Japanese Folklore

Slit Mouthed Woman

Kuchisake Onna or Slit Mouthed Woman is a Japanese urban legend that began spreading around the world in 1979 originating from the Nagasak Prefecture. Kuchisake Onna is a woman who was mutilated by her husband. She has a large cut along her mouth, ear to ear, that she hides with a surgical mask.

As legend has it, she only appears to children walking alone at night wearing surgical masks (not an unusual sight in Japan). She asks the child "am I pretty?". If the child answers no, they are killed with a pair of scissors that she carries. If the child answers yes, she takes off her mask and asks "how about now?", revealing the slit across her mouth. If the child then answers no, they are killed instantly. If the answer is yes, the Slit Mouthed Woman then mutilates the child to look like her.

It is impossible to escape her. No one can run fast enough because she simply reappears wherever the child goes.

The legend caused so much panic that schools were not allowing children to go home unless they were in large groups and escorted by an adult.

Onryo: Vengeful Ghost

The most famous feared yurei (ghost) in Japan is a Onryo. A ghost of a person who died with strong emotions; may it be passion, jealousy, rage or pure hatred. These ghost are almost always female, but some have been male.

Once manifested, the yurei haunts the person that wronged them to the point that it destroys their lives and those around them. The only way to ward off the spirit is through an exorcism or appeasing the spirit. Even after the spirit is banished the grounds that it haunted becomes tainted with its hatred and rage.