Fables and Folktales: Yuki-Onna

[@OverlySarcasticProductions]

📌📌PIN TIME! 📌📌 overlysarcastic.shop/ ✨Eros and Psyche are available at our merch shop for a limited time. We put GLITTER in their wings, it's so SPARKLY! -B

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

Love your content guys 😊😊😊

[@OrificeHorus]

Absolutely great content Also would you consider a podcast episode about House of Leaves???

[@OrificeHorus]

Absolutely great content Also would you consider a podcast episode about House of Leaves???

[@AskMia411]

Love the folktale videos, even if they are a little short! Do you have any plans to summarize The Phantom of the Opera? I think it’d make a great Halloween special!

[@insectostrich4407]

I have a suggestion. Maybe do a video on the Black Knight, how he’s depicted in pop culture and where the legend originated from.

[@CanonessEllinor]

It’s interesting how universal the “nonhuman wife who will leave forever if you do one specific thing” trope is.

[@hanzzel6086]

Seems pretty accurate to how *some* "normal" women are acting these days. Edit: added some, since some people were taking this too seriously (which I can kinda understand as to why).

[@xShadowChrisx]

Japanese men must have had a *lot* of women leaving them that got explained as the supernatural for the trope to be so prevalent in their culture.

[@mikaroni_and_cheez]

​@@hanzzel6086 Sexism aside, what were these "one thing"s that broke your relationships?

[@bastienfelix4605]

⁠@@hanzzel6086 riiight… And the “dumbass male protagonist who blatantly ignore their clearly supernatural partner’s one key rule and thus suffer actual consequences” seems pretty accurate to how you’re currently acting. Stings, huh? That stuff goes both ways, you know? And if you understood the folktale, you might realize the woman wasn’t in the wrong there…

[@hanzzel6086]

@@bastienfelix4605 Did I say she was in the wrong? And I would point to the absolute glut of women on TikTok and other such apps that have openly stated they have done so. Some with good reason (abuse, especially physical abuse, should never be tolerated), but shit like "he told me about something he thought was a bad dream" (or "I had a dream that he cheated on me") is *not* what I would consider to be a good reason! Oh, and most men are not "pretending" to be oblivious of thier spouses weird behavior. Edit: And I absolutely would ignore my wife's blatant supernatural shit if I thought it would cost me my loving wife.

[@TheTbrWolf]

That is a hilarious story, because also technically, he DIDN'T tell anyone else, just the person who made him promise

[@amfstudios8695]

Wonder why he didn't bring that up. Yokai are basically the Japanese fae, so I'd assume fae rules work just as well on then! XD

[@kryptonianguest1903]

But he believed he was telling someone else, so he still broke his word.

[@vinx.909]

i mean she could counter them that in practically every aspect she was a different person. or counter with that the wording wasn't that he shouldn't tell anyone else, but just that he shouldn't tell anyone.

[@CelestialAnamoly]

I mean, she didn't kill him so that technicality was broken too

[@Me-vn3gz]

didn’t she already tell this story???

[@whiteking2f2]

“I think the moral of this story is that any relationship that starts with an NDA is doomed from the jump,” is perhaps one of the best punchlines you’ve delivered. It caught me like a left hook.

[@matthewmuir8884]

Funny enough, there is a folktale with a similar "tell no one of this" premise that actually ends well for the couple: a chivalric romance called _Lanval._ In that story, a lady of the fey offers to be in a relationship with Lanval if he agrees to keep her and their relationship secret. He eventually breaks his promise, but she forgives him and the story ends happily.

[@dedalionarts6077]

Quec question from a non-english speaker. What NDA short stands for?

[@LuperisNone]

​@@dedalionarts6077 Non-Disclosure Agreement, a contract that prohibits the contracting party/parties from publicly revealing information about a chemical formula or a movie that has yet to be released for example, pretty much anything sensitive that you don't want everyone to know about.

[@deathrayman8074]

@@dedalionarts6077 My guess is that it's for "Non-Disclosure Agreement". I believe it's a contract stating you won't talk about something written in the contract until a certain time point. For example, a few years ago, Red and Blue got a sponsorship from LEGO to explain some of the history for the Coliseum to go with the LEGO Coliseum set that was releasing, so they signed NDAs to not talk about the set until it was revealed.

[@dedalionarts6077]

@@deathrayman8074 ok, thank you for responce 👍.

[@charliefarmer4365]

O-Yuki: Be a good father to our children! Also O-Yuki: *Proceeds to go for milk*

[@thechristsknight7758]

The kids: "Hey Dad, where'd Mom go?" Minokichi: "She left to get ice-cream...."

[@71723]

"Get back here and be a good mother!"

