Japanese ghost stories are genuinely creepy to me, partly because they are, well, generally spooky, but also because the cultural imagery used is so different from my Western one. Go and watch the Japanese original version of Ringu and you’ll know what I’m talking about. Now, Pink Tentacle dug up a video clip on the ‘Slit Mouth Woman’, which will probably be the cause of the very bad dreams this night. The ‘Slit Mouth Woman’, or kuchisake-onna, goes back to a legend about
a young woman who lived hundreds of years ago (some versions of the legend state the Heian period) and was either the wife or concubine of a samurai. She is said to have been very beautiful but also very vain, and possibly cheating on her husband. The samurai, extremely jealous and feeling cuckolded, attacked her and slit her mouth from ear to ear, screaming “Who will think you’re beautiful now?”
This story is really old and to give you some idea, the Heian period lasted from 794-1185. Weirdly enough, this story spawned a modern urban legend,
stating that a woman roams around at night (especially during foggy evenings), with her face covered by a surgical mask, which would not be especially unusual, as people with colds often wear masks for the sake of others. When she encounters someone (primarily children or college students), she will coyly ask, “Do you think I’m beautiful?” (“Kirei da to omou?”) or a similar question, at the same time taking off her mask, revealing her mutilated mouth. The victim will usually run away screaming, and the Kuchisake-onna will chase after, carrying a bladed weapon, such as a knife. She will catch the victim on the doorstep of their home and kill them there.
and this legend apparently generated a public panic in 1979 throughout Japan, with reports of slit-mouthed women snatching and killing children. The video below is part of several clips posted on buildup.tv’s Bizarre Creatures of Japan series.
If this got you interested, you can also head over to Seek Japan and read some more Japanese Ghost Stories.
Filed under: Bizarre-O-Rama , animation, cartoon, folklore, movies
mm id on’t believe it, it’s just a weird geek creating footage for his own pleasure, think there’s no sourc bout’ coroner evidence,it’s a bullshit.
,do anyone know the source of the coroner records? i’ll change my opinion if the records trully exist?please give me proof, a trully evidence bout this records,links,or website,or police archive!