Yuki-onna (雪女; lit. 'snow woman') is a spirit or yōkai in Japanese folklore that is often depicted in Japanese literature, films, or animation. She may also go by such names as yuki-musume. (雪娘, "snow daughter"), yukihime (雪姫, "snow princess"), yuki-onago (雪女子, "snow girl"), yukijorō (雪女郎, "snow woman"), yuki anesa (雪姉さ, "snow sis"), yuki-onba. (雪乳母, "snow granny" or "snow nanny"), yukinba. (雪婆, "snow hag") in Ehime, yukifuri-baba[2] (雪降り婆々, "snowfall witch" or "snowfall hag") in Nagano.They are also called several names that are related to icicles, such as tsurara-onna, kanekori-musume, and shigama-nyōbō. Yuki-onna appears on snowy nights as a tall, beautiful woman with long black hair and blue lips. Her inhumanly pale or even transparent skin makes her blend into the snowy landscape (as famously described in Lafcadio Hearn's Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things). She often wears a white kimono,[10] but other legends describe her as nude, with only her face and hair standing out against the snow.[11] Despite her inhuman beauty, her eyes can strike terror into mortals. She floats across the snow, leaving no footprints (in fact, some tales say she has no feet, a feature of many Japanese ghosts), and she can transform into a cloud of mist or snow if threatened.