[@reyonXIII]

Between Kuzunoha and Oyuki, the only way ditching their families even if they love their kids makes sense is some kind of youkai prime directive they have to uphold. Though in Kuzunoha's case, she got found out by her son Abe-no-Seimei. Oyuki don't really got an excuse TBH. Yeah, he blabbed, but clearly, the NDA was way more important than sticking around for her 10 kids.

[@UGNAvalon]

@reyonXIII Tbf, the terms of the NDA involved literal death, so the fact she spared him “for the sake of the kids” means that she cares more about her kids than you might expect. 🤔

[@jeffeppenbach]

They didn't have cigarettes yet... so yeah.

[@ArcherBro]

In some versions of the story, another reason she spared him after he told was because he technically didn't tell anyone since she already knew it. I like to think she didn't leave forever but merely left to go get groceries or something while calming down.

[@ShiraCheshire]

Can you imagine your significant other dissolving into snow and wind, thinking they're gone forever, and a few hours later they show up with a ingredients for dinner like nothing happened haha Do you bring it up... ? Or would that be a bad idea, considering that talking about that subject is what got you into trouble to begin with?

[@ArcherBro]

@@ShiraCheshire I can see her kissing his cheek and saying "I can't stay mad at you and your handsome face."

[@dragonbretheren]

@@ArcherBro "You're lucky you're cute."

[@1Kapuchu100]

"We're gonna talk more about this when I get back from shopping!" *Vanishes into a puff of snowflakes*

[@excalibur2078]

That’s now my head cannon

[@bizuko2307]

In my opinion the moral of this story and of the "unknowingly marrying an entity" genre in general is: If you think your wife is supernatural in some way, you don't say *shit*. Take that to your grave, and don't risk making your beautiful wife mad 'cause she'll vanish and you'll be lonely or she'll kill you or something. You met her under odd circumstances? You're just lucky. She doesn't seem to age? Must be her skincare routine and good genes. She sometimes locks herself in a room for an entire night and refuses to let you in? All couples need boundaries. Your life has been unending good luck since you met her? That's just confidence from meeting the woman of your dreams. Strange disappearances or animal deaths began when she moved into the area? Weird coincidence, but it's not your problem.

[@DarkestElemental616]

EXACTLY.

[@josemontalvomelendez5642]

The sequel to the rule of dating when you’re an adventuring hero or live in a magical world 1) don’t piss off your sorceress wife ( JASON) 2) don’t question your cute monster wife

[@RosesSpindle]

I'd like to see a story where the human brings up the neighbors' suspicions that his wife is an entity, but then the wife gently insists that that's impossible, because IF she was such a being, then she'd have to leave, because it's FORBIDDEN for one of their kind to marry a human. Hint. HINT. Then her husband agrees, asks his darling wife to forgive him for his foolishness, never brings it up again, and they spend a very happy lifetime together, The End.

[@iridradiant]

Ah yes, World of Darkness rules for how not to get sucked into (and probably killed) by the supernatural side(s). Ignorance is bliss indeed.

[@generalgarchomp333]

Honestly based.

[@SarahAbramova]

For someone so cold, she really is temperamental.

[@caicat722]

Having a feiry personality/responses is how you stay warm in those climates. I'm from NY, so I should know

[@gregorywalter2540]

Cold fury.

[@IISheireenII]

Like a snowstorm

[@Aman_Mondal]

Fubuki means snow storm but also can mean cold and unforgiving anger so yeah that form of anger is seen a lot in Asian culture

[@celot9412]

Temperaturemental

[@oriane4811]

"If I ask her if she’s single, will she kill me faster or slower" THAT SENTENCE HAD NO RIGHT TO MAKE ME LAUGH AS IT DID 😭 dude seriously got his priorities straight (pun intended) "She is going to kill but damn she cute !"

[@OrificeHorus]

Tsundere plotlines be like

[@Olimar92]

You'd be surprised how often Japanese Folk Tales end up with the guy wondering if the cute girl will kill him fast or slow.

[@Archgeek0]

"faster or slower... and which would I prefer?"

[@jocosesonata]

Honestly, same. If I'm beset by a supernatural entity, ghost girl, or whatever, and she looks gorgeous... Well, if I feel like I'm about to die, might as well give it a shot.

[@Myomer104]

​@@jocosesonataThere was a story I read that was technically a "The Ring" fanfic where the guy who watched the video met the ghost with a kiss as she was coming out of the screen. They're still happily married about a decade later.

[@AlexPeter9582]

Minokichi must have been one of those especially cute woodcutters because HOLY SMOKES, *TEN CHILDREN* ? That means that the scary snow lady stuck around with him for *seven and a half years at the bare minimum* . Well, anime protagonists had their roots somewhere, didn’t they?

[@sammyvictors2603]

She probably had twins or triplets.

[@lord_ozymandias]

presuming that she’s immortal it probably wasn’t so long to her

[@hanzzel6086]

​And she also wasn't basically perma-pregnant. They where probably together for 10+ years.

