![japanese symbol for female yuki japanese symbol for female yuki](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/81/5d/be/815dbe7f0bfe1dc3ec0b7798ab2cbe29.jpg)
There are few prefectures in Japan without at least one Yuki Onna story-except maybe Okinawa (and, strangely enough, Hokkaido).Īs to when they appear-there are different stories. Yuki Onna appear as far south as Ehime, Tottori, Fukui, Gifu, Nara, and Toyama prefectures.
![japanese symbol for female yuki japanese symbol for female yuki](http://www.ancientpages.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/onidemonsjapan21.jpg)
However, they are not restricted to those areas. They hail mostly from Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata, as well as Nagano and Nigata. Not surprisingly, most Yuki Onna tales come from Tohoku, and Japan’s frozen north. She is said to leave no footprints when she treads on the snow, and this can lead to stories of a footless Yuki Onna, mimicking the footless yurei. Other stories of the Yuki Onna further confuse her with yurei. However in her first known appearance-in Sogi Shokoku Monogatari (宗祇諸国物語 Sogi’s Tales of Many Lands)-she is described as having white hair that matches the rest of her bone white appearance.
#Japanese symbol for female yuki skin#
In most tales, the Yuki Onna is a preternaturally beautiful young woman, with dark black hair offsetting the whiteness of her skin and kimono. The biggest variations in her appearance are her age and her hair. In many stories, the kimono is pale enough to be translucent, with the garment exposing her white skin underneath. The kimono is usually described as a thin, summer kimono that is far too light for the cold weather. She resembles a classic yurei, with snow-white skin and a white kimono. Whatever you call her, the Yuki Onna changes little in appearance. Almost all tales of female snow monsters are also told as Yuki Onna stories. Some of these different names have different stories and characteristics, and it is often difficult to tell what is a unique yokai (Like the Yuki Onba and Yukinko) and what is just a variation of the Yuki Onna. Anywhere there is ice and snow in Japan you will find legends of the Yuki Onna, often called by some regional variation.īasically, any variation of “Snow” + “Name used for a Woman” can be found in use somewhere. Yuki Onna uses the kanji 雪 (yuki snow) + 女 (onna woman) to mean Snow Woman. It is as straight-forward as her icy companion, the Tsurara Onna – The Icicle Woman. The only easy thing about the Yuki Onna is her name. She is ephemeral as a windblown mist of snow, and as impossible to hold. From dread snow vampire of the mountains to a loving bride and mother, she has played many roles over the centuries worn many costumes.
![japanese symbol for female yuki japanese symbol for female yuki](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/55/28/e6/5528e620f999093ed72bf867e51907e8.jpg)
There is no single story of the Yuki Onna. The Yuki Onna is one of Japan’s most well-known and yet unknown yokai. Translated and Sourced from Mizuki Shigeru’s Mujyara, Kaii Yokai Densho Database, Kwaidan, Japanese Wikipedia, and Other Sources