome to my blog. In this blog, I write any information about Japanese ghost and urban legend. For first, do you ever heard about the japanese ghost that always come when there's snowstorm? If you were the anime lovers, I think in one of the anime that already you watched, there's a mention about this ghost. Well, that's because this ghost is really famous in Japan. Well, here it goes.. the story of snow woman "Yuki-onna"..

YUKI-ONNA

Yuki-onna (雪女, the first word “Yuki” means snow, and the second word “Onna” means woman) is a spirit or yōkai (you can say as "ghost") in Japanese folklore. She is a popular figure in Japanese literature, film, and animation. In some references, it was said that Yuki-onna is a ghostly creature who appears during a snowstorm and lulls men to sleep, causing them to freeze and die.

She has been interpreted as Snow Woman, Winter Ghost, Lady of the Snow, or Snow Queen. In Japanese, she may also goes by such names as yuki-musume ("snow girl"), yuki-onago ("snow girl"), yukijorō (雪女郎, "snow woman"), 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 ORIGINS

Yuki-onna comes from 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. In Niigata (where she is known as Yuki-joro, the Snow Courtesan) she is said to specifically target young children, whose livers she devours raw.

There are so many variations of the Yuki-onna legend as there are many mountains in Japan. For example, in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures, Yuki-onna is said to freeze unwary travelers solid with a single penetrating glance (like medusa, but more beautiful version.. maybe..). In the mountains of Ibaraki and Fukushima, it was said that she will push you off a cliff and bury you beneath a snowdrift if you ignore the Yuki-onna’s call.

YUKI-ONNA APPEARANCE

Yuki-onna can appear in earthly form, but is known to disappear in a white mist. She takes the form of a beautiful woman who appears before men trapped in mountain snowstorms – and is the last thing they ever see. She appears on snowy nights as a tall, beautiful woman with long black hair and blue lips. Her inhumanly pale or even transparent skin with her dazzling white kimono makes her blend into the snowy landscape (as famously described in Lafcadio Hearn's Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things). She sometimes wears a white kimono, but other legends describe her as nude (hmm.. interesting..), with only her face and hair standing out against the snow. Despite her inhuman beauty, her eyes can strike terror into mortals. She floats across the snow, leaving no footprints (in fact, some tales say she has no feet, a feature of many Japanese ghosts), and she can transform into a cloud of mist or snow if threatened.

YUKI-ONNA BEHAVIOR

Some legends say the Yuki-onna, being associated with winter and snowstorms, is the spirit of someone who perished in the snow. She is at the same time beautiful and serene, yet ruthless in killing unsuspecting mortals. Until the 18th century, she was almost uniformly portrayed as evil. Today, however, stories often color her as more human, emphasizing her ghost-like nature and ephemeral beauty.

In many stories, Yuki-onna appears to travelers trapped in snowstorms and uses her icy breath to leave them as frost-coated corpses. Other legends say she leads them astray so they simply die of exposure. Other times, she manifests holding a child. When a well-intentioned soul takes the "child" from her, they are frozen in place. Parents searching for lost children are particularly susceptible to this tactic. Other legends make Yuki-onna much more aggressive. In these stories, she often invades homes, blowing in the door with a gust of wind to kill residents in their sleep (some legends require her to be invited inside first).

What Yuki-onna is after varies from tale to tale. Sometimes she is simply satisfied to see a victim die. Other times, she is more vampiric, draining her victims' blood or "life force." She occasionally takes on a Succubus-like manner, preying on weak-willed men to drain or freeze them through sex or a kiss (that means you must strong enough to have sex with her or your thing will freeze just like a rock).

Like the snow and winter weather she represents, Yuki-onna has a softer side. She sometimes lets would-be victims go for various reasons (tsundere it seems..). In one popular Yuki-onna legend, for example, she sets a young boy free because of his beauty and age. She makes him promise never to speak of her, but later in life, he tells the story to his wife who reveals herself to be the snow woman. She reviles him for breaking his promise but spares him again, this time out of concern for their children (but if he dares mistreat their children, she will return with no mercy. Luckily for him, he is a loving father). In some versions, she chose not to kill him because he told her, which she did not treat as a broken promise (technically, Yuki-Onna herself is not a human, and thus did not count). In a similar legend, Yuki-onna melts away once her husband discovers her true nature. However, she departs to the afterlife afterward the same way.