[@dongiovanni4331]

Before modern medicine, people tended to have more kids, as fewer tended to live to adulthood.

[@thechristsknight7758]

He had the denseness of not noticing the obvious and everything...

[@franksands2]

It's funny that a whole lot of stories would be resolved by the classic "JUST **TALK** TO EACH OTHER", but this specific case talking about is exactly what brought his ruin.

[@Dragonlover553]

Anything can be a weapon if you use it wrong enough.

[@TheGolux]

I mean "Don't do the one specific thing you were clearly instructed to not do" is also a thing that comes up a lot

[@sarahgent2674]

There's a fairytale called Faithful John (or Johannes) where the main plot is that John, a servant to the king who's just gotten a new wife and is taking her home, overhears some crows saying that unless someone essentially ruins the wedding, she'll die immediately. But they also make a lot of hay about how if anyone says that she'll die because of these things, that person will turn to stone. John then has to ruin the wedding three different ways, and after the third the king is angry and so John has to tell him and then turns to stone. There's some more plot after that, but honestly I feel like the "turning to stone" part was probably added somewhere in the oral history after all the kids kept asking why John couldn't just tell the king what was going on.

[@TheGolux]

@@sarahgent2674 definitely a possibility!

[@000Dragon50000]

The hilarious part is he could have lead this off with "Did I meet you somewhere before (the moment he met the human disguise she uses)", then dropped just enough hints that she'd be able to identify that he's figured her out, without actually telling the story to a stranger.

[@niserresin2006]

Had he figured it out? He didn't exactly accuse her, he just kinda casually brought it up.

[@coltonwilliams4153]

@@niserresin2006 He didn’t.

[@timothymclean]

@@niserresin2006 It sounds like he _definitely_ didn't recognize her the first/second time they met.

[@markcochrane9523]

@@niserresin2006 It depends on who's telling it. In this telling he casually brought it up, in other tellings he was suspicious of her from day 1 and asked her about it because he couldn't stop thinking about it.

[@alvedonaren]

Didn't he explicitly forget that he wsn't supposed to tell the story to anyone lese, though?

[@subnormal321]

If you think about it, she left him with a fate worse than death: raising 10 kids.

[@joshuahunt3032]

Alone, potentially.

[@kingofcards9]

And no child support. At least she didn't take the house, like most do

[@Dragonian05]

By himself. In the snow.

[@blarg2429]

@@Dragonian05 If he's still in the snow, then in a sense she's still there even if she's not pitching in around the house anymore.

[@TheMewtata]

Hopefully she took breaks between birthing, and some of those kids are getting old enough to help out.

[@mrrd4444]

Y'know, having your life threatened multiple times by a loved one who cares about you enough to have like 10 kids is peak monster romance

[@nathanyip4377]

lol

[@shadowprincess3724]

This is one of those stories I always think about. Especially the “I will spare you only for the sake of our children” bit

[@71723]

Nowadays, you're lucky she's even thinking about the kids and how the split will affect their lives.

[@akrinornoname2769]

​@@71723 I don't have the studies on hand, but generally "we stay together for the kids" is not actually good for the kids

[@notactuallyacat.]

My mother’s parents “stayed together for the kids”. She doesn’t speak of them fondly.

[@whitherwhence]

The first encounter with Yuki-Onna is so sleep paralysis. Except the demon was like, Elsa Frozen

[@Neuvost]

I appreciate your implication that Elsa's last name is Frozen.

[@whitherwhence]

@@Neuvost her middle name is "Disney's"

[@Regfife]

Instead of taking his secret to the grave he just had to...Let It Go.

[@Dragonlover553]

And she was flirty.

[@lilykep]

She seems like the type to have 10 kids then dip.

[@SarahAbramova]

My dad is arguing that it's already spring

[@PyrotechNick77]

Is some cultures Yes its spring symbolically/spiritually! Imbolc/Candelmas (Feb 2 usually) celebrated by pagan Europeans, witch folk, and some Christians celebrates the midpoint between winter solstice and spring equinox; it's the waning of winter as the snow starts to melt into spring and when many animals leave and reawake from their burrows after hibernation. So spring has started.

[@SarahAbramova]

​@@PyrotechNick77 he did mention something like that, so it's kinda confusing when to me, it'll be spring in March.

[@overlookers]

Fog is the thing for a strawberry spring

[@sdogreads4444]

Where I live we usually get our first snow storm around Halloween and our last usually in April though it has happen in May sometimes. So for me spring feels dont usually hit til late April/May because of that.

[@amberbydreamsart5467]

I'm a season descriptivist, not prescriptivist. The date doesn't determine when it's spring, the weather does. It's spring when you step outside and go 'oh! that's warmer than I thought it'd be!' several times in a week. Not quite there here where I am in the south usa, but it will be soon!

