10 Hauntingly Beautiful & Terrifying Female Yokai | Japanese Folklore | Japanese Mythology Explained

the yo-kai an incredibly diverse group of creatures and demons from Japanese folklore these are supernatural beings who walk the thin line between the Ethereal Beauty And The Haunting darkness of our world among this group the female yo-kai stand out as being incredibly beautiful and hauntingly terrifying in Japan coast to coast and mountains to Forest these yo-kai terrorized loved and assisted people from all walks of life join us as we delve into the realm of these ethereal beings where Beauty intertwines with horror and where every story holds a lesson about the complexities of life love and Vengeance just as a heads up the Kitsune will not be included in this video since I already have a whole video on them Link in the the top right hand corner without further Ado this is 10 hauntingly beautiful female yo-kai from Japanese folklore yukana the snow woman in the heart of Winter's Embrace where the snow blankets the Earth the yukana or snow woman stalks her prey this yo-kai is a vision of Otherworldly Beauty she possesses hair as dark as the night sky and eyes that pierce through the Blizzard's Veil her skin Untouched by age Rivals the snow itself in its Purity yet her touch is death a cold so penetrating that it steals the very warmth of Life the yukana prays on those lost within the snowstorms of the Japanese Alps a silent Huntress near Mountain paths laying weight for weary Travelers her method is merciless with an icy breath she draws the life force from her victims leaving them Frozen statues in her wake she is also said to follow Travelers breaking into their homes at night and Flash freezing the inhabitants yet within this spectral figure lies a paradox she Harbors the capacity for love so profound that it can stay her hand Legends tell of yukana who have spared their intended victims and some have even taken human husbands attempting to live out mortal lives these unions however are doomed the passage of time unveils her true nature shattering The Fragile veneer of normaly and ending their shared happiness one such tale recounts an elderly man running an inn with his wife in nigata a young woman beautiful and alone sought Refuge one snowy night she warmed herself by the fire and ate with the inkeeper and his wife she was sweet and charming and extremely beautiful so it was a surprise when in the middle of the night during a fierce blizzard she stood up and proceeded to leave the Inn the inkeeper told her not to go outside and took her hand to hold her back it was as cold as ice merely touching it sucked all the warmth from the inke Keeper's body as he tried to keep the girl in the house her entire body turned into a fine icy mist and shot up the chimney and out into the night another story speaks of a man from Yamagata who claimed a yukana as his wife his wife was beautiful with piercing eyes and skin as white as a marble statue while he loved to take long hot baths every night his wife always refused to bathe this was very concerning one particularly cold and snowy night he insisted that his wife take a bath fearing that she would freeze to death in the cold she protested but there was no reasoning with the man finally she acquiesced when he went in to check on her a few minutes later all he found in the tub were half melted icicles Kushi Sakana the slit mouthed woman shrouded in darkness the coochi Sakana or slit mouthed woman wanders her presence a chilling echo of a Life marred by violence she is the ghost of a woman who was once beautiful but now bore the grotesque mark from her mutilation a mouth slit from ear to ear she haunts the dimly lit places and Alleyways in order to wreak Vengeance on the world she appears at night to Lone Travelers on the road covering her Grizzly mouth with a cloth mask a fan or a handkerchief her approach is as Sinister as her intent to those she encounters she poses a deceptively simple question am I beautiful if the victim answers yes she pulls off her mask and reveals a red blood dripping grotesque mouth then she asks in a Grizzly voice if they still think she is beautiful if her victim answers no or screams in Terror she slashes him from ear to ear in an imitation of her own mutilation if he lies and answers yes a second time she walks away only to follow her Target home and Slaughter him brutally that night her Origins are as tragic as her existence they are the spirits of the Dead who were killed in particularly violent manners such as abused wives tortured captives and defeated enemies and who often do not rest well the kuchis Sak Ona is thought to be one such woman however during the Ido period a large number of kuchisake Ona attacks were blamed on shape-changed kitsun playing pranks on young men during the 20th century the blame began to be placed on ghosts serial killers and simple Mass hysteria this resulted in an explosion of kuchisake on a sightings over Japan over the years clever