Yuki-onna Monogatari
Yuki-onna Monogatari (Snow Woman Tale) is a Japanese otogi-zōshi written as two books in one volume, probably created in the Azuchi-Momoyama period or the early Edo period. It belongs to a group of stories about defeating monsters and the origin of famous swords, and it also features a marriage to a ghostly wife (kaikon), a theme often found in these tales. The work shows the influence of Noh plays, especially Kokaji, and scholars note echoes of earlier setsuwa tales and other Noh and literary sources.
Plot: In the era of Emperor Ichijō, around the year 995, the emperor orders Sanjō no Kokaji Munechika to forge a valuable sword, with help from the god Inari, resulting in the blade Kogitsune-maru. That winter, a malevolent yuki-onna (a ghostly woman) appears as a female raccoon dog and begins abducting people. Warriors, including the retainers of Tada Mitsunaka, manage to injure her but cannot capture her. In spring, Taira no Kanenobu meets a beautiful woman on Mount Otowa and brings her home; his former lover tries to warn him but is strangled. A fortune-teller reveals that the woman is the yuki-onna, and Kanenobu uses the sword Kogitsune-maru, entrusted by the emperor, to slay her.
Manuscripts: A printed edition from the 1660s is held in the Katei Archives at the University of Tokyo (Shōkaiban edition), and another edition from around 1660 was printed by Ishizu Hachirō Uemon.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 23:58 (CET).