[@troperhghar9898]

When i was in middle school i read a book of mythical creatures including the snow woman, but in this version rather then a snow fae stickler for rules this snow woman finds men in the snow and offers a hug to warm them up these men not noticing the womans hands digging into the mans back freezeing him from the inside, This was used to explain "paradoxical warming" when someone is dying of hypothermia they pull thier clothes off to cool down

[@omargoodman2999]

Yup, I was looking to see if someone had brought this up before I did so myself. At a certain point, having your senses bombarded with *"It's Fuckin' Freezing! Get warmed up or you gon' DIE!"* is more distracting than helpful, so the brain just... turns off the annoying alarm. And it's also pulling blood supply in from the extremities and concentrating it in the core to keep vital organs warm longer. This can result in a sudden _apparent_ spike in temperature. But it hasn't changed the fundamental situation, you're still freezing to death. So it's kinda being trapped in a sealed space, running out of oxygen. But with only an hour of breathable air left, you find a few spare oxygen tanks that will give you five extra hours... so you figure, we'll, now that I have so much to spare, I don't have to skip my daily workout. And you start doing your: 100 Push-ups 100 Sit-ups 100 Squats Run in place for 10km And the idea of _freezing to death in a blizzard_ being a waifu is the obvious result of finding dudes fully stripped naked out in the snow after such a storm... people put 2 and 2 together, and got Rule 34.

[@Sigmund_Froid]

The Yuki-Onna! Rejection was never THAT cold! Also, pretty sure the Pokémon Frosslass was inspired by this story, and as it is one of my favourite Ice Types, this has to count for something, right? XD

[@kevinchong5424]

Indeed. You can even see the kimono in her design

[@matthewmuir8884]

Indeed, Froslass was inspired by the Yuki-Onna. There's even a sidequest in Pokémon Legends: Arceus that takes inspiration from this story, where the player can find an ancient journal written by someone who went through this story's events, but with a Froslass.

[@Sigmund_Froid]

@@matthewmuir8884 Oh, that's actually pretty neatl! I still have to play Legends, it seems really cool!

[@EG-hy9mv]

It goes after handsome men and freezes them to use as decor. It's definitely Yuki-onna inspired, if a bit more deranged

[@snowyowl235]

​@EG-hy9mv so Lusamine was taking inspiration from Froslass all along?

[@navs123]

Snow days were really dangerous things back then but now its a vacation, we've progressed well.

[@HyattHyatt3179]

Relatively well. People where I live seem to magically forget that it usually snows at least a little bit every year, and every year they have to close of roads because people forgot what snow is and subsequently lost their ability to drive properly. It's not even because it's slippery or anything like that.

[@SamBrockmann]

You never lived in Minnesota, huh?

[@Alforbia]

I mean, they're a vacation *because* they're super dangerous still. xD

[@eldritchcupcakes3195]

I was promised a snow day today and it didn’t even actually snow until after school was supposed to start

[@xxJETSETxx]

I've never heard of the term "Gunge" before, but now it will forever be a part of my vocabulary.

[@jackukridge5381]

Gunge tanks were a regular feature on UK kids TV in the past. They are as bad as they sound.

[@fredfry5100]

Seriously?😂

[@Munchkin.Of.Pern09]

I grew up with the word “grunge”, which is similar enough to “gunge” that they’re functionally interesting. Edit: Interchangeable. Not interesting. Not sure how that typo happened.

[@Neuvost]

Like Inuit people, Chicago people need extra vocabulary to describe their frozen wasteland.

[@Sojoboscribe]

From and old song my mom taught me (not totally remembered) "In the country, they say the spring begins with the song of the thrush, In the city, you know springs started by the melting of the slush" Oh, cigarette backs and dirty sacks and things that would make you blush It's the start of Spring in the city, it's the melting of the slush."

[@TetsuShima]

Love the great influence Yuki-Onna has on anime/manga culture, with Yukina from "YuYu Hakusho" and Yukio from "Monster Musume" being great examples of characters heavily based on this creature from Japanese folklore.

[@gamewatch6861]

It’s also where the inspiration for Frostlass comes from.

[@amithabraham2224]

Kakuriyo was my first foray into learning about yuki-onna

[@leeshajoi]

She even got her own Pokemon.

[@stevenchoza6391]

Also the inspiration behind Sode no Shirayuki from Bleach.

[@vincentleonard3797]

​@@gamewatch6861 Didn't that one sidequest in Legends: Arceus basically admit that's what they were doing?

[@wewz345]

3:07 Gotta love the subtle heart the tree branches form in the background. Pretty stuff.

[@CelestialAnamoly]

Oh cool! I didn't notice!

