Slit-Mouthed Woman (Kuchisake-Onna)
Horror Stories - Slit-Mouthed Woman (Kuchisake-Onna)
You're treading down a dark alleyway, trying to make it back home. The only thing that guides you as you walk under the night sky are dim streetlights that have an orange tint to them. But, before you arrive to your house, a figure suddenly steps from the shadows and blocks your way. It seems to be a woman with jet black hair and a surgical mask over her mouth. She sets herself into a shy posture and tilts her head at you.
"Am I pretty?" she softly asks.
At first, you can barely respond out of confusion. But, after a few seconds, you give in to her question and silently nod. She eyes you for what seems to be an eternity before tugging off her mask and revealing a terrible secret. A jagged cut is slit across her mouth, reaching from ear to ear. The woman opens her lips, stretching her mutilated flesh apart with each word she speaks. Her fingers pull a dingy pair of scissors from her pocket and she raises them into the air, angling the blade towards you.
"How about now?".
This legend is of an extremely famous spirit in Japan that is known as Kuchisake-onna. Kuchisake-onna roughly translates to "slit-mouthed woman", which gives a big hint to what makes her terrifying. Although she may appear angelic at first glance, looks can be quite deceiving.
As one may have figured out by now, Kuchisake-onna is a young woman that has a slit mouth. She is said to walk around at night, wearing a surgical mask to hide her disfigurement. Once she approaches someone, she asks them a peculiar question: "Am I pretty?" If the person gives her an answer she doesn't like, she gives them a gruesome fate in return. This legend caused an unhealthy amount of panic in Japan, especially when alleged sightings began spreading around the area. In fact, because of this legend, there were reports of schoolchildren being escorted in groups by teachers so that they would arrive home safely.
Her backstory has many variations, some more believable than others. One of them is that she was once a former patient of a mental asylum and that she slit her mouth open due to insanity. An extremely popular one, on the other hand, is that she was a wife of a samurai. According to the legend, she was known as the most beautiful woman in the village, and she would constantly ask others if she was pretty. Eventually, after receiving constant praise and compliments, she became absorbed in her beauty. She believed that she would be able to get away with an affair due to her unbelievably high confidence. Soon after sleeping with a soldier, her husband found out and became furious. He then cut her mouth from ear to ear and asked, "Who will think you are beautiful now?".
She later killed herself and returned as a malicious spirit, out to cause havoc and chaos among the streets of Japan.
She is considered a /Yōkai/, like many other Japanese urban legends out there. Yōkai are a class of supernatural monsters, demons, and spirits in Japanese folklore. Although I don't mention the word much later on in this book, it can easily describe half of the Japanese urban legends out there.
In the legend, when someone spots her, the woman will ask the potential victim "Am I pretty?" Although it's an odd question, it's her main catchphrase. If the person answers no, then she will pull out a pair of scissors from her pocket and viciously stab them until they are dead.
If they answer yes, however, then the person gets to spend more time alive. She will pull away her mask, revealing her slit mouth. Then, after giving the victim a few seconds to realize what's happening, she will ask, "How about now?".
At this point, both generic responses will lead the victim to an unfortunate fate. If the victim decides to answer no at this point, she will slash them up, going as far as to decapitate them as punishment. If the person tries to please her by answering yes, then she will slit the victim's mouth so that it resembles her own scarred mouth. It is impossible to run away from her, as she will simply reappear in front of the victim.
Even though it seems like every answer leads to death, there have been rumors of ways to escape her clutches. Some sources say that she can be confused if one gives her odd answers, such as "you are average" or "so-so". Another method is to apparently flip her question around, asking her, "Do you think I'm pretty?" Unsure of what to do, she will hesitate for a couple of seconds. This gives the person just enough time to flee the scene while she is lost in thought. In some variations of the tale, she can be distracted by throwing fruit or candy at her. She will supposedly pick them up, thus giving the victim a chance to run.
The easiest escape route, however, is to tell her that they have somewhere to be; she will pardon her manners and excuse herself.