The Japanese culture is full of myths, legends and (above all) stories of mythical creatures which you either wish to be real or never encounter!  Kuchisake no Onna (the woman-with-the-slit-mouth) most likely belongs in the second category, since she is the urban legend that can very easily be your worst, darkest, most morbid nightmare!

She is the classic case of the woman who you were –at first- so happy to make the acquaintance but –on a second thought- you decided that maybe you should get rid of her… Buuuut you can’t.

The lovely –at first sight- young lady is said to once have been slaughtered by her husband, so she is now back to bring you hell, as an evil spirit seeking of revenge. (The best part in this story is that she makes no discriminations, since women and men alike are in the target group of this unfairly killed, poor soul!) Entering the second part of her eternal life, she rolls around rocking a surgical mask to cover-up her wide, Chelsea-style smile, which spreads from ear to ear. Truth be told, she wouldn’t go unnoticed without it…

She approaches her pray quickly and without a sound, or else she just appears in front of them, and asks in a calm manner if the find her beautiful. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the part where all stories about the unexplained women behavior resurface from…

If the victim says that they find her beautiful…

…she takes her mask off, asking the mortified person if they now find her beautiful. If the victim says yes again, she slits their face so they can have matching smiles (so she doesn’t feel lonely anymore, or because she thinks that a smile like hers should be copied and praised.) If though, seeing her destroyed face, the victim gets tongue-tied and commits the sin of saying that they find her not beautiful, she just kills them…

If the victim tells her that they find her ugly in the first place, even with the mask on…

…she kills them. (End of story)

[Supposedly, this is the part where the aforementioned woman behavior should have been explained, but I see nothing in need of explanation…Hmmm…]

A short Survival Guide against Kuchisake no Onna

How to recognize her

1. As we mentioned above, she will be wearing a mask (she doesn’t mean to frighten you to death, eliminating the chance of you being so seduced to ask her out, ignoring the gaping mouth, the blood, the rotten skin…)
2. She will appear in front of you between two blinks of your eyes. Without all those Hollywood effects, like green mist and fog, the hair-rising background music and the can-can dancers.
3. She is Kuchisake no Onna. She is Japanese. (That doesn’t mean, of course, that you should be expecting a walking, talking anime character)

How to get away from her murdering tendencies

1. You will never get away. She tends to remember faces, and she possesses the magical ability to appear in front of you wherever you are! (Not only is she ignorant of personal space, she is also persistent! Bad combination…) supposing, anyway, that you can at least avoid her for a couple of minutes…
2. Throw candies at her. Head, feet, nose (ten points for Gryffindor!) it matters not. She will take her time to collect them, giving you a head start, especially if you happen to carry around a few bags of smarties –and you want to waste them on her… I’m just saying.
3. You might be surprised with this one, but use diplomacy! Instead of answering her question with a dry “no” or “yes”, answer her with another question. For example: “Do you find me beautiful?” Or, even better, use the sideway! “You’re good..” Consolation prize might save your life!

The truth behind the myth…

The first rumors about the existence of this spirit (since all urban legends have a realistic basis) started to spread around 1970 in Japan, Nagasaki prefecture. Sightings of a strange woman wearing a surgical mask walking the streets around schools, scaring little children, made the local authorities to take grave security measures. Even schools advised children to leave the school grounds in large groups!

More recent reports that enhanced the legend of Kuchisake no Onna come to us from Japan, in 2004; about a woman who chased young children. But rumors came to a pick in 2007. Police records about a woman who was killed in a car accident –and died soon after, in 1979- were found.

Her mouth was slit from ear to ear.

Love, Melane…