The Yuki-Onna is a Japanese legend, which translates to snow woman. However there are other names for this creature depending on the location. The Japanese Alps are home to these creatures. They have an unnatural beauty, ageless skin white as snow, long black hair, and dark piercing eyes. The bodies of the Yuki-Onna are cold as ice.
The Yuki-Onna hunted humans in the snow, which led people to believe that the snow woman was really a demon. The mountain roads are home to the Yuki-Onna because they provide the ideal hunting grounds for their prey. However, sometimes if they are desperate enough Yuki-Onna are known to break into homes a flash freeze the people inside. In some cases the Yuki-Onna sometimes fell in love with their intended prey and let them go. Some have been known to marry humans and live happy lives until their husbands learn their identities.
Folklore:
"In Niigata Prefecture, an elderly man operated an inn on a mountain trail with his wife. One snowy night, the inn was visited by a young lady traveling alone. She warmed herself by the fire and ate with the innkeeper and his wife. She was sweet and charming and extremely beautiful. So it was even more of a surprise when, in the middle of the night during a fierce blizzard, she stood up and made to leave the inn. The innkeeper begged her not to go outside, and took her hand to hold her back. It was as cold as ice. Merely touching it sucked all the warmth from the innkeeper’s body. As he tried to keep the girl in the house, her entire body turned into a fine icy mist, and shot up the chimney and out into the night." (Meyer, 2020).
"A man from Yamagata Prefecture claimed that he had been married to a yuki onna. His wife was beautiful, with piercing eyes and skin as white as a marble statue. While he loved to take long hot baths every night, his wife always refused to bathe. This puzzled him greatly. One particularly cold and snowy night, he insisted that his wife take a bath. Otherwise she would freeze to death in the cold, he said. She protested, but there was no reasoning with the man. Finally she acquiesced. When he went in to check on her a few minutes later, all he found in the tub were half-melted icicles." (Meyer, 2020).
Additional information:
Davisson, Z. (2013). Yuki Onna-The Snow Woman
Hearn, L. (2020). Yuki-Onna
Meyer, M. (2020). Yuki Onna
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