Nure-onna 濡女

Nure-onna (濡女), the “Wet Woman,” is a lethal reptilian yokai that haunts the water’s edge, using the mask of a beautiful, drowning woman to lure travelers to a gruesome death.

Meaning and Origin

The name means “Wet Woman” (nure - wet, onna - woman).

The origin of the Nure-onna is often linked to the spirits of women who drowned at sea or were cursed for crimes involving water. Some legends also claim they are the incarnations of gigantic sea snakes that have gained human intelligence over centuries. They are most commonly found on the rocky shores of Kyushu and the rivers of Fukushima.

Characteristics

A Nure-onna is a massive creature with the head of a human woman and the body of a giant sea serpent. Her snake body is said to be over 300 meters long in some extreme legends. She has long, perpetually wet black hair and a face that is beautiful from a distance but hideous up close, with a forked tongue and sharp fangs.

She is a predator of immense strength. Her serpent body can coil around a victim with enough pressure to crush a horse, and her long tongue is used to drain the life and blood from her prey. She is often seen silently washing her hair in the surf, a signal to all who see her that they are already in range of her coils.

Legends

The most famous Nure-onna legend involves the “Bundle of Stone.” She often appears to travelers carrying what looks like a crying, swaddled infant. She begs the traveler to hold the baby for a moment while she washes her hair.

If the person agrees, the “baby” begins to grow impossibly heavy, turning into solid stone that pins the victim to the ground. This is the signal for the Nure-onna to attack. In many regions, she works in a deadly partnership with the Ushi-oni (Ox Demon); the Nure-onna traps the victim with her heavy baby and her coils, and then calls the Ushi-oni from the deep to finish the meal.