Kuchisake-onna, the Slit-Mouthed Woman
In 1979 Japanese children spread word of a masked woman who asks, 'Am I pretty?', and some schools sent pupils home in groups.
What was reported
Kuchisake-onna, 'the slit-mouthed woman', is said to approach people, especially children, wearing a surgical mask and to ask, 'Am I pretty?' If they say yes, she lowers the mask to show a scarred mouth stretching from ear to ear and asks again. Tricks for escaping her, such as calling her 'average' or offering sweets, spread along with the story.
The legend has roots in older ghost stories, but in 1979 it swept Japan, starting in Gifu Prefecture. Some schools reportedly sent children home in groups, and police patrols were stepped up in places.
Explanations offered
Folklorists see the 1979 panic as a classic case of a rumour spreading among children through schools and the media; no one matching the story was ever found. The surgical mask, then worn mostly by people with colds, helped make the figure memorable. A similar scare spread in South Korea in 2004.
- When
- Panic in 1979
- Where
- Gifu, Japan
- Witnesses
- Schoolchildren across Japan
- Status
- Urban legend
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