The Snow Maiden's child is called Snow Boy, and in Japan it is believed that Snow Boy is a youkai who brings the first snow of winter. Snow Maidens are cold by nature, and are subordinates of the mountain gods, who are in charge of the winter snow.

The three emotions of fragility, femininity, and sadness make up the soul of the Snow Maiden, which is exactly how the ice and snow of nature react in the delicate character of the Japanese.

The juvenile Snow Maiden is harmless to humans, and the adult Snow Maiden will freeze her favorite human male forever and bring it back to the cave where she lives to be placed for him to see.

It is claimed that the first person to see the Snow Maiden was a mage named Soki at the end of the Muromachi period of the footbasin, who was a famous renge master of the footbasin at the time (renge is a literary form of the transition from haiku to waka).

He claimed to have seen the Snow Maiden in the mountains of Echigo Province (now Niigata Prefecture in the six northeastern prefectures of the foot basin), and recorded it in his book "The Tale of the Soki Nations", which is also the first book to record the legend of the Snow Maiden in the foot basin, so it is estimated that the snow girl "existed" in Japan for at least 500 years.

There is also a statement that the earliest legend of the Snow Maiden is recorded in Koizumi Yakumo's strange tales, which is not accurate, because Koizumi Yakumo was originally a Greek, and later became a naturalized Japanese citizen, more than 400 years after Sotsumi-neshi was born.

Long before Koizumi Yakumo arrived at the foot basin, the legend of the Snow Maiden was already spread among Japanese folklore.

In the footbasin folk, the older generation of people believe in the legends of some gods and monsters, and believe that the disasters of nature are controlled by the gods and ghosts, so there is a talk of a snow girl in the snow.

Legend has it that during the Heian period of the ancient footbasin, there was a father and son who lived in the deep mountains and forests of Echigo Province (today's Niigata Prefecture, a six prefectures in northeastern Japan), and they made a living by cutting wood and opening dry firewood shops.

One day, the woodcutter father and son were in a snowstorm while cutting firewood in the mountains, and they were forced to stay overnight in a small cabin in the mountains.

The cabin was empty, and the father and son settled down in peace.

Unexpectedly, this small cabin turned out to be the boudoir of the Snow Maiden, and in the middle of the night, a beautiful woman wearing a white kimono with snow-white skin broke in from outside the house.

The little woodcutter was awakened, and saw that it was the legendary Snow Girl who trembled and couldn't move, and watched the Snow Girl walk to the old woodcutter, bend down, and blow a breath, and the old woodcutter instantly became "chilled".

Then, the Snow Maiden walked up to the woodcutter. Maybe it was because she saw that the little woodcutter was handsome, and the Snow Maiden's killing intent suddenly decreased, and she just warned the little woodcutter: "If you tell anyone what happened tonight, I will kill you." ”

With that, he disappeared into the blizzard. A few years later, on another snowy night, a beautiful young girl came to the little woodcutter's house and begged him to take him in.

It is probably another cliché such as looking for relatives and not meeting and exhausting the entanglement, so please be merciful to the big officials and take in the cheap concubines, and the cheap concubines will be used as cattle and horses to repay their husbands.

The little woodcutter gladly accepted, and soon the concubine changed from being a cow and a horse to being a wife, and finally a child mother.

Because the little woodcutter's wife is beautiful and virtuous, and her complexion is not like the local village girl at all, the little woodcutter's affair has become the envy of everyone in the village.

It's a pity that it was another snowy night, and the little woodcutter who had been hurt by the Snow Girl's weak heart never forgot the nightmare of his father's tragic transformation into "Ice", so he told his wife about the terrible experience of that year.

Unexpectedly, as soon as the little woodcutter's voice fell, the beautiful and virtuous wife suddenly became the hideous snow girl of the year.

