You Need To Read About The Slit-Mouthed Woman – Japan’s Scariest Urban Legend

Japan has the creepiest, scariest urban legend and it’s called Kuchisake Onna. If this slit-mouthed woman doesn’t scare you, then we don’t know what will. As kids, we all heard urban legend stories, that we almost believed to be true. While the concept of the urban legend says that it’s just a modern folklore consisting fictional stories, it’s tough to not believe in them. 

According to various theories, Kuchisake Onna is a spirit that roams around in Japan with a pair of scissors in her hands. Her name is quite accurate too. It translates as – ‘Kuchi’ meaning mouth, ‘Sake’