Yokai And Monsters : The Tsurara-Onna

 

 

 
Today's post is another icy beauty the Tsurara-Onna.

The Tsurara-Onna is an elemental type yokai from Japanese folklore.

The yokai is  icicle that turnes into a woman, because of this she  is sometimes confused with the Yuki-Onna.(See previous post)


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Description

Tsurara onna are said to be born out of loneliness.

when a lonely man looks at a beautiful icicle hanging from a roof and reflects upon his loneliness, and desire for companionship a tsurara onna may soon appear.

On first glance, a tsurara onna looks just like an ordinary, though very beautiful young woman.

The tsurara onna is an ice / cold based yokai that inhabits the
same cold areas during wintertime as the yuki onna.

But when the winter snow melt away and icicles are no longer hanging from the rooftops,
the tsurara onna will disappear along with the cold weather, until next winter.

There are countless tales of tsurara onna. They are found in every prefecture where snow falls, and in many  story's she is very similar or even identical to yuki onna stories.
Common themes in most versions of the story's involve loneliness, love, marriage, betrayal and lose.
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Unlike the yuki onna, the tsurara onna seem's to show a far more warm and caring nature most of the time.

There are many stories involving a tsurara onna that has fallen in love with a man and in some versions even married a him.

However the tsurara onna is a creature of winter and these marriages invariably end in heartbreak when spring rolls around.

The beautiful bride may eventually return for future encounters with her husband or now former husband.

the following winter only to find the man has moved on believing she had abandoned him the year before.

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Tsurara onna look and act like any other women, So much so that it is often very hard to tell them apart from a normal human woman.


One method to distinguish her is her unwillingness to enter a warm bath. (She will melt)

In some stories the new bride refuses to take a bath no matter how much her husband pressures her. Eventually, she gets tired of fighting,
and reluctantly enters the bath.

However just like some tales with the yuki onna once her husband comes to checks on her later, all he finds are a few tiny shards of ice floating in the tub, and his wife is nowhere in sight.




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myth and tales.
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One well know tale comes from the  Echigo Province (modern day Niigata Prefecture) tell's of a young man who gazed out his window on a
 cold, snowy night. As he sat there, admiring the beautiful winter niht and the glising icicles haning all around him.

That night He wished he could find a wife as beautiful as the icicles hanging from his roof. Suddenly, he heard a knock at his door.
A woman’s voice called out, and she was as beautiful and clear as ice.

“Excuse me! the woman said,  I was traveling along this road, but the snowstorm became too strong and I cannot journey any further.  Might I lodge at your house for the night?”

The man of natural accepted, and to his delighted the woman’s face was as beautiful  as her voice. He worked hard to make sure her stay was enjoyable .


Months had passed and the young woman was still with the man at his home.

Spending so much time with one another the man had now fallen in love with her and she had now forgotten all  about her former journey. They were soon married very happy together.

Until one warm spring morning, the young bride left the home for a trip to the market. That night she did not come home, The man waited for her
night after night.
 
The snows melted, the cherry blossoms bloomed, and soon it was spring. The man searched for his bride asking everyone  he met if they had seen her. But Nobody he met could tell him anything.

As the months past by he eventually accepted  that she had left him.

he later remarried a young woman from his village.

The following winter, during a snowstorm, as the man was looking out the window at the icicles hanging from his roof.  there was a knock on the door, and to his surprise beautiful woman from the previous winter was standing outside of his house. The young man was shocked.
His former bride had returned

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“I searched for you every day! where did you go, why did you leave me, What is the meaning of this? How could you just vanish like that without a word?”
He continued to question her.

The woman replied, “People have different circumstances you know… But we promised to love each other forever. You said that our bond was as
 long and as solid as the beautiful icicles hanging from your roof. And yet…... you have remarried.”
=====


She then left the house with a somber look on her face.

The man started to follow her, when suddenly there was a voice from inside the house.
It was his new wife, asking what was going on.

“It’s nothing. he said,  Stay inside.”

When all of the sudden there was thunderous crash followed by a shriek near the front of the house. The new wife ran to the front door to see
what had happened.

Now lying in the front yard, was her husband. dead, pierced through the head by an enormous icicle that had fallen from the roof.
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There's another  legend from the Akita Prefecture. with similarities to the above, however the Akita version is not a story about a woman appearing to
a man and later marring him.

In this story one night during a sever  snow storm, a woman came knocked on the door of a home belonging to an older couple, asking for shelter from the storm.
The couple kindly allowed her entery, Several days later the snow continued to fall and was too heavy for anyone to go outside, so the woman continued
staying at the house.