I saw the Snow Maiden warn the little woodcutter fiercely: "I warned you back then that if you dare to speak out, I will kill you." For our son's sake, I will spare you one more time. You have to take good care of your son, or I'll come back and kill you. ”

After speaking, he disappeared into the wind and snow like back then. Since then, the little woodcutter's wife has never been seen again.

There is a rumor that Snow Maiden sometimes separates men and women who are in love.

In one village, there is a pair of young people who are in love with each other.

The man once met the Snow Maiden in the snowy mountains, and was afraid that he would be killed by the Snow Maiden, so he avoided looking at the Snow Maiden's face, and knelt down and begged the Snow Maiden to let him live at any cost.

The Snow Maiden smiled and said to him for a long time: If only you didn't regret it.

The man bowed and bowed to the Snow Girl, expressing his willingness. The Snow Maiden held the man's face with one hand, and the ice cube with the other hand and put it into the man's eyes. The man returned to the village safely, and the Snow Girl did not test him with the usual means.

But the man no longer knows the woman he has always loved. No matter how much the woman calls again and again, the cold eyes are the only and eternal response of the man.

There are many legends about the Snow Maiden, and it is said that she was afraid of heat and fire.

One day, after a single man had broken the icicles that had been tied to the eaves, a girl suddenly came to him in the middle of the night and asked to marry him.

Due to the cold weather, in order to please the girl, the man specially boiled a bucket of water so that she could take a bath.

The girl refused, but she could not resist it, so she jumped into the hot water, and disappeared in the hot water, leaving only slender pieces of icicles to float.

On a snowy night, a girl came to the home of an elderly couple to ask for directions, and the old couple asked her to warm themselves by the hearth.

In the middle of the night, the girl wanted to go out again and continue to hurry, the old grandfather was worried about her safety, so he grabbed her hand and tried to keep her, but the girl's hand was cold and made the old grandfather creepy, and in an instant the girl turned into snow smoke and flew out from the skylight where the smoke was released.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, on the winter night of the full moon, the Snow Maiden will roam the snowfield with many children.

In addition to the above, in other places, there is still a legend of the Snow Maiden holding a baby to entrust; There are also snowy night girls who ask for accommodation, and the next dynasty only a wisp of white clothes remains, and there is gold in the clothes.

All kinds of legends are rich and interesting.

Because the snow is white, the legendary image of the Snow Maiden is mostly dressed in white, or has snow-white skin.

In Gifu Prefecture legend, the Snow Maiden appears in the shape of a snowball.

She would come to the mountain hut and ask for water, and if she was given cold water at her request, people would be harmed by her.

But if you give her a hot cup of tea, or invite her to the fireside to warm up, she will leave in fear.

There are terrible legends about the Snow Maiden eating people, and other folk legends are to warn children not to go out on heavy snowy days, so as not to encounter accidents.

Perhaps most of the people who tell stories to their children are mothers who are like women, and in the passage of time, another legend gradually emerges - as long as you embrace the Snow Girl with a sincere heart, you can melt the Snow Girl.

Where the Snow Maiden melts, she will be reborn as a human being.

But today, when people's hearts are not ancient, how many people maintain awe and respect for tradition, and even abide by it?

There is also a legend that the Snow Maiden would ask travelers to help take care of the child in her arms in the snowy wilderness.

There are countless legends about the Snow Girl, and Bai Ze remembered that although there was no Snow Girl in China, there was a Snow Mountain Girl.

The fairy who called the Snow Mountain Girl was the daughter of Emperor Zhang, the mountain god of Guangde Temple.

Every year on the eighth day of February is the birthday of Emperor Zhang, a few days before and after, the local wind and rain will inevitably occur, causing the temperature to drop, which is believed to be caused by the return of Emperor Zhang's daughter Fengshan Nu and Snow Mountain Nu to the province.

Therefore, there is a local proverb that "Emperor Zhang eats frozen dog meat".

Another famous goddess of the snow-capped mountains, Parvati, known as the "daughter of the Himalayas", and her husband Lord Shiva live on Mount Girosa and is a powerful and beautiful goddess.