Nure-onna, The Reptilian Yokai Of Japan

Similar descriptions can be found in Norio Yamada’s essays Tōhoku Kaidan no Tabi (Journey Through Ghost Stories of Tōhoku) and Professor Yoshiko Sasama’s Zusetsu: Nihon Mikakunin Seibutsu Jiten (Illustrated Encyclopedia of Japan’s Unknown Creatures).

In other regions of Japan, such as Iwami in Shimane Prefecture, the Nure-onna is an aquatic creature summoned by the ferocious Ushi-oni (a demon with a spider’s body and a bull’s head); she appears on the seashore cradling an infant. As soon as a traveler—to whom the child is offered—takes the baby into their arms, the Ushi-oni reveals itself, and the infant transforms into a heavy stone that the victim cannot shake off. The Ushi-oni then kills and devours the human. 

This legend gave rise to the belief that if one is asked to hold an infant, one should do so only while wearing gloves; during any subsequent escape, the person must cast aside everything they are carrying, including the gloves.

In the city of Oda—also in the Iwami region—the Nure-onna is described as the Ushi-oni’s nanny. The most widespread version of the story tells of a trap set by the demon for travelers passing through the region along the seashore or riverbanks. Typically, the victim sees a beautiful, soaking-wet woman standing near the water, cradling a bundle in her arms as if rocking a baby. The woman approaches the traveler, pleading with him to hold the child for a moment. If the traveler agrees, the bundle becomes incredibly heavy the instant he takes it in his arms. No matter how hard he tries, he cannot drop it or move his feet. It is then that the "wet woman" reveals her true nature as a Nagini, and her gigantic serpent body slithers into the water. Immediately after, the Ushi-oni appears and devours the human.

The symbiosis between the Nure-onna and the Ushi-oni is clearly depicted in a variation of the Oda tale where the traveler, despite being attacked by the Ushi-oni, manages to escape or somehow survive the assault; as he flees the terrifying encounter, he hears the demon whispering, "What a pity, what a pity." Yet, the voice is identical to the pleading tone the Nure-onna used when asking the traveler to hold her baby. This suggests that the two demons are either the same entity—a nagini capable of transforming into an Ushi-oni—or that the latter can perfectly mimic the snake-woman's voice.

Furthermore, the dual nature of the naga is evident in the two versions of the Nure-onna: sometimes she is described as a creature that is half-snake and half-woman, while in other tales she appears as the disembodied ubume—the ghost of a woman who died during pregnancy or childbirth. In both instances, the encounter involves a request to hold a baby and invariably ends with the human victim's death. As for her motives—beyond serving as bait for the predatory Ushi-oni—they remain unknown. She is certainly a formidable sight, possessing a gigantic serpentine body and strength enough to crush trees beneath her tail. The Nure-onna feeds on humans, and the bundle she carries does not contain a baby, though there is no clear description of what is actually wrapped in the cloth. Once the human is immobilized by the heavy bundle, the nagini extends her long, forked tongue to drain all the blood from the victim's body.