YUKI-ONNA TALES AND STORY

There are many stories about Yuki-onna in Japan both orally and in writing. One of the stories is as follows:

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Once upon a time long ago in northern Japan, a man named Minokichi and his father Mosaku lived together in one small house near the mountains. They lived and worked as a fine woodsmen. But as winter came, the mountains became covered deep with snow and they could not cut any trees. So they used to go out for hunt some animals.

One day when they went out as usual into the deep of forest, they could not find any nice prey at all, and what was worse is the mountains began to change as if they were living creatures. When Minokichi and Mosaku notice that the look of the sky was began strange, they stop their hunt and go back home. But unluckily the snow had already been falling and make the road to their house become hard. So they plan for taking shelter somewhere and found a small mountain cottage at last. Then they decided to wait until the snowstorm passed.

After they entered the cottage and lit a fire on the hearth. They warmed their bodies which were frozen and can't feel anything. At that time Mosaku said, "Tonight, we should stay here. If we go out to outside tonight, surely we would die."

Then after several awkward minutes Mosaku continued. "Minokichi, why don't you get married? I want to see my grandchildren quickly because I am growing old". After hearing something like that Minokichi covered his head because he was shy. Then they had such a nice conversation between father and son, but soon they began to sleep since they were so tired.

After several hours, Minokichi woke up because of the coldness. He found that the door into the outside was opened and snow was coming into inside. The fire was put out too without notice. Then he surprised that he saw someone in the snowstorm outside near the front door. It was a woman who had beautiful white face like snow. Although she was charming, Minokichi was surprised to see her standing in the middle of snowstorm. Then the woman began to move, came in to the cottage and sat down near Mosaku. She covered Mosaku with her body and blows her icy breath over him that causes Mosaku died silently. Her breath was very white and cold that even Minokichi can feel it from far away. Knowing that Minokichi already woke up, she stood up and came near Minokichi. Minokichi who sees the entire incident and begins to shake with fear said "Please spare my life". When she saw Minokichi eyes, suddenly her cold expression became gentle. "You are still young and have a beautiful eyes. I will spare you, but you must not tell about tonight's happening to anyone. Can you make that vows?" She said.

"OK." Minokichi answered while trembling. And she disappeared into the snowstorm.

One year passed, and Minokichi never told anyone about that story. It was a rainy day. A young woman was standing in front of his house waiting for the rain to stop. When Minokichi found her in the front of his house, he felt sorry for her because she was wet. Minokichi was a kind man, so he invited her to his house for taking shelter and giving her some spare clothes. That young woman name was Oyuki. She was so beautiful that makes Minokichi was fascinated by her beauty. On the other side, Oyuki felt the same way, since Minokichi was very kind to her. Soon they fell in love each other and got married.

Many years later, they making so many children that makes their everyday life so lively and very happy. But the only thing that Minokichi worried about was that Oyuki always got sick when she was exposed to the sunshine. So he always took good care of her when that happened.

One snowy night, Minokichi was watching Oyuki who was sewing. "You are beautiful." He said. then Minokichi remembered that he had a strange night of the Snow Woman's visit in the past and began to talk to his wife, "I saw a beautiful woman like you in the past." He said.

"Who? Is she beautiful like me?" She asked.

"Yeah. If I remeber it correctly that was a snowy night like tonight. I saw a snow woman..."

Before Minokichi finish his line, Oyuki stood up, turning her face around and hiding her seemingly tears, "You...you told about it in the end.. I can't believe it.."She said. At that time Minokichi was startled and said "Wait.. don't tell me.. you are..?"

Then Oyuki face him and looked at him. It was the Snow Woman that Minokichi has met that day at the cottage. "I wanted to live happily with you forever. Why did you break our promise? I can not see you again now. Good bye... good bye.." That was the final words from Oyuki to Minokichi before she dissapeared and left their house blend with the snowstorm.

Minokichi tried to run after her, but he could not. As soon as she went to the outside, she disappeared. In the end Minokichi and their children were just sitting looking at the snowstorm.