young people claim to have outsmarted kuchisake an by delivering quick confusing answers or by throwing money or hard candy at them this buys enough time to escape from the kuchisake Ona's wrath and lose her in the darkness rokurokubi the long neck Yokai by day they walk among us indistinguishable from any other beautiful woman but as night descends the rurak Kuby reveal their true form as their bodies fall asleep their necks stretch to incredible lengths allowing them to continue exploring praying and instilling fear their appetites vary from regular Foods consumed by humans and the blood of small animals to the oil lamps where they would use their incredible long tongues to lick up the oil their intent behind this is to satiate their hunger and to disturb the Peace of those around them unlike most Yokai which are born as monsters rokurokubi are former humans who were transformed by a curse resulting from some evil action or misdeed perhaps they sinned Against The Gods or nature or perhaps they were unfaithful to their husbands in many cases however their husbands or fathers were the ones who actually committed the sin and by some cruel twist of fate the men escaped punishment and the women received the curse instead which explains why the rokurokubi curse only affects women there are many tales about the rokurokubi one such tale involves a lord who noticed that the oil in his lamps was Vanishing at an alarming rate because of this he suspected one of his servant girls might be a rokurokubi he decided to spy upon the girl after she had fallen asleep he crept into her room and watched over her soon he noticed Vapors and ectoplasm forming around her chest and neck a little while later the servant girl rolled over in her sleep however only her body moved the head stayed in its place and the neck lay stretched out between the two the next day he fired her she was fired from every place at which she subsequently worked the poor girl never understood why she had such bad luck with her employment it appears that not all rokurokubi are aware of their curse as she never found out that she was one of them another old tale from tmy Province tells of a monk who eloped with a young lady named ootu while traveling ootu became sick treating her would have used up all of their travel money so instead of ending a poor the monk murdered ootu and stole the remaining money on his travels he stayed at an inn owned by a man with a beautiful daughter The Wicked Monk shared a bed with the inke Keeper's daughter and during the night her neck stretched and her face changed into that of ootu she angrily accused him of murdering her the next morning the monk regretting his evil Deeds confessed the murder of oyatu to the inkeeper the monk also told the inkeeper what he had seen the night before the inkeeper confessed that he too had murdered his wife for her money he he used the money to build his Inn and as a punishment his own daughter was transformed into a rokurokubi afterwards the monk rejoined his temple built a grave for ootu and prayed for her soul every day what happened to the inke Keeper's daughter is never mentioned fura kuchana the two- mouthed woman in households where food mysteriously vanishes and the women consume nothing the presence of a futak kuchana the two- mouthed woman might be suspected seemingly normal at first glance these beautiful women Harbor a secret that lies hidden beneath their flowing hair a second mouth grotesquely alive with lips teeth and a tongue all ravenous and unyielding this second mouth feeds voraciously using the woman's hair as tentacles to seize food consuming far more than any ordinary person could in the folktales of Japan's Eastern regions futakuchi are most often thought to be shape-shifted Yama uba an Old Mountain Witch posing as young women in the western regions they are frequently shape-shifted Kumo or magical spiders other origin stories state that these women were cursed for their greed or wickedness or as Transformations brought about by profound Envy yet regardless of their Origins the futakuchi an are unified in their true nature to serve as a punishment upon the greedy men or women for wickedness and extreme frugality one story tells of how in a small rural Village in Fukushima there lived a stingy Miser because he could not bear the thought of paying for food to support a family The Miser lived entirely by himself one day he met a woman who did not eat anything at all and he immediately took her for his wife The Miser was thrilled with her because she never ate a thing and was still a hard worker however his stores of rice steadily decreased and he could not figure why for he never saw his wife eat one day The Miser pretended to leave for work in truth he stayed behind to spy on his new wife as The Miser watched from a hidden location his wife untied her hair and revealed a second mouth on the back of her head complete with ghastly lips and teeth her hair reached out with tentacle like stalks and began