[@shadowknight7932]

When I heard that he was about to tell his wife that was totally not the winter spirit in disguise about his encounter I literally went "oh no!" I love the way you drew Yuki-Onna, it is so beautiful and ethereal, but still feeling cold and inhuman

[@usa_py0n]

I love yuki-onna legends! My favorite is the ubume one, where a pregnant mother dies during a blizzard. She haunts the mountains with her baby and asks passersby to hug her child but with every hug the child grows heavier and heavier until the hugger can no longer lift themselves and sinks into the snow.

[@Fralexion]

Ooh, that was the version Bitterkarella's Midnight Pals did!

[@timothymclean]

So the first few dozen huggers get away with the hug, but the last one bears the burden of their kindness?

[@daweaselgeek1430]

Fun fact: The yuki-onna is the inspiration for the Pokémon Froslass. Makes sense that it can learn the attack Draining Kiss by leveling up.

[@matthewmuir8884]

There's even a sidequest in Pokémon Legends: Arceus where the player can find an ancient journal written by someone who went through this story, but with a Froslass.

[@Carewolf]

Frostlass? Sounds a Scottish Yuki-onna

[@nathanyip4377]

@@Carewolf lol

[@nonamegiven202]

always loved the Yuki-Onna story, like sure it's real short/simple but the core concept of "ice ghost was more thirsty than murderous" is just so amusing.

[@matthewmuir8884]

There's a sidequest in Pokémon Legends: Arceus that's inspired by this folktale. In it, the player can find an ancient diary left behind by someone whose life was spared by a Froslass (a Pokémon inspired by the Yuki-Onna) and it's clear from the diary that the guy went through a variation of this story.

[@BJGvideos]

Dude married a Pokémon and had no idea

[@spino-ace]

Dude had 10 kids with a pokemon?

[@matthewmuir8884]

@@spino-ace It's not outright stated, but it is heavily implied during the sidequest, as the player encounters a Froslass that is heavily implied to be the one he unknowingly married, and she's with multiple snorunts (the Pokemon that can evolve into Froslass).

[@spino-ace]

@@matthewmuir8884 doesnt make it less weird tho Thanks for the cool info 👍🏼

[@lylatfox4]

​@matthewmuir8884 it's true, all of it

[@travisherndon94]

Moral of the story, when a beautiful frost breathing yokai woman tell you not to snitch or else, Don't snitch or else.

[@The.Mountain.Flower]

"You'll never believe what happened to that Urashima boy!" Lol

[@matthewlong9369]

I love that the book is literally called "Scary Book"

[@syabilaazri7834]

That Asia for ya.... we at least tell children horror story so that way the kids would listen to grow-ups and at least aware of stranger danger.....

[@ZarlanTheGreen]

...except it isn't called that. It means "Scary *_Story"_* (more like "supernatural story", literally speaking, but it always refers to scary ones)

[@architeuthis3476]

There's a lot more going on in that book than just ghost stories. There are a lot of haikus and essays on nature as well. Its pretty interested, definitely check it out!

[@Just_Some_Guy_with_a_Mustache]

Minokichi: "10 kids? More like Juu-ki-Onna, amiright?" Yuki: "...Heh. Hehehehehe. Okay. You get to live." Da Rude Snowstorms outta there

[@emilyonizuka4698]

this story has a special place in my heart. for one thing, I'm japanese canadian. a snow woman is an easy japanese creature to imagine in canada. also, before I knew what being aroace was, I just assumed I was a cold hearted ice queen. this gave me a liking to characters like the yuki onna and hans christian andersen's the snow queen.

[@TetsuShima]

For those interested, the movie "Dreams" directed by Akira Kurosawa has a segment based on the Yuki-Onna story. There's also a pretty faithful adaptation of the tale made in 1968 callled "The Snow Woman"

[@aaronfletcher8745]

Granted, I haven't seen Dreams, but might you be confusing it with Masaki Kobayashi's Kwaidan (1964), in which the second segment is an adaptation of this tale starring Tatsuya Nakadai?

[@architeuthis3476]

@@aaronfletcher8745 _Kwaidan_ is a crazy good movie! _Hoichi the Earless,_ OMG!

[@sydhenderson6753]

@@aaronfletcher8745 They both have segments involving Yuki-Onna, but this particular story is in "Kwaidan".

[@theanimeunderworld8338]

Thank you anime for showing me what a Yuki-onna is

[@metrux321]

So funny talking about snow, over here we're at the height of summer, always makes me smiles thinking about how different "universal" esxperiences are around the world.

[@wewz345]

Ey, this gives me hope that Red’ll cover other Japanese ghost stories like the rest of Lafcadio Hearn’s ghost stories and the story of Oiwa. Love your work, OSP! 💗💗💗

[@miae7345]

Ahh, Yes, threats of Murder! A great way to have a relationship!

