Nure-onna

[1] Many Edo Period publications such as the Hyakkai Zukan, Gazu Hyakki Yagyō, among others, depict this yōkai as a woman with a snake body, which would make it appear as if this was a well-known yōkai of the time, but there are no stories about a snake-bodied nure-onna in the classical literature of the time that can be found.

Despite this, according to the essay Yōkai Gadan Zenshū, Jō (妖怪画談全集 日本篇 上, "Discussion on Yōkai Pictures, Japan Volume, First Half") by the early Shōwa period folklorist Morihiko Fujisawa, despite not pointing out any primary sources as references, it states that there is the following story from the year Bunkyū 2 (1819) of the Edo Period.

[3] They can also be seen in the essay Tōhoku Kaidan no Tabi by Norio Yamada and in the essay Zusetsu: Nihon Mikakunin Seibutsu Jiten (図説・日本未確認生物事典, "Illustrated: An Encyclopedia of Japanese Cryptids") by the literature professor Yoshiko Sasama,[4][5] but likewise they do not provide any examples of primary sources.

[1][7] In classical yōkai depictions such as the Gazu Hyakki Yagyō and Hyakkai Zukan, the nure-onna would have a human face and a snake body, and the concept of feminine water turmoil is generally symbolized with the snake, but in certain tales about the nure-onna, they would appear as an ubume who would make people hug babies.

In other stories, a nure-onna is simply seeking solitude as she washes her hair and reacts violently to those who bother her.