to scoop rice balls into the second mouth which CED out with pleasure in a vulgar raspy voice The Miser was horrified and resolved to Force his wife as soon as possible however she learned of his plan before he could act on it and trapped him in a bathtub and carried him off into the mountains The Miser managed to escape he hid in a heavily scented Lily Marsh where the futakuchi could not find him another story tells of a wicked stepmother who always gave plenty of food to her own daughter but never enough to her stepdaughter gradually the step-daughter grew sicker and sicker until she starved to death 49 days later the wicked stepmother was afflicted with a terrible headache the back of her head split open and lips teeth and a tongue formed this new mouth achd with debilitating pain until it was fed and it shrieked in the voice of the Dead stepdaughter from then on the stepmother always had to feed both of her mouths and always felt the hunger pangs of the stepdaughter she murdered jumo the entangling bride the Jor gumo a creature of exquisite beauty and deadly intent resides in the realm where the mundane crosses into the mystical in Japan some spiders are known to possess amazing Supernatural Powers one of these is the jumo known as the golden orb weaver in English the Jor gumo is the most well-known of the arachnid yo-kai and is found all over the Japanese archipelago jumo live solitary lives both both as spiders and as yo-kai when a golden orb weaver reaches 400 years of age it develops magical powers and begins to feed on human prey instead of insects jorogumo make their nests in caves forests or empty houses in towns possessing a cunning intelligence and a cold heart they see humans as nothing more than insects to feed on they are skillful deceivers and Powerful shape shifters usually appearing as young seductive and stunningly beautiful women joro's favorite prey are young handsome men looking for love or other favors when a jorogumo spots a man she desires she lures him into her home with Promises of affection he is never seen again jorogumo spins silk threads strong enough to ens snare a grown man so that he cannot Escape they also have powerful Venom that can slowly weaken a man day by day allowing the spider to savor her Vic victim's long and painful death jorogumo can control other lesser spiders even employing fire breathing spiders to burn down the homes of any suspicious meddlers they are such skillful predators that a yugumo can operate like this for years and years even in the middle of a busy City piling up hundreds of desiccated skeletons of foolish young men while in the modern day jorogumo means entangling bride which is only a coverup in its Inception jumo originally meant hor spider nuana the wet woman nuana or wet woman possesses serpent-like bodies and vampiric tendencies they haunt The Shores and rivers praying on the blood and life force of humans they are most commonly found on the shores of the island of kushu but there are stories of nurana encounters as far north as nigata and as far east as Fukushima their appearance a mix of horror and Allure disguises their true nature allowing them to employ deceit over strength they often masquerade as distressed beautiful women seeking the sympathy of passers by only to ens snare them in a deadly grip once their guard is down there are two variations of this yo-kai one without arms which resembles an enormous sea serpent with a woman's head and one with humanlike arms aside from this difference the two look and act in exactly the same manner their faces though beautiful are betray by their serpent-like features such as a forked tongue they have long black hair which sticks to their dripping bodies their name comes from the fact that they always appear soaking wet while physically much stronger than a human Nana prefer not to rely on brute force and use trickery and guile to catch their prey their most often tactic is to stay near the water on a Coast or by by a riverbank they then disguise themselves as a distressed woman carrying a bundled up baby they cry out for help from Fishers Sailors or anybody passing by when the prey approaches anur Anna will plead with their victim to hold her baby for just a moment so that she can rest if he agrees and takes the bundle the baby becomes as heavy as a boulder the victim is unable to move the nurana is then free to attack her helpless victim feeding by draining his blood with her long Serpentine tongue thorana frequently appear together and cooperate with another yo-kai called the usion and as they inhabit the same environments and share the same diet tarona the icicle woman born from the loneliness of winter and the longing for an eligible bachelor the tarona emerges as a spirit of fleeting connections and inevitable parting their appearance akin to the yukana contradicts their warmth uncharacteristic of their icy Origins it is said that when a man gazes longingly at a strong beautiful icicle hanging from a roof and reflects