The legendary Japanese Snow Lady (Yuki-Onna)
My old university friend Yuki thought she was a descendent of Yuki-Onna or people outside Japan would like to call this sprit ‘snow girl’. Her name ‘yuki’ means ‘snow’ in Japanese, so I think she might have some basis in her assumption but let us just treat what she told me is just another ghost story. Yuki is from Niigata Prefecture (新潟縣), Japan and that is that much that I understand this lady for we only had a semester together in marketing.
As recalled
what was told by Yuki, her home village was located at the foot of a hill. In
the 70’s, there used to be a small wooden hut built somewhere at the top of the
hill by local villagers for winter travelers to seek shelter in case of severe
snow storm.
Normally
local folks would not dare to spend a night in the hut given a choice as many
people who had seek shelter in that particular hut were found frozen to death.
It was quite a norm to find one or two frozen bodies during every winter. Local
folks believed that those were the doings of Yuki-Onna or snow girl.
Yuki’s dad
was a farmer and occasionally he would go to a forest nearby to collect fire
woods. Sometimes Yuki’s dad went into the forest alone but most of the time he
joined two of his friends as it was virtually impossible to transport all the
firewood by one person alone.
During one
severe winter, Yuki’s dad felt that he needed to fetch some more firewood as
his wife is expecting soon with Yuki; additional firewood would be needed to
boil water and to keep the house warm especially for the newborn and mother.
Even though
the weather wasn’t good, Yuki’s dad still decided to venture out. So out he
went into the forest early in the morning and by noon a large pile of wood was successfully
being collected and Yuki’s dad started to head home. However, the weather
suddenly turned bad and snow storm started to besiege the forest and the
nearest shelter was the small wooden hut on top of the hill.
When Yuki’s
dad managed to reached the hut, the snow was already at waist level, so without
hesitation he immediately barged in the hut and gotten himself comfortable
until the snow halted at least. However, the snow continued to fall and soon it
was dusk…
Suddenly
Yuki’s dad noticed a silhouette holding a red umbrella moving in the snow
towards the hut. The gentleman thought it might be just another traveler lost
in the storm. Gradually when the shadow moved closer, it was a beautiful young
woman with snow white complexion wearing a white kimono! Well, she seemed to be
glided on the surface of the snow.
At this
point, Yuki’s dad was dumbfounded and he could only stared at the lady in white
due to her unworldly beauty and also due to the fact that his body was frozen
with cold and fear. He knew that the lady wasn’t anything human. Spirits
sightings were common occurrences in old days.
Suddenly the door was burst opened by a gust
of wind and the lady in white already stood in front of Yuki’s dad. While still
holding the red umbrella, the lady gave a cold stare and said: “I am not going
to harm you, old man! Leave this hut at once and go back straight home without
looking back now!”
After the
lady uttered the words, Yuki’s dad felt a force jerked his collar and threw him
out of the hut and as the old man recalled later, he was half ran and half
rolled to the front door of his house.
Just as
when Yuki’s dad had his head banged on the front door, Yuki was born! Yuki’s
mom also recalled that she saw a lady in white holding a red umbrella entering
her womb! I supposed this is why Yuki has her name.
Well, you
might say that was a coincidence, but when I like to dragged Yuki out when I
want to do weekly shopping in winter for when Yuki is out with me, all the
winter hassles would be gone! Even my car could move much steadier without the
need for chaining the wheels. So I do think that Yuki’s story has some
foundation though.
Perhaps
that’s why Yuki never like to come to tropic countries or she would probably be
melted into a pool of water J!
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