Kuchisake-onna
Kuchisake-onna or Kuchisake Onna ( Japanese 口 裂 け 女 ; in German literally "woman with a torn mouth", popularly called "wide-mouth woman") is a creature of Japanese mythology , she is assigned to the group of Yōkai and is considered malignant . Although various traditions about the myth of this creature seem to have been known for a long time, the Kuchisake-onna is mostly known today from modern urban legends .
description
The Kuchisake-onna is described as a beautiful woman with long, black hair who, in older original versions, hides her terribly disfigured face behind a theater mask or a silk veil. In more modern, alleged eyewitness accounts , she hides her mouth behind a mouth and nose mask , as is common in Japan for people with a cold. This should not always appear immediately suspect to her victims. She is also supposed to wear a red raincoat and - depending on the local version - hold a large kitchen knife or oversized scissors in her right hand.
The Kuchisake-onna wanders around especially at night and asks everyone she meets (she prefers to ambush children) the same question: “Am I beautiful?” ( わ た し 、 き れ い? ; Watashi, kirei? ). If the interviewee affirms this, she shows her true, terribly disfigured face and asks: "Now still?" ( こ れ で も で す か? ; Kore demo desu ka? ). If the interviewee keeps his nerve and answers “yes” again, she disfigures the face of her victim so that it is just as “beautiful” as she is. However, if the respondent negates, she will kill him. If you try to escape, however, she will pursue her victim and make up for it. In other variants, if the victim is a woman, she is transformed into a kuchisake-onna herself. If it is a child, the kuchisake-onna cuts it in half or takes it to its hiding place to be tortured to death there.
The Kuchisake-onna is said to be able to run unnaturally fast or even teleport, which is why it is almost impossible to escape her. According to popular rumors, however, one can trick her by answering evasively when asked whether she is beautiful, for example: “Well, that's okay.” Or: “Average.” Other versions claim the Kuchisake-onna is said to be completely mad about sweets and if you throw a handful of candies at her feet, she is so busy picking up each piece of candy that she does not notice the escape of her victim.
origin
Strictly speaking, the Kuchisake-onna is a modern metropolis legend, very similar to that of Hanako, the toilet spirit . The first detectable reports of their appearance date from the late 1970s. At this time, rumors of encounters with the Kuchisake-onna emerged, especially in colleges and universities, and were so popular that they led to a wave of hysteria around 1979 . Schoolchildren and students of all ages only went in groups and leaflets were distributed containing rules of conduct and tips on how to keep calm during alleged sightings.
The legend of Kuchisake-onna could go back to a story from the 8th century ( Heian period ). A wealthy samurai was in a relationship with an indescribably beautiful woman. But the samurai was a pathologically jealous person and in an argument in which he accused his wife of infidelity, he cut her face and asked her: "Who will find you beautiful now?" From that day on, the woman's masked ghost is said to roam restlessly in search of victims.
A more modern version of the presumed origin legend tells of an unspeakably vain woman who underwent plastic facial surgery in order to be more beautiful than all other women. However, during the operation there was an accident that disfigured her face. This variant is particularly popular in South Korea and led to a wave of hysteria in 2004 similar to that in Japan in 1979. In South Korea, however, the Kuchisake-onna wears a red mask.
The figure of the Kuchisake-onna in the modern subculture
The character of Kuchisake-onna inspired numerous horror film producers and found its way into films such as Sweet Home and Kuchisake-onna ( Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman ). Especially Kuchisake-onna from 2007 receives mostly positive reviews and tells of a young teacher who goes in search of missing children and finally meets Kuchisake-onna.
literature
- Colette Balmain: Introduction to Japanese Horror Film . Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh (UK) 2008, ISBN 0-7486-2475-9 . Pp. 113, 133.
- Theresa Bane: Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore . McFarland, Jefferson 2016, ISBN 147662268X .
- John Hawkins: Hauntings . The Rosen Publishing Group, New York 2012, ISBN 1-4488-6428-3 , pp. 4-5.
- Lisette Gebhardt: Japan's New Spirituality . Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2001, ISBN 3-447-04398-9 , p. 13.
- Adriana Boscaro, Franco Gatti, Massimo Raveri: Rethinking Japan: Literature, visual arts & linguistics (= Rethinking Japan: Papers of the International Symposium, Rethinking Japan, Held in Venice, October 1987. Institute of Japanese Studies; Volume 2). Routledge, London / New York 1990, ISBN 0-904404-79-X , pp. 244-245.
- Salvador Jimenez Murguia: The Encyclopedia of Japanese Horror Films . Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham 2016, ISBN 1442261676 .
- Stuart Webb: Ghosts . The Rosen Publishing Group, New York 2013, ISBN 1448871816 .