upon his loneliness a tsurara Ona may appear shortly afterwards on the surface atsura Raa appears to be an ordinary though exceptionally beautiful woman they are very similar in appearance and behavior to yukana which inhabit the same areas during wintertime when the winter snows melt and icicles can no longer be seen hanging from roofs the Sara on disappear along with the cold weather despite their icy Origins Tara Anna can be quite warm and loving Spirits in fact many stories of tsara an involve one which has fallen in love with and married a human these marriages invariably end in tragedy the beautiful bride inevitably leaves when the spring comes leaving her mate confused and heartbroken and any future encounters the following winter usually do not end well for either party because they look and behave like ordinary human women it is often very difficult to identify aurar Ona one recognizable warning sign is an unwillingness to enter a bath occasionally stories tell of a woman who refuses to take a bath no matter how much her husband pressures her eventually tired of fighting she relents and enters the bath when the husband checks on her later all he sees are a few tiny shards of ice floating in the tub and his wife is nowhere to be found there are countless Tales of tsurara an they are found in every region where snowfalls and each one has its own unique twist however there are a few common motifs found in most versions of the story many of them are similar or even identical to yukana stories themes of Love marriage and betrayal are common one iconic example is from Ichigo Province modern-day nigata a young single man gazed out his window on a cold snowy night he sat there wistfully admiring the lovely winter scene he wished in his heart that 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 it was as beautiful and clear as ice she asked the man if she could stay the night since the snowstorm had become too Fierce for her to continue traveling the young man of course accepted and he was delighted to see the woman's face was as beautiful as her voice he worked hard to make sure her stay was as enjoyable as possible months pass and love blossomed between them a love as deep and consuming as the winter itself they marry promising to be together forever and finding happiness in each other's company however the man was was oblivious to the inevitable change that was about to come as spring arrives she disappears leaving the young man to face the thaw alone his heart as empty as the branches that once held icicles over time the young man's broken heart healed and he remarried a young woman from his village the following winter during a snowstorm the young man found himself looking out the window at the long icicles hanging from his roof suddenly there was a knock at the door the woman returns standing at his doorstep as beautiful as she had always been her reappearance brought Joy confusion anger and then sorrow As Old Wounds are reopened the man said he searched every day for her but she vanished without a trace the woman said that people have different circumstances but they promised to love each other forever and yet he had remarried the beautiful woman left the house with a sad look on her face the young man started after her when suddenly there was a voice from inside the house it was his new wife asking what was going on he told her it was nothing and to stay inside the love between the man and the terara Anna once as solid as the icicles was now A Memory melting away in a tragic twist of fate there was a loud crash followed by a shriek near the front of the house the new wife ran to the front door to see what had happened there lying in the front yard was her husband he was dead pierced through the brain by an enormous icicle which had fallen from the roof hashihime the lady of the bridge dwelling by the old ancient Bridges where history Whispers through the steps the hashihime Reigns Supreme the hashihime also called The Bridge princesses were seen as both goddesses and demons they were beautiful but extremely jealous individuals they watched over their domains with a fierce devotion they were most commonly cloaked in white robes their faces painted with white paint and carried candles with them this was a ceremonial outfit that was used to perform curses on people if one Praises or speaks positively about another Bridge while on top of a Hashi heim's Bridge or if one recites lines from certain no plays that feature a woman's wrath as the main theme something terrible is likely to happen to that person despite their fearsome nature they are highly honored by the people who live near nearby and shrines are established in their honor near the bridges they inhabit in times of War residents will beseech their local hashihime to guard the bridge against Invaders in times of Peace hashihime are goddess of separation and severing and are asked to Aid people in things such as breakups divorce and severing bad luck so strong is their