[@timothymclean]

Props the the woodcutter for deciding to just live a normal life instead of trying to pursue the ice woman who threatened to murder him. He tried, anyway.

[@karenroque3583]

I love how this time the person who survived meeting a supernatural entity and would have been spared a lot of grief if he just did what he was told didn’t fail because of temptation or pride but just because he …forgot. I just find that hilariously relatable. I too would forget specific instructions that would probably save my life.

[@shadowldrago]

Props to Red for conveying how ethereally terrifying the Yuki-Onna is.

[@hitetsushiruha8428]

This is my favorite -Onna from Japanese folklore, so you finally doing her is amazing. Thank you for doing it.

[@abthedragon4921]

Maybe it's just my love of anything Japanese combining with my love of anything winter/snow related talking but does anyone else love how stunning Yuki-Onna is animated in some of these frames? 1:51 2:01 2:08 4:05 Not like in a "oh, she's pretty" sense but more of a "wow this is really well drawn" sense.

[@PikaPenny17]

Yeah, Comic Aurora has really had a positive impact on her art.

[@prefertoremainanonymous-vp2gp]

Not to mention 3:28, the lightning in that frame was really good imo

[@batham1185]

One of the biggest takeaways I’ve gotten from this series is that woodcutters are an integral part of Japanese folklore

[@Puhi66]

I like to think of this as a tragic love story more than as a ghost story. The way I think about it is that it's in the very nature of yuki-onna to kill men stuck in a blizzard as an incarnation of winter and cold, but that this one resisted this instinct on behalf of how she likes him initially, then observes him while he recovers and gets his life back on track and falls in love with him for real and then tries to make a full actual marriage work - which she does for several years, if not a decade. But she can't fight her nature entirely and as soon as the contract that allows them this happiness is broken, even if this breach should not matter when looked at logically and critically, they both lose their loved one forever. And she still loves him and their children enough that she makes THEM the condition for sparing his life once more. Or: how relationships between humans and supernatural beings are fragile and often only held together by a promise of little logical sense but plenty of magical significance.

[@josephivenegas]

Remember the 'Tales from the Darkside' version where she's a New York Gargoyle who straight up kills him and takes the kids?

[@Eric_1991]

As soon as she mentioned "don't tell anyone about me* I immediately knew where it was going because of that movie

[@BigTr33]

Thank you! I knew someone else would have remembered this

[@legomech1946]

Yep, same here! Glad I'm not the only one to think of this! @@Eric_1991

[@EHH246]

I know it because it has one of the best practical effects transformations I have seen in a movie when she turns back into a gargoyle!

[@shino4242]

Can I say that I appreciate your song covers in the credits because you speak super clearly so I've learned the proper lyrics to SO many songs thanks to these lol.

[@thewoofalo631]

I was in an online high school for a while and only got to see people outside of my family 4 times a week or so, I would watch your videos with my dad as a interesting conversation starter since he used to be and English teacher and were both into literature, I just wanna say thanks for making such good and fascinating videos, keep it up.

[@Studioyee]

I'm a huge fan of japanese mythology and OSP has been a great source of myths for me. On an unrelated note, Happy lunar new year everyone!

[@notgonnasay09]

I just realized this is the second yokai story on the channel involving a woodcutter falling in love with a yokai. Man, lumberjacks must be built different in Japan.

[@Queenbluestar1]

I've waited so long to see this story covered here! Yuki-onna is one of my favorite stories in general! It definately helps that you can't really watch an anime with even vauge supernatural elements without Yuki-onna showing up at least once.

[@jacobshore5115]

I’ve heard this one before! Yuki-Onna, the snow woman! (It’s too bad her love for him wasn’t stronger than him breaking his word…)

[@BJGvideos]

Technically he didn't though. He only told her.

[@jacobshore5115]

@@BJGvideos and yet she likely never returned to him regardless… (unless there’s some version of this story I don’t know about where she feels bad and comes back to him, especially since he has a lot of kids to look after, and they shouldn’t just have a dad, they’d need their mom too...)

[@Alforbia]

@@BJGvideos She said never to tell anyone. Not never to tell anyone else. That's not a technicality that would work. Although, people saying that he broke his word are also a bit wrong. Dude never promised anything, he was just threatened. xD

[@connorgrynol9021]

Magical creatures with conditional vows have standards too.

[@Ceares]

I mean we have to assume it was or she would have killed him instead as promised. Her kids are at least half snow spirit, she could have just taken them and raised them on her own after his death.

[@JohnSmith-bn5mi]

I guess she meant "never tell this story ever" and not "never tell anyone this story".

[@gokbay3057]

I mean, she said anyone, not anyone else. So telling it to her still counts as breaking his word.

[@ZarlanTheGreen]

@@gokbay3057 ... He didn't know it was her, so that still counts as telling someone else!

