People who live in snowy lands must be careful of one of winter's most fearsome hunters: yuki onna are spirits encountered in the Japanese-inspired land that feed upon the life force of human beings. They look like beautiful human women, with features sharp as ice, eternal youth, and cold, piercing eyes. Yuki onna usually wear thin white kimono-clothing that is woefully inadequate for traveling in the snow. This should tip off any observer to the fact that they are yōkai; however, yuki onna are so bewitching that their victims usually overlook these incongruities. They employ many hunting tactics; some target lone woodcutters and travelers passing through the snowy mountains. They creep into their huts at night and blow icy breath onto them, freezing them solid. Some hide by the road and push people off cliffs into snowy valleys. Some travel through villages and snatch up naughty children who stray outside at night. And some lure their prey in, enticing them to venture out into the ice and snow where the yuki onna can strike. Yuki onna prefer strong, virile young men because they are easy to seduce and so full of energy. But sometimes it is easier to snatch up a child and spirit it away into the mountains. Such children might be transformed into snow spirits themselves, such as yukinko.[1]
Although dangerous, yuki onna are not necessarily malevolent. When they seduce people, it is not always out of a desire to hurt them; they can genuinely fall in love. There are tales of yuki onna marrying human men and even raising families with them. But these are never happy stories; inevitably they end in tragedy. When family members or neighbors learn of a yokai living in their midst, the yuki onna must flee back into the mountains for safety. Even if her supernatural nature is never discovered, a well-meaning husband might insist she take a hot bath, causing her to melt away into nothing more than a few shards of ice floating in a lukewarm tub.[1]
At some point, on Mount Kaijinzan, the witcher/ronin Geralt chased after a yuki onna named Eredin Bréacc Glas, the leader of the Hyakki Yagyō, after she kidnapped his daughter, a very cruel one at that. She seemed more interested in taunting Geralt than in seducing him and devouring his life force. She was a powerful and resourceful, and as fast as Geralt pursued, it could move more quickly in the snow than any person. Eventually after he was beaten down, Geralt grabbed his daughter's sword and a nekomata appeared, leading him to safety.[1]
Trivia[]
- In Japanese folklore, a yuki-onna (雪女, "snow woman") is a spirit or yōkai.