power of severing that it is considered taboo for lovers to pass in front of a hashihime shrine together or for wedding processions to pass in front of one if newlyweds need to cross a bridge inhabited by a hashihime they will instead pass Underneath It On A Boat rather than risk cursing their marriage the most famous hashihime story comes from tsugi noaki in the tale of the hiiki and is retold in the nopl kaawa a woman visited the kiuna ginja Shrine in Kyoto filled with rage and jealousy towards her ex-husband who had thrown her away for another woman night after night she visited the shrine praying to the gods and Shrine there to turn her into a powerful demon the woman wanted nothing else other than to see her ex-husband destroyed even at the cost of her own life after seven nights of pilgrimage her prayers were answered the gods told her that if she immersed herself in the uji river for 21 nights she would become a living demon the woman did as she was told she dawned a white robe and tied her hair up into five horns she painted her face and covered her body in Crimson dye she placed an upturned trivet on her head and attached torches to each foot she lit a torch on both ends and placed it in her mouth she immersed herself in the uji river and for 21 days she kindled the hatred in her heart then just as the gods told her after 21 days she transformed into a terrible demon with supreme power she had become the hashihime of uji that night her husband awoke from a horrible dream with a premise of danger he quickly sought out the famous abonos SE SE recognized the dream as a sign that the man's former wife would come and destroy the couple that very night and promised to save them he went to their house recited magical prayers and crafted two kadiro magical paper doll representations of the man and his wife meant to be used as substitutionary targets for the hashim's rage that night as SI had predicted icted the demon appeared she attacked the two kashiro instead of the real couple and sami's Magic worked her power was reflected back upon her and she was driven away the demon woman realizing that she could not overcome Si's magic vanished threatening that she would come back another time yamim the Mountain's mysterious maidens deep within the mountains where civilization Fades Into The Mists the yamim or Mountain princess reside although their appearance varies from account to account they usually take the form of beautiful long-haired fair skinned young women they usually appear half naked in tattered Rags or in clothing woven from grass or bark but sometimes they wear 12 layered kimono feeding on human blood they are as merciless as the Wilderness they inhabit they're Allure a trap for the uny as they dwell deep in the mountains far from human settlements they consumed raw frogs and snakes however despite their Solitude they prefer to feed upon human blood the yamim have beautiful singing voices and they love to laugh it is said that those who hear their laughter will die or be driven insane by it yamim Tales are found all over the country especially in tohoku shikoku kushu and okama they and similar strange mountain people appear in numerous Edo period and earlier ghost story collections in one of these Tales a woman who was traveling this road encountered a yahimi with tangled hair so long that it touched the ground the yahimi laughed at the woman and the woman screamed so loudly that the yahimi ran off however unbeknownst to the woman her blood had already been drained when the yahimi was laughing at her and she died shortly after in another Tale in the village of Yoshida on yakushima 18 young men climbed to the top of the mountain to make an offering of the year's first harvest to the gods the sun set before they reached the top so they decided to spend the night in a mountain hut early the next morning Before Sunrise one of the young men woke up to cook rice for the group he saw a strange woman appear and stradle the men one by one as they slept the cook hid in the shadows before long all of the young men except for the cook were dead their blood drained away UMO the sea wife beneath the waves where the ocean's heart beats with a rhythm ancient and deep the iobo or sea wife dwell these creatures half woman half fish are the spirits of the sea their forms a haunting blend of human Grace and the wild Majesty of the ocean their skin is scaly like a fish and their fingers and toes are webbed like a water fowls and resemble fins their teeth are sharp and Brilliant like a sharks they are incredibly strong and very dangerous omobo spend most of their time in the oceans however they are able to survive on land for several days without returning to Sea omobo are often thought to be the reincarnated spirits of women who drowned in the sea they are also sometimes said to be the wives of Umi bosu another sea Yokai the stories of the omobo are as varied as the Seas they inhabit from the coasts of shimane to the distant doors of the sanriku