The Yuki-Onna

A dark and cold night in the mountains alone would frighten any weary traveler. Combining this atmosphere with an intense blizzard, harsh winds, and blinding snow provides a treacherous experience not suited for the faint of heart, mind, and body. Exhausted and sometimes disoriented travelers fighting off death's clutches are vulnerable to supernatural encounters that are the blizzard they are struggling to survive personified. This environment is where the Yuki-Onna exists.

Yuki-Onna is translated to "snow woman," however, she is also referred to by numerous other names. The general formula is Yuki+ a Japanese name for a woman or some variation of woman. These include Yuki-Musume (snow daughter), Yukijoro (snow woman), Yuki-Onba (snow granny), and Yukinba (snow hag). The Yuki-Onna is a female spirit associated with cold weather, particularly blizzards, and the mountains. Complementing the element she is associated with while also following a trope seen throughout many Japanese tales of the supernatural, the Yuki-Onna is a beautiful woman with long, black hair, a white kimono, and ageless skin as white and as cold as snow. Her eyes are an enchanting violet which aids her overall mystifying aura. She is seen to use her beauty to lure in male travelers or even marry them as seen in Lafcadio Hearn’s rendition of the tale. Similarly, she can be both malevolent and benevolent with her claiming the lives of men or sparing them because they are young and pretty or that they have children despite breaking the taboo of speaking of their previous encounter with her.

While she is a frightening image to those that encounter her, she is not necesssarily an evil spirit. The Yuki-Onna can be seen as a personification of a blizzard. She is not a aggressor who claims the lives of anyone and everyone who comes across her path, but rather she claims the lives of lost travelers who are unable to survive the harsh winter conditions by breathing an icy breath on them and sucking the soul out of them which is ultimately, in reality, death by freezing.

However, the Yuki-Onna is also perceived, in some stories, to be the spirit of a woman who perished in the mountains. In a play titled Yuki-Onna Gomai Hagoita, the Yuki-Onna was a woman who was lured in to the forest where she was murdered. She returns as the Yuki-Onna to get revenge on her murderer. This tale of revenge would make the Yuki-Onna an onryō. Onryō are vengeful spirits who cause harm to the living who may have wronged them when they were alive. This rendition comes from a man named Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1725) who used Bunraku, a form of puppet theater, to tell this tale of a vengeful snow woman. This comes long before Lafcadio Hearn who popularized a more sympathetic and kinder version of Yuki-Onna. Many tales discussing snow women prior to the retelling by Hearn showcase more malevolent spirits. After his tale, the spirit is more humanized and benevolent.

The Yuki-Onna has also been used as a cautionary tale for everyone to prevent them from going to the woods at night or during a snow storm. She is a manifestation of anxiety that is accompanied with those on a journey during dangerous weather conditions or those who travel alone. This interpretation comes from her comparison to a Yukinba, a snow hag, who relies on the trusting ways of children and eats them after they fall for her portrayal of being a kind, old woman. These tales are passed down in the colder provinces of Japan like Nigata where snow women encounters are more realistic.

Origin Tale

While many tales can be traced to an original text, there are no written texts describing what is now understood and recognized to be the Yuki-Onna prior to Hearn’s transcription. Yuki-Onna gained popularity when she was written about by Lafcadio Hearn in Kwaidan, an eighteen story anthology of Japanese tales collected and translated by Hearn. Hearn prefaces the tale by admitting, "The original legend is an oral folklore he once heard from a peasant in the district of Musashino." (Komura) [2]. However, it is also possible that Hearn was inspired by other tales because, “in the middle of the Meiji era, there were many snow-woman legends in Japan, especially in districts with heavy snowfall” (Makino) [3]. Similarly, Lafcadio Hearn being of European descent and speaking and writing in French was inspired and influenced by Western literature when writing the tale of the Yuki-Onna. "Les Bienfaits de la Lune,” by Charles Baudelaire, was translated to English by Hearn and describes the moon, a feminine figure, by saying “the Moon filled the whole room, like a phosphoric atmosphere, like a luminous poison” (Hearn) [3]. Paralleling this description of the moon's arrival, when the Yuki-Onna first appears, a snow will fall on the human’s face and the Yuki-Onna’s own face will be illuminated and bright as will the room around her. Other parallels between the European tale and the Yuki-Onna is that both spirits are beautiful women, associated with the nighttime that arrive in their respective tales shrouded by a white glow making them frightening to those that encounter them.