The couple tried to be considerate by warming a bath, but the woman did not want to go in at all. However, unable to completely refuse the couple's
insistence the woman hesitantly entered the bath. After some time had passed, The couple became worried, and went to check on their guest. But there was no sign of the woman, only a single icicle hanging from the roof.
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Monster Girls Encyclopaedia..

Halloween : By Robert Burns

 

 Hope everyone has a save and fun Halloween, 

                   ;) Happy Halloween :)

  

 

                                      Halloween 

                           by Robert Burns -1795

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Upon that night, when fairies light

On Cassilis Downans dance,
Or owre the lays, in splendid blaze,
On sprightly coursers prance;
Or for Colean the route is ta'en,
Beneath the moon's pale beams;
There, up the cove, to stray and rove,
Among the rocks and streams
To sport that night.

Among the bonny winding banks,
Where Doon rins, wimplin' clear,
Where Bruce ance ruled the martial ranks,
And shook his Carrick spear,
Some merry, friendly, country-folks,
Together did convene,
To burn their nits, and pou their stocks,
And haud their Halloween
Fu' blithe that night.

The lasses feat, and cleanly neat,
Mair braw than when they're fine;
Their faces blithe, fu' sweetly kythe,
Hearts leal, and warm, and kin';
The lads sae trig, wi' wooer-babs,
Weel knotted on their garten,
Some unco blate, and some wi' gabs,
Gar lasses' hearts gang startin'
Whiles fast at night.

Then, first and foremost, through the kail,
Their stocks maun a' be sought ance;
They steek their een, and graip and wale,
For muckle anes and straught anes.
Poor hav'rel Will fell aff the drift,
And wander'd through the bow-kail,
And pou't, for want o' better shift,
A runt was like a sow-tail,
Sae bow't that night.

Then, staught or crooked, yird or nane,
They roar and cry a' throu'ther;
The very wee things, todlin', rin,
Wi' stocks out owre their shouther;
And gif the custoc's sweet or sour.
Wi' joctelegs they taste them;
Syne cozily, aboon the door,
Wi cannie care, they've placed them
To lie that night.

The lasses staw frae 'mang them a'
To pou their stalks of corn:
But Rab slips out, and jinks about,
Behint the muckle thorn:
He grippet Nelly hard and fast;
Loud skirl'd a' the lasses;
But her tap-pickle maist was lost,
When kitlin' in the fause-house
Wi' him that night.

The auld guidwife's well-hoordit nits,
Are round and round divided,
And monie lads' and lasses' fates
Are there that night decided:
Some kindle coothie, side by side,
And burn thegither trimly;
Some start awa, wi' saucy pride,
And jump out-owre the chimlie
Fu' high that night.

Jean slips in twa wi' tentie ee;
Wha 'twas she wadna tell;
But this is Jock, and this is me,
She says in to hersel:
He bleezed owre her, and she owre him,
As they wad never mair part;
Till, fuff! he started up the lum,
And Jean had e'en a sair heart
To see't that night.

Poor Willie, wi' his bow-kail runt,
Was brunt wi' primsie Mallie;
And Mallie, nae doubt, took the drunt,
To be compared to Willie;
Mall's nit lap out wi' pridefu' fling,
And her ain fit it brunt it;
While Willie lap, and swore by jing,
'Twas just the way he wanted
To be that night.

Nell had the fause-house in her min',
She pits hersel and Rob in;
In loving bleeze they sweetly join,
Till white in ase they're sobbin';
Nell's heart was dancin' at the view,
She whisper'd Rob to leuk for't:
Rob, stowlins, prie'd her bonny mou',
Fu' cozie in the neuk for't,
Unseen that night.

But Merran sat behint their backs,
Her thoughts on Andrew Bell;
She lea'es them gashin' at their cracks,
And slips out by hersel:
She through the yard the nearest taks,
And to the kiln goes then,
And darklins graipit for the bauks,
And in the blue-clue throws then,
Right fear't that night.

And aye she win't, and aye she swat,
I wat she made nae jaukin',
Till something held within the pat,
Guid Lord! but she was quakin'!
But whether 'was the deil himsel,
Or whether 'twas a bauk-en',
Or whether it was Andrew Bell,
She didna wait on talkin'
To spier that night.

