What is the nure-onna?
The nure-onna is a yokai said to appear by the sea and rivers. Its upper body is that of a woman with long black hair, but its lower body is a long snake’s body that can stretch hundreds of meters, it is said. It gets its name because its hair and body are always wet. Toriyama Sekien also drew it in his Edo-period yokai books.
The nure-onna and the baby
The most famous nure-onna story is the one in which it teams up with the ushi-oni to attack people. A woman holding a baby appears on the shore and asks, “Please hold this child for a moment.” When someone kindly takes the baby, the woman vanishes, and the baby grows heavier and heavier and will not leave their arms. While they are unable to move, the ushi-oni appears and attacks. Making people hold a baby so they cannot move closely resembles the legends of the ubume.
How the legend spread
The nure-onna is told of on the coasts from Kyushu to the Chugoku and Shikoku regions, and is also said to suck people’s blood with its long tongue. It is thought to have been told as a warning about the dangers of the seashore and about carelessly accepting things from strangers.