[@Cangeltibon]

He didn’t know it was her, so as far as he knows he’s telling someone else.

[@nathanyip4377]

yep :

[@liruenth]

In/Spectre did the yuki onna story in its season 2 and it was actually a nice romance story with everyone getting a happy ending.

[@marc-ericleblanc-seguin4514]

It was so wholesome

[@Sojoboscribe]

They did it in Inuyasha as well, if I recall.

[@kamikazelemming1552]

Love that one. It's great how the guy walks up to the Yuki-Onna after reuniting with her, tells her the story, and when she chastises him by saying she was planning to him if he told, he turns it around by saying, "I didn't tell anyone. I was just reminiscing with the person who was there." Really hope we get a season 3. There is still plenty of material they can adapt.

[@zero69kage]

Winter is actually my favorite time of year. Yeah, Winter has it's down sides. But I love how the season feels and at times it looks absolutely beautiful. Also, no bugs, I hate bugs!

[@domidium]

He should have coaxed the yuki-onna herself to reveal her identity. Something like "honey, is there something you're not telling me?"

[@dewmilk17]

I LOVE the folklore videos Edit: THIS ONE IS NO EXCEPTION

[@thomasswafford250]

The movie Kwaidan, made in 1964 is a collection of four of the tales in the original book. It is absolutely beautiful and eerie at the same time.

[@marthes01]

Kinda like how this was handled in In/ Spectre, where the the yuki-onna started with the 'i told you if youtold anyone else id kill you', and the dude replied 'but i only ever told you, specifically because i knew it was you, so i technically havent broken my promise'.

[@FanOfMostEverything]

"That nice Urashima boy met his wife fishing." I understood that reference.

[@cernunnos8344]

The OG "I didn't really want that relationship and I'm going to use anything to justify abandoning you with the kids"

[@EmmaBonn96]

Between Froslass, Rosario Vampire, and my general sapphic monster lover tendencies I love the Yuki onna

[@clockspur8091]

I was ITCHING for some good yōkai related story-telling, thanks Red!

[@ToonedMinecraft]

Wow, that song at the end is so great!

[@DadCanInJapan]

Love the Urashima Tarou reference. If we had a daughter, I wanted to name her Yuki but my wife was firmly against that because of this story. Not even with different kanji. And Yuka and Yuko were too close, as well.

[@gutsmasterson2488]

A wild Froslass has appeared.

[@GodOfGunz]

”February when the snow disapears” Laughs in swedish

[@John_Weiss]

0:55 I have that book! No wonder I recognized the words, "Yuki-Onna" when they came up in my notifications! I probably read that story, like, 30 years ago, and have since forgotten all about it.

[@merrittanimation7721]

Meeting a woman named “Snow” right after meeting a supernatural snow woman is much like meeting a guy called Wolfgang after a werewolf encounter. Yes it’s a normal name and could be a complete coincidence but you should probably be more open to considering the association.

[@Rixec2]

I've been waiting so long for my favorite! I love the Yuki-Onna and seeing her in your style was as gorgeous as I knew she would be! :D

[@zenfrodo]

The first part of the tale describes sleep paralysis (aka "the old hag") exactly! Suddenly waking but being unable to move or speak, with the strong feeling that *something* bad was in the room with you. If you somehow managed to move or speak, it vanished. (I had attacks of that a lot when I was younger, and it was always terrifying.) It's supposedly common across cultures -- there's paintings of demons & witches sitting on folks' chests, for example. Might be an interesting folklore thing to cover in the future, Red. 😁

[@esleynopemos3470]

Always on point with your musical covers in the outros. Cold as ice, indeed.

[@belindaluna2067]

I always liked the idea that the Yuki-Onna was a variety of grim reaper, (one who deals exclusively in victims of the cold and snow) who took the other woodcutter because he froze to death. (Depending on the circumstances, sleeping in the snow _is_ supposed to be a very bad idea.)

[@alexanderwolf3893]

I was super surprised to see you didn't already have a yuuki onna video! Thank you for doing one of my favorite folktales!

[@ObisonofObi]

Was waiting to see when red would do this myth lol. I like to describe the Yuki-Onna as delightfully creepy lol.

[@bluntbumblebee6150]

I saw the title and immediately started freaking out (excitedly). I did a presentation on this in my AP Literature class so it was nice to see this on the channel!! Thank you for the amazing content!!

[@joegiles7785]

Interesting as always. It reminds me of Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990). A man sees a gargoyle tear apart a few people and promises never to spill the beans. He meets a hot woman and they have kids, only when he spilled to the beans to her - it turned out worse. The kids turn into gargoyles and leave with there mother after she kills him. I also remember a similar story but the bride was Kitsune, instead of a Yuki-Onna.

