Gakkou no Kaiden:
The Frosty Kiss of the Yuki-Onna

Satoyama is a rural village located in the mountains. The mountains that surround Satoyama are heavily forested. And since the Edo period logging has been one of the oldest businesses of the village. Generations of young men have followed in their fathers footsteps and gone into the mountains to harvest the trees that grow there. Merchants from Tokyo pay a high dollar for the wood harvested from the mountainside.

This story was told to me by my uncle, who was only seventeen at the time and an apprentice woodcutter. At the time he was assigned to help a master woodcutter named Haruto Suziki who was an old man whose hair had turned white as snow. And whose skin had begun to sag. His hearing too started to go and his strength was starting to fail him. But despite his advanced age he still had his wits about him and he was the most knowledgeable of the master woodcutters. For he knew all the trails and pitfalls of the mountain. And knew the names of every stream, creek and river one must cross. His woodcraft too exceeded even the most seasoned of masters.

Anyway, what had happened was this. One day while my uncle and his master went into the mountains to collect wood as they normally did. To get to the part of the forest they were working in, they had to cross a river. The river was called the Mogami River and it flowed down from a hidden pond deep in the mountain. Now, a small footbridge spans the Mogami now where there was in my uncle's day a ferry crossing. A old ferryman who earned a penurious income maintained the crossing. Before the bridge was built the ferry was the only way to cross the river.

Anyway, returning to the story. Early that morning my uncle and Haruto Suzike, the master woodcutter, crossed the river with the help of the ferryman. The clear winters sky was free of any clouds though a cold winter wind was blowing down from the snow covered peaks of the mountain. But as the hours ticked away, the weather became colder and the wind grew stronger, and even with their thick fleece coats to keep them warm the two woodcutters started to feel the bite of the wind. My uncle also said it felt like somebody was watching them. The wind bit them, and soon by mid afternoon the two men decided to withdraw from the mountain.

When the two reached the ferry crossing, they noticed the ferryman had already gone home for the day. Leaving the two stranded on barren banks of the Mogami river. At first the two thought about swimming across the river, but the water was cold and the wind was strong and the river was about to breach its banks. To brave the swim was to invite death.

And so the pair started to roam the bank, looking for any shelter they could find. And by luck they found a Quonset Hut hidden in the brush. Seeing their backs pressed against the wall and that the wind was starting to howl now and small flakes of snow were starting to press against their skin, they decided to take shelter there and hopefully pass the night in warm comfort.

Now inside the Quonset hunt they found what appeared to be their salvation. The hut had storm windows and was well insulated and in the center was a wooden stove that had plenty of firewood piled up beside it. The floor though concrete had been swept clean and tucked to the side was a mountain of warm woolen blankets and cotton futons. A further search revealed fully stocked pantry lined with all manner of canned goods and condiments.

It was a stroke of luck indeed. The old man seemed to be a good cook and soon started to prepare a feast with the canned goods and condiments they found stuck away in the pantry. While my uncle secured the door and built a fire in the wooden heater. Soon the inside of the Quonset hut was warm and toasty. But outside the wind blew and whistled around. The windows became frosted and the hut seemed to sway back and forth like a ship caught out at sea. The storm dampened the mood and once they were finished eating both men decided to turn into bed. The old man Haruto Suzike soon fell into a deep sleep, but my uncle stayed up. Listing to the sound of the wind blowing outside the thin walls of the Quonset Hut. He stayed up for hours till around midnight he fell into a frightful sleep. Then around four forty four in the morning something happened. The fire went out and the door was thrown open.

And there in the doorway stood a woman, a very tall woman with silky coal black hair and deep, piercing blue eyes that froze my uncle's blood. The woman seemed as white as the snow that surrounded her. The woman floated toward old man Haruto Suzike who was still asleep, she then bent down and blew her breath on him. In a matter of seconds the color drained from the old man's face and he became a blueish color. Once she was finished with the old man, she turned toward my uncle. But then she paused. She looked him up and down before speaking.

“I had attended to kill you like the old man there. But because you are so handsome, I will spare your life just this one time. But if you tell anybody, even your own mother about what you saw here tonight. I promise I will find you and I will kill you.” And with that the woman left.

My uncle told me this story a few weeks ago before he left to go collect wood in the mountains. He's yet to come down from the mountains. I believe whatever he saw that night kept its promise.

In our next story the spirit of a cat that was hit by a speeding car takes revenge on the driver that ended its life. So please join next week for “The Revenge of the Bakeneko”.