the country of the legend : japan

Kuchisake-onna, the story of the slit -mothed woman is one of the most famous Japanese urban legends in the archipelago and even far beyond.

In fantastic legends and Japanese mythology, Kuchisake-onna, literally transcribed by "slit-mothed woman", is the ghost of a woman who is flouted, disfigured and then killed by her own husband. Transformed then into a malignant spirit, nourishing a desire for revenge, she returns from among the deceased and kills using the same concept of her assassination.

The history of kushisake onna takes place a hundred years ago, during the Heian era, in Japan. The woman who later became known as the slit-mouthed woman was actually the wife of a very jealous samurai. She was described as a very beautiful woman, although not very loyal to her husband. After many deceptions of all kinds, the samurai feeling totally dishonored and betrayed, decided to kill her in the most atrocious way. He split her mouth at the corners of her mouth up to both of her ears while yelling at her : "Who will find you beautiful now?".

It is said that today, the woman with the split mouth presents herself with a surgical mask that would hide her creepy smile, dressed in long and dark clothes and armed with a long pair of scissors. Changed into an avenging spirit, she wanders the streets , traditionally in the countryside. When she meets a child, she approaches him and calmly asks him: "Am I beautiful?". The child generally answers "Yes", and it is then that she removes her mask, smiling, and lets appear her mouth. She then asks him: "Even like that?". At that time, if the child answers "No", she kills him immediately. On the other hand, if he answers "Yes", she follows him to his home, and kills him outside the threshold of his door.

In some other versions, the victims are not children but men ( which I think is meaningful the childrens didn't do anything to deserve that ).

In another version if the victim answers "Yes" twice the legend say that the slit-mouthe woman gives a huge glowing ruby to her victim, then disappears.

Some say that when you meet the slit mouthed woman , the only way to survive her interrogation is to tell her that she is an ordinary woman, neither beautiful nor ugly. Still others recommend returning her questions to her: she will thus be disturbed by the change of role, then you can run away.

The legend of kushisake -onna had a certain impact on Japanese culture. Towards the end of the seventies, it reached its peak and transformed itself within the community like a sort of collective psychosis. The children refused to leave their homes and they were sometimes asked to return from school as a group, so as not to come across the mutilated young woman. The adults themselves were beginning to doubt the fictionality of the legend.

It was not less than twenty years before the paranoia subsided and the legend of Kuchisake-onna was finally recognized as a simple "urban legend".