The story retold by Hearn tells of a man named Minokichi who encounters Yuki-Onna. She kills his woodcutting counterpart who is significantly older than him but spares Minokichi out of pity because she believes he is young and pretty. This decision of who lives and who dies could just be the Yuki-Onna claiming the lives of those who would not survive the storm whether it be because of age, like this instance, or because of sickness. An interpretation of why Minokichi would be spared is, perhaps, because he is younger and strong enough to withstand the elements. These understandings of the Yuki-Onna's decisions come from the belief in some tales that she is the blizzard personified. Afterwards, she advises that he never speaks of their meeting otherwise she will kill him. This is a taboo often seen in Japanese tales where characters are told not to speak of supernatural encounters or they will suffer consequences. Later, he meets a woman named O-Yuki who is tall and beautiful. They fall in love and have ten children. Here, Hearn channels another common motif in Japanese literature. Supernatural beings, such as foxes in other tales, will disguise themselves as beautiful women and trick mortal men in to marrying them and having children to fulfill some ulterior motive. In this case, the Yuki-Onna disguises herself to see if Minokichi breaks the promise he made regarding their encounter. One night, he finds himself staring at her as she is illuminated by the light of a lamp and remembers the encounter with Yuki-Onna years prior. O-Yuki insists he tells her of his experience. Once the taboo is broken, she rises and hovers over him and screams that she is really the spirit he met years before. Yuki-Onna says she would kill him if it wasn't for their ten children. She breathes ice cold breath on him and yells with a voice that is thin like wind before disappearing as a bright white mist, never to be seen again. By having the Yuki-Onna spare Minokichi because he is the father of ten children shows a more sympathetic version of the snow woman rather than having her vengefully claim his life and subsequently orphaning ten children. Her soft spot for youth provides a refreshing rendition of the spirit not seen in snow women prior to Hearn's tale.

This iteration of Yuki-Onna also reveals the iconic physical characteristics of this yokai. Hearn describes her as appearing in the midst of a snow storm, dressed in all white with an icy breath like white smoke. She is also very beautiful with long black hair and skin as white as snow. This striking and fitting visage of the snow woman has followed the Yuki-Onna in to her other stories and appearances in popular culture. The inspiration behind this depiction could be owed to what was, and still is, considered attractive in Japan. Pale skin and long, black hair were desired as well as a thin frame. The Yuki-Onna would be considered a winner of the genetic lottery, and these traits helped her lure in male travelers in the many accounts of her existence by those who encountered her.

The Yuki-Onna is also very mystifying and awe-inspiring. Those who encounter her and survive, like Minokichi, always remember in great detail the strange, snow woman they encountered in the mountains. In Lafcadio Hearn's tale, there is a parallel to the first interaction Minokichi has with the Yuki-onna and his last. In the first encounter, Yuki-onna first appears illuminated "by the snow-light (yuki-akari), he saw a woman in the room, – a woman all in white [1]." In her last appearance, she is sitting by a lamp with the light on her face which creates an odd yet fascinating visual that is reminiscent to Minokichi of the time he saw the Yuki-Onna. This emphasizes and reinforces the peculiar and weird while simultaneously enchanting and alluring atmosphere that surrounds the Yuki-Onna that perplexes those who have met her and the audiences that read about her. This duality follows the Yuki-Onna throughout all of her tales, not just the story told by Lafcadio Hearn.

Evolution of the Yuki-Onna

The Yuki-Onna was originally seen as a frightening succubus who would claim the lives of travelers in the treacherous, snowy mountains of Japan. Many snow woman depictions were similarly as terrifying prior to Lafcadio Hearn's story. After Hearn provided a different perspective of the Yuki-Onna, she began to be depicted as a more kind and forgiving woman rather than horrifying. She still maintained her mysterious aura and still frightened mortals because she was a supernatural being, but the Yuki-Onna was no longer as vicious and malevolent. This transition to a kinder being has followed her to popular culture. The Yuki-Onna has become a beloved character and is often portrayed as very cute and mysterious while still maintaining traditional physical features and ice powers which makes her a fan favorite among anime and manga enthusiasts.

Perception in Modern Day Japan

Like many yokai, the Yuki-Onna is seen primarily in popular culture. While she isn't the most popular, famous, or well-known yokai, the Yuki-Onna appears often in anime, manga, and film. Besides her emergence in these various fomats, she does not often appear elsewhere externally of the media. Some yokai are more celebrated with statues located at shrines or appearances in the towns of the fathers of yokai studies, however, the Yuki-Onna does not receive this widespread appreciation. Her history is primarily told in the colder regions and the mountains where she would be encountered. This trend follows her from the days of her conception because Lafcadio Hearn was first made aware of her existence from a woman in one of these colder, mountainous regions. The other snow woman tales persist here as well. Other than that, popular culture is where you will find different interpretations and renditions of her that allow her legacy as a spirit to persist and stand the test of changing times and culture. Many anime characters sample her lore: whether it be her powers, her appearance, or her name, definite connections to this yokai exist. While she is not celebrated officially or on a large scale, fans of her tale who are inspired by the snow woman draw, paint, or even cosplay, dress up in costume, as the Yuki-Onna. Her striking appearance, dangerous powers, and fascinating aura make her a popular muse for artists.

Yuki-Onna in Popular Culture

Other Appearances

[1]Hearn, Lafcadio. Kwaidan. Western Standard Publishing Company, 2013.

[2]Komura, Toshiaki. “Translations and Transformations of Snow Women as Exiles:

Lafcadio Hearn's “Yuki-Onna" and Anne Sexton's “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."

[3]Makino, Yoko. "Lafcadio Hearn's 'Yuki-Onna' and Baudelaire's 'Les Bienfaits de la

Lune.'" Short Story Criticism, edited by Janet Witalec, vol. 58, Gale, 2003. Literature Resource Center, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/H1420048625/LitRC?