their Tales weave a complex Narrative of Life Death and the Eternal cycle of the tides folk tales from fishing villages describe omobo as fearsome Predators who kill and eat humans for pleasure however this is not always the case while they do prey on humans it appears that they do have a sense of compassion as well and can occasionally show kindness towards humans in one tale two fishermen become lost to the Sea leaving their wives to mourn their disappearance anumi Yobo stumbles upon the bodies of the two fishermen and retrieve them she then disguises herself as a woman and delivers a package to the two grieving widows when the wives open the packages inside were the severed heads of their drowned husbands the women screamed in horror and were so overcome with grief that they threw themselves into the sea and drowned it is said that afterwards they became um Yobo themselves the best known umin Yobo story comes from the village of urui in shamani an old man was asked by a friend to house it while he was away the old man had done this many times and was used to it however while half dozing the man suddenly felt the strange sensation that he was being watched he awoke and looked towards the window where for a brief moment he caught a glimpse of a pair of strange and unsettling eyes watching him the eyes quickly vanished Into the Night night after that the old man felt suddenly overcome with fear he hid himself in the closet and held his breath a moment later the old man heard somebody enter the house he slid the closet door open a crack and peaked into the room he saw a woman with long hair except her body was covered in scales and she had webbed hands and feet he realized that the creature who had been watching him was an omobo the omobo was carrying a red-faced newborn human baby in one arm the old man watched as she entered the kitchen and began to Snoop around she approached a barrel of pickled fish which had a heavy Stone placed on top of it to keep the lid sealed while still carrying the human baby she effortlessly lifted and tossed away the stone with one hand she grabbed webbed handful after webbed handful of pickled fish and gleefully swallowed them whole her sharp teeth glimmered when she had eaten all all of the fish she bit into the human baby and quickly devoured that too the um Yobo finished up all the remaining bits of pickled fish and human baby then began to scan the house with her Fierce eyes she was looking for the old man to cleanse her pallet the old man remained hidden and after a while the umin Yobo left the house and vanished into the night as we reached the end of our journey through the mysterious and captivating world of female yo-kai it's clear that these entities are much more than mere Tales of fear and Beauty each story from the Frost kissed yukana to the enigmatic um Yobo carries with it a piece of Japan's Rich folklore reflecting the complexities of human emotions the natural world and the Unseen forces that shape our lives these Yokai with their haunting narratives and ethereal presence serve as a bridge to the Past offering insight into the fears desires and moral lessons of those who lived long before us they remind us of the delicate balance between the known and the unknown the seen and the Unseen urging us to look beyond the surface and appreciate the depth of our own world as we conclude this video Let's carry with us not just the chills and thrills of these Tales but also a deeper appreciation for The Art of Storytelling and the universal truths it unveils the world of yo-kai with all its beauty and Terror invites us to ponder the mysteries of existence and the enduring power of myth to connect us to the very essence of life thank you all for watching all the way to the end I hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed making it what did you think did I miss any details let me know in the comments below if this is your first time watching one of my videos then welcome to the channel I hope I earned a like and subscription in your eyes if not that's that's okay I'll keep making videos until I do earn it if you're a returning viewer thank you so much for your continued support I truly appreciate all the views likes subscriptions and kind words and messages without you this channel wouldn't be here today that's it for now I hope to see you all in the next one [Music]

Channel: Mythical Arcana

Views: 5,310

Keywords: mythology, mythology explained, mythology podcast, Japanese Mythology Explained, Japanese Mythology Stories, Japanese Mythology, Japanese mythology, yokai, japanese yokai, female yokai, japanese yokai mythology, japanese yokai stories, japanese yokai folklore, terrifying yokai, beautiful yokai, yokai stories, yokai woman, 10 yokai, 10 terrifying yokai, scary stories, scary yokai, japanese scary stories, japanese monsters, Legendary creature, japanese creatures, creatures

Id: M2-CYxTz3hk

Length: 33min 45sec (2025 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 17 2024