YUKI ONNA THE SNOW WOMAN

YUKI ONNA-THE SNOW WOMAN-

Good afternoon, my dears. I hope that you all are having a lovely afternoon. For today
My dear friends, followers, supporters and reads. I am going to bring you into the world of the very well known Japanese Yuki Onna - The Snow Woman. The Yuki Onna beside being known as the Snow Woman is also sometimes unknown as Yokai. It would seem that there is no single story about the Yuki Onna. She is actually from a dread Snow Vampire of the mountains to a loving bride and mother. She has played many roles over the thousands of centuries. One that is most popular is an ephemeral as a windblown mist or snow, which is impossible to hold on to anything if you happen to be in that snowstorm.
So you all might wonder What Yuki Onna Mean?
Well, I will try to explain as best as I can. It would seem that the only thing that is easy about the Snow Woman is to say her name Yuki Onna. It is as straightforward as her icy companion, the Taurara Onna - The Icicle Woman. Yet the more I get into explaining it, it really isn't that easy unless you know the language of Japanese. 
As far as the Yuki Onna in the native language in Japanese - She uses the 
Kanji- 雪[yuki-snow]+女[onna-woman] which means Snow Woman.
Anywhere there are Ice & Snow in Japan, which there is alot come the winter time, you will find many legends of the Yuki Onna. Often these Yuki Onna are called many different names in some regional variations. Here are a few that I found, that I hope 
That you all will find interesting my dears...
1- 雪乳母-Yuki Onba -Snow Nursing Mothe-
2-雪娘 – Yuki Musume - Snow Daughter
3-雪女子 – Yuki Onago - Snow Young Woman
4-雪女郎 – Yuki Joro - Snow Hooker
5-雪姉 – Yuki Anesa -Snow Older Sister
6-雪女房 – Yuki Nyobo - Snow Wife
I found that in the legend of the Snow Woman - Yuki Onna there are many variations 
That can be used in this legend. In almost all ancient tales of the Yuki Onna there is a 
Female snow monster. 
I bet you're all, a bit curious '
What a Yuki Onna might look Like?'

Well, since she has many names, over the many centuries. Also, she is known 
As the Icicle Women, the Snow Women & Snow Vampire too! The thing about these 
 Snow-Ghost-Woman, they all have the ability to change their appearance at will. 
What I mean by this is, she can resemble a classic Yurei - with snow-white skin and a white kimono. The Kimono is usually described as very thin. Much like the summer Kimono's that the women ware in the spring & summer. The thing is, these summer Kimono's are far too light for the freezing winter weather that they have in Japan. Many of the tales & legends of the Snow Women in these thin summer kimono's are so pale that they can be translucent, which usually exposes their very white skin underneath. Sometimes it may even show everything underneath. However, the biggest variations in the Ghost-Snow-Women appearance is their age & their hair too. In most tales of these Yuki Onna - is a preternaturally beautiful young woman, with dark black hair that offsets the whiteness of her skins and thin kimono. 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. There are other tales of the Yuki Onna that further, 
Confuse, her with the Yurel. She is said to leave no footprints when she treads along the depths of the snowy hills. This can lead to another type of tales like that of the footless Yuki Onna. This is what you call mimicking the footless Yurel. hummm.
How the next Question is' When & Where do Yuki Onna Appear?
Not surprisingly, most Yuki Onna tales come from Tohoku, which is a place in Japan in the north that freezes/frozen every winter. These Snow Ghost come mostly from Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi & Yamagata. Also Nagano & Nigata too. However, they are not restricted to just those areas of the north of the frozen areas. Yuki Onna appears as far south as Ehime, Tottori, Fukui, Gifu, Nara & Toyama prefectures. There are few prefectures in Japan without at least on a tale about the ghost of Yuki Onna - for the exception of Okinawa and maybe Hokkaido. 

Yuki Onna from Sogi Shokoku
Monogatari-The First Yuki Onna

Also, when they appear there seem to be different tales in Japanese culture. In the Aomori & Iwate, the Yuki Onna may appear during the Koshogatsu- 小正月. Means 'Little New Years'. Koshogatsu, takes place on January 15th & was the traditional end of the New Year's festivities. Then the Yuki Onna arrives on News Years Day and leaves on the 1st of Feburary. It would seem that the link between these two dates [January 15th- Feburary 1st] has quite a bit to do with the tale of Yuki Onna. These dates and the Yuki Onna are obscure in Japan on these dates for centuries. Some have said in ancient times the Yuki Onna was worshiped as a Toshigami-歳神, a special deity that appeared on specific days and brought either good or bad Forture for the coming new year. There are even some that think that Yuki Onna may be a servant to
The Mountain God-山神-playing the role of Miko/of the
Shrine Maiden that brings blessings of fertility and good harvest. Others have said that the Yuki Onna will appear only during the first full moon- only full moons with the new fallen Snow. It is said in Japan that mothers are warned not to let their children out to play on these such nights no matter how much they ask. Many of children and teens have disappeared on these special nights of the Yuki Onna so it would be best to listen to these warnings. Still yet many have disappeared within the blizzards never to be seen again.
Although it is said she is thought to be an ancient legend. However, its, said that a writer  In the Muromachi period 1333-1573 had written about this legend. It happened to the Monk Sogi who wrote of his travels in Echigo, when he said that his encounter with a Yuki Onna.
'This is his story- Sogi writes that he went out of his house one snowy morning and he saw

a beautiful and very unusual woman standing in his frozen garden. As he looked at her, she seemed enormous,  which was very curious to the monk. As he looked carefully not to disturb the Ghost creature, he figures she was almost 10 feet tall or higher, with skin that was whiter than any human being. As he looks, she seems very young and beautiful, her hair was stark white and hung loosely about her shoulder almost to the back of her knees. Her kimono was white to the point of being translucent and was made of some magical gossamer fabric that clung to her body. Sogi attempted to speak to her, but she vanished into the snow. The monk Sogi told the vision later to a friend that was native to the region. After telling of his experience of his friend, he was told that she was the Spirit of Snow-雪の精霊-yuki no seirel who normally appeared during heavy .Snowfalls It was rare for her to appear on the cusp of spring.

Well, I hope that you find this 

New legend from Japan interesting 

I did myself

It would seem that when looking for images

There are more of the Yuki Onna with the 

Black hair than the White hair, which is

Interesting, Enway, I hope you like...

Love you all

Your freind always

WENDY