KUCHISAKE-ONNA

Lore

Few Japanese legends have sown more panic among schoolchildren than Kuchisake-Onna. At one point, the fear escalated to such extremes that children in some areas were sent home in groups for their safety, terrified of encountering her on the way to or from school. So pervasive is this tale that there are few in Japan who have not heard at least a whisper of the slit-mouthed woman, reputed to stalk children and unsuspecting passersby, armed with a knife or a pair of scissors.

The legend even sparked a real incident: in Himeji, a 25-year-old woman dressed as Kuchisake-Onna and began scaring people with a blade. She was arrested for violating local weapon laws.

Accounts describe Kuchisake-Onna as a tall, pale-skinned woman of about thirty. She typically wears a coat, has straight black hair, and often sports loose-fitting trousers. The most chilling detail is her medical mask-beneath it lies a gruesome mouth slit open to the ears. In popular retellings, she roams the streets, luring victims into brief conversation before slashing their mouths from ear to ear-or simply killing them on the spot.

Over time, people began saying Kuchisake-Onna loves caramel candy yet fears lipstick-utter "lipstick, lipstick, lipstick" three times, so the story goes, and she will vanish. According to one legend, her origin dates back to the Edo period. A jealous samurai, believing his beautiful wife was unfaithful, sliced open her mouth with a single sword stroke. Her terror and agony at the moment of death transformed her spirit into a yokai, doomed to prowl the city in search of new victims.