[@architeuthis3476]

That segment of _Tales from the Dark Side_ was actually an adaptation of the Yuki-Onna story as portrayed in the 1962 film _Kwaidan,_ which is one of the best movies I've ever seen. The segment _Hoichi the Earless_ alone is one of the best pieces of cinema ever made. Definitely check it out!

[@WagMaster42]

As wonderful asthe stories and myths you share in these videos are, somehow my favorite part is still the songs you choose for the credits

[@robertgronewold3326]

In another version of this story, she didn't leave at the end, because he pointed out that he guessed who she was, and he thus hadn't broken his deal. Then upon the day of his death of old age, a snowstorm strikes the village and she just sadly wanders off into it, never to be seen by her family again.

[@animationdude9]

I just wanna say thank you so freaking much for talking about one of my favorite Yokai of all time! Always gets me hyped to see people dive deeper into Yokai lore

[@tanimation7289]

A tale in Tales from the Darkside has the same plot. Also in a some versions on the story the girl kills the guy on the spot for revealing the secret and goes out into the magic woods with her children.

[@voltsiano116]

"Hey, babe. Are you a snowstorm? Because your beauty is giving me chills."

[@Kemot300]

Is it just me or did she just used the situation to leave the husband and the kids because she was getting tired? Since technically he didn't tell anyone but her, and she already knew it - she was the bloody perpetrator of that situation!

[@haberak3310]

It's really gotta be appreciated how far Red's art has come over nearly the past decade. I know she doesn't take too much pride in the art she did in the Illiad video, but it is still charming. However this, with the design, the detail, the lighting, it blows the Illiad video out of the water, and this is her standard level of work now. Really impressive.

[@YouveBeenMegged]

Hello? New OSP video, about one of my favorite Japanese stories no less?! Today is a good day.

[@vincenttorrijos9680]

Aside from the encapsulating beauty of the Yuki-Onna likely representing how snowy landscapes are as beautiful as they are harsh and deadly, the you could pretty easily interpret this as a really simple folktale where the moral is to never break a promise (even though he technically didn't unless she MEANT to include herself, but that's the kind of thing you specify when making an agreement).

[@earlwajenberg]

Very like the tale of Melusine and a bunch of other stories in which a guy is told to keep his supernatural bride's secret or else, and of course we inevitably get "or else" or we wouldn't have heard the story. Never knew it got all the way to Japan (or all the way to Europe, depending on where it started). Thank you!

[@3_14pie]

I love how the game of telephone of oral tradition strips folklore of all narrative logic

[@Werelight]

I learned about Yuki-Onna because of the top-tier fanfiction, “My Hero School Adventure is All Wrong, As Expected”

[@HannahDaniel-zg3xs]

You know its a good day when these guys post.

[@Rutgerman95]

And more the important day in February than Valentine's Day is the day after that when all that heart-shaped chocolate and candy will be on big clearance sales as stores hurry to get it all out the door so they can put up the first Easter products

[@TapperPlushMom]

Granted, they don't always WAIT for the Valentines Day stuff to be gone before bringing out the Easter stuff - sometimes they're both out at once. But yeah, holiday stuff frequently isn't on sale until AFTER the holiday it's initially for.

[@myrehmisk]

Yes! It's just like the day after Halloween only I care way less about the change of decor.

[@PipPanoma]

3 years ago, you did the snow queen and I expected the yuki-onna. Now you've finally done it!

[@EternityKingdomsHeadHoncho]

You've already talked about an ice lady, Red; let it go!

[@zer0w0lf94]

You're really proud of that one, aren't you?

[@arthurdias6860]

But it is a different ice lady, let Red be into the unknow

[@ChristopherHill-nt9ir]

Stop making frozen puns

[@arthurdias6860]

@@ChristopherHill-nt9ir why? The cold bothers you in anyway?

[@joeycubed5888]

REALLY wanna hear a full cover of Cold As Ice from Red after hearing that outro now. That was *crisp.*

[@cameronjensen9397]

wow....literally got here just as the video got posted a minute ago. Neato

[@christophermortimer2380]

I have a tabletop RPG character that's the son of a yuki-onna and a hunter. Being a dutiful son, there was a fun session where he introduced his girlfriend to both of his parents in turn- first, going to his father's village, then trekking up the mountain to the frozen cave where his mom could be found.

[@jeffreybogard2713]

Yes, February is often gray and hideous. Thank you!

[@mamdhata1614]

Yuki or Human wives - women have long memories and dont forget to remind you at all😊

[@HeraclesN-fp1bw]

Yuki Onna is one of my favorite Youkai from Japanese mythology

[@Urspo]

thank you! I've been hoping for a long time you would do this one!

[@QuigleTheGnome]

I didn’t know the lady that Beatles fans hate has pre existing folklore

[@timothymclean]

No, no, you're thinking of the Yoko-Onna. Completely different legend.