Now when you go to snowy mountain and hear the sound of snowstorm, actually it was a Yuki-onna crying. She wanders in the snowy mountain, searching and waiting for a warm hearted human who will help her warming her cold body.

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THE CHARACTER OF YUKI-ONNA IN POPULAR CULTURE

Yuki-onna appears in movies, television shows or films (anime), and even in literature (both novels and manga).Here are some of Yuki-onna figures from many popular culture:

Anime and Manga

1. In Nurarihyon no Mago anime, Tsurara Oikawa’s character is a Yuki-onna that become Rikuo’s trusted attendant and part of “Hyakki Yako” who follows him to school under a human guise.
2. In Bleach anime, one of the Zanpakuto's soul named Sode no Shirayuki (a sword possessed by Kuchiki Rukia) is described as Yuki-onna who is adept at manipulating ice.
3. In Rosario + Vampire anime, Shirayuki Mizore's and Shirayuki Tsurara’s character is Yuki-onna who takes the human form.
4. In Pokemon series, there’s a pokemon with name Froslass, the ice-type pokemon and the ghost that inspired by the figure of Yuki-onna.
5. In Akazukin ChaCha manga, the character of teacher Oyuki, a substitute teacher who can make snow in Banana class is Yuki-onna.
6. In Dororon Enma-kun manga, Yukiko-Hime's character is Yuki-onna.
7. In Cardcaptor Sakura anime, Clow's Card Snow is Yuki-onna.
8. In Gate Keepers anime, Yukino Houjou's character is Yuki-onna.
9. In Urusei Yatsura anime, Oyuki's Character is Yuki-onna.
10. In Kanokon anime, Yukihana's character is Yuki-onna.
11. In Jigoku Sensei Nube anime, Yukime's character is Yuki-onna who is the main heroine in the story.
12. In Yu Yu Hakusho anime, Yukina’s character is Yuki-onna
13. In Inu x Boku SS anime, Yukinokouji Nobara’s character is Yuki-onna.
14. In Hakkenden: Eight Dogs of the East anime, Snow Princess character is Yuki-onna.
15. In Monster Musume manga, Yukio’s character is Yuki-onna.
16. In Demi-chan wa Kataritai manga, Kusakabe Yuki's character is one of Yuki-onna's figures.

Other Films and Games

1. She appeared in Kwaidan, the 1964 Japanese film about the anthology of ghost stories.
2. In the Shinobi 3d game, the first boss is Yuki-onna.
3. In the Onmyouji Awakening game, Yuki-onna is one of a playable character.
4. In the Nioh game, Yuki onna is one of the bosses that you can fight in Falling Snow area.

WHAT SHOULD YOU DO IF YOU MEET YUKI-ONNA

There are some tips and tricks from me if in any chance that you face this creature when you have a trip in a snowy mountains or forest. It’s up to you to follow it or not:

1. “RUN”. These are the simplest tips that do not require anything to do so. For example, when you’re on vacation in the middle of a snowy forest and see women as high as 10 feet in the middle of the forest, just RUN! Don’t ever think for one second there and just RUN!
2. “Hope you are the type he loves”. This is because in various stories where good-looking men are not killed by her. And if you are handsome enough, you will also be asked to marry her and make some child with her (Hell yea!). If it has happened, you better talk with your parents first, tell that you want to marry a beautiful Japanese girl and will not come back again (do not say that the girl is Yuki-onna, because it can get you killed by her or if you are lucky enough she will disappear)
3. “Bring something related to fire”. That because Yuki-onna is immune against sharp weapons. So it's useless to carry sharp weapons. Because she's an ice woman, you’d better bring something like kerosene and matches (don’t bring it so many. Because you can burn the entire forest. Just a little is enough). It's more useful than sharp weapons. At least you can make herself surprised for a moment and from that moment you can run away from her.

See you in the next entry..

References :

• http://yokai.com/yukionna/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuki-onna
• Yokai Attack!: The Japanese Monster Survival Guide book (2008) by. Hiroko Yoda, Matt Alt, and Tatsuya Morino
• Manga Nihon mukashi banashi book (1984) by. Katoy Katsuhisa