Wee Jennie to her grannie says,
"Will ye go wi' me, grannie?
I'll eat the apple at the glass
I gat frae Uncle Johnnie:"
She fuff't her pipe wi' sic a lunt,
In wrath she was sae vap'rin',
She notice't na, an aizle brunt
Her braw new worset apron
Out through that night.

"Ye little skelpie-limmer's face!
I daur you try sic sportin',
As seek the foul thief ony place,
For him to spae your fortune.
Nae doubt but ye may get a sight!
Great cause ye hae to fear it;
For mony a ane has gotten a fright,
And lived and died deleeret
On sic a night.

"Ae hairst afore the Sherramoor, —
I mind't as weel's yestreen,
I was a gilpey then, I'm sure
I wasna past fifteen;
The simmer had been cauld and wat,
And stuff was unco green;
And aye a rantin' kirn we gat,
And just on Halloween
It fell that night.

"Our stibble-rig was Rab M'Graen,
A clever sturdy fallow:
His son gat Eppie Sim wi' wean,
That lived in Achmacalla:
He gat hemp-seed, I mind it weel,
And he made unco light o't;
But mony a day was by himsel,
He was sae sairly frighted
That very night."

Then up gat fechtin' Jamie Fleck,
And he swore by his conscience,
That he could saw hemp-seed a peck;
For it was a' but nonsense.
The auld guidman raught down the pock,
And out a hanfu' gied him;
Syne bade him slip frae 'mang the folk,
Some time when nae ane see'd him,
And try't that night.

He marches through amang the stacks,
Though he was something sturtin;
The graip he for a harrow taks.
And haurls it at his curpin;
And every now and then he says,
"Hemp-seed, I saw thee,
And her that is to be my lass,
Come after me, and draw thee
As fast this night."

He whistled up Lord Lennox' march
To keep his courage cheery;
Although his hair began to arch,
He was say fley'd and eerie:
Till presently he hears a squeak,
And then a grane and gruntle;
He by his shouther gae a keek,
And tumbled wi' a wintle
Out-owre that night.

He roar'd a horrid murder-shout,
In dreadfu' desperation!
And young and auld came runnin' out
To hear the sad narration;
He swore 'twas hilchin Jean M'Craw,
Or crouchie Merran Humphie,
Till, stop! she trotted through them
And wha was it but grumphie
Asteer that night!

Meg fain wad to the barn hae gaen,
To win three wechts o' naething;
But for to meet the deil her lane,
She pat but little faith in:
She gies the herd a pickle nits,
And two red-cheekit apples,
To watch, while for the barn she sets,
In hopes to see Tam Kipples
That very nicht.

She turns the key wi cannie thraw,
And owre the threshold ventures;
But first on Sawnie gies a ca'
Syne bauldly in she enters:
A ratton rattled up the wa',
And she cried, Lord, preserve her!
And ran through midden-hole and a',
And pray'd wi' zeal and fervour,
Fu' fast that night;

They hoy't out Will wi' sair advice;
They hecht him some fine braw ane;
It chanced the stack he faddom'd thrice
Was timmer-propt for thrawin';
He taks a swirlie, auld moss-oak,
For some black grousome carlin;
And loot a winze, and drew a stroke,
Till skin in blypes cam haurlin'
Aff's nieves that night.

A wanton widow Leezie was,
As canty as a kittlin;
But, och! that night amang the shaws,
She got a fearfu' settlin'!
She through the whins, and by the cairn,
And owre the hill gaed scrievin,
Whare three lairds' lands met at a burn
To dip her left sark-sleeve in,
Was bent that night.

Whyles owre a linn the burnie plays,
As through the glen it wimpl't;
Whyles round a rocky scaur it strays;
Whyles in a wiel it dimpl't;
Whyles glitter'd to the nightly rays,
Wi' bickering, dancing dazzle;
Whyles cookit underneath the braes,
Below the spreading hazel,
Unseen that night.

Among the brackens, on the brae,
Between her and the moon,
The deil, or else an outler quey,
Gat up and gae a croon:
Poor Leezie's heart maist lap the hool!
Near lav'rock-height she jumpit;
but mist a fit, and in the pool
Out-owre the lugs she plumpit,
Wi' a plunge that night.

In order, on the clean hearth-stane,
The luggies three are ranged,
And every time great care is ta'en',
To see them duly changed:
Auld Uncle John, wha wedlock joys
Sin' Mar's year did desire,
Because he gat the toom dish thrice,
He heaved them on the fire
In wrath that night.

Wi' merry sangs, and friendly cracks,
I wat they didna weary;
And unco tales, and funny jokes,
Their sports were cheap and cheery;
Till butter'd so'ns, wi' fragrant lunt,
Set a' their gabs a-steerin';
Syne, wi' a social glass o' strunt,
They parted aff careerin'
Fu' blythe that night.

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Born in Alloway, Scotland, on January 25, 1759, Robert Burns was the author of Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (1786) and Tam O' Shanter (1795).

 

         Happy Halloween everyone :)

 

 

Month of Monster Girls; The Yuki-Onna

 

 

 Month of Monster Girls; The Yuki-Onna

Its officially autumn now and there's a chill in the air,
So who better to start my month of monster girls post with then a this stone cold beauty --

The Yuki Onna.

The  Yuki onna is one cool yokai, but she dose have a somewhat chilly disposition and she's been known to give people the cold shoulder from time to time....lol sorry, .... i'll cool it with the ice jokes . :)
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Almighty  on to the info.....
......................................................................
The snow woman was ether a woman that died in the cold from a broken heart, now her hart is cold as ice and she freezes others to death.or She was never human to begin with and was a supernatural being from the star.

the Yuki-onna, being a snow woman is of course associated  with winter, snowstorms and the cold, most people think she is the spirit of someone who died in the cold.

She has snow white skin that's is cold to the touch and is most often seen in snowy mountain areas but can appear any place cold enough.

Some believe this yokai was never human to begin with and is just an evil spirit that can manipulate the cold or possibly even an elemental spirit.

In older story's she was almost always viewed as evil, however in more modern versions she is much kinder.

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Myths and legends of the snow woman.


The Yuki Onna Or Snow Woman is a yokai from Japanese mythology.

Like many yokai, she can appear solid or in a more  ghost like form. Sometimes she has visible feet other times she is far more ghost like
with no feet or an almost translucent lower half.

She sometimes wears a white kimono, though other legends say she appears  nude, with only her face and hair standing out against the snow.

                                                           Yuki Onna Fan Art : Nioh


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She's most often described as a beautiful young woman, with snow white pale skin, blue lips and  icy blue eyes (sometimes white) that can strike fear into any lost traveling unlucky enough to meet her gaze.

In other descriptions she is said to have long black hair, blue or grayish lips and  inhumanly pale or even slightly transparent skin that makes her blend into the snow around her.

she's also believed to have the ability to transform into a cloud of mist or snow when threatened or when just trying to hide and wait for her target..

In some tales she walks just like you or me, in other versions she is said to float across the top of the snow, in both versions she moves along the top of the snow without leaving any footprints behind her.
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                                                 --------------------------------------------------

=======================yuki onna killing her victims================
 

There are  some stories where the Yuki-onna will appear to travelers trapped in snowstorms, and uses her icy cold breath to leave them as frost-coated corpses.

She will also lead travelers off the path and into the forest to die of exposure without killing them herself.

She has even been known to appear on a deserted road in front of a traveler holding a child. She will then ask the traveler to hold the baby for a moment however once the unlucky person takes the "child" from her, they are instantly frozen where  they stand.

Parents searching for lost children are especially vulnerable to this trick.


                          

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Another odd trait is that she sometimes  seems to be somewhat vampire like, requiring an invitation into a home or cabin etc, before she can enter.
 

but there are versions that claim she can invade homes at will, with or without permission, she would simply blow in the door with a strong gust of wind to kill  whomever is in there  sleeping.

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The reason for her murderous attacks varies from one version of the myth to the next.
Sometimes she just gets satisfaction watching her victim die. Other times, she will drain her victims' blood or "life force." (again vampire like)

But she has also been described as a succubus-like creature preying on weak-willed men to drain their life force or freeze  them during sex or sometimes even just a kiss.

She dose not always kill her victims though, sometimes she will let them go, and from time to time  she even ends up marrying them.
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Yuki onna in modern media 

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Yuki from interviews with monster girls.

 

https://www.deviantart.com/rkartworks/art/interview-with-monster-girls-yuki-668954347

 

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Monet from One Piece

 

 

 https://www.zerochan.net/2939021

 

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The Pokemon Froslass is based on the Yuki-Onna.

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Nara Rise of the demon clan-- Tsurara Oikawa

 

 

 

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Rosario + Vampire Mizore 

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and there was an episode of the Canadian TV series MythQuest was based on the story of Oyuki and Monokichi.


Hope you all enjoy , i will be adding Monster Girl posts all October long :) Happy Early Halloween everyone :0