Yuki onna

spirit in Japanese folklore

Yuki Onna means 'Snow woman' in Japanese. It is a kind of frost spirit, or yōkai, in Japanese mythology that usually appears as a beautiful woman in a white robe with long black hair. In some stories, the Yuki Onna is good and helps people in the mountains. In other stories, she is evil and freezes people.

A picture of Yuki onna

Yuki onna may also be known as yuki-musume[1] ("snow daughter"), yuki-onago ("snow girl"), yukijorō[1] (雪女郎, "snow woman"), yuki anesa ("snow sis'"), yuki-onba[2] ("snow granny" or "snow nanny"), yukinba[2] ("snow hag") in Ehime, yukifuri-baba[1] ("snowfall hag") in Nagano.[2] Yuki-onna also has many names that come from the Japanese word for icicle, like tsurara-onna, kanekori-musume and shigama-nyōbō.

References change

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Konno 1981, cited by Hirakawa, Sukehiro (平川祐弘) (1992), 小泉八雲: 回想と研究 (Koizumi Yakumo: kaisō to kenkyū) (snippet), Kodansha, p. 227, ISBN 9784061590373, quote:"雪女の名称は雪娘、雪女郎、雪婆、雪降婆、シッケンケンなど.."
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Nobuyoshi Furuhashi (1992). "雪女伝説". In 吉成勇編 (ed.). 日本「神話・伝説」総覧. 歴史読本特別増刊・事典シリーズ. 新人物往来社. pp. 276–277. ISBN 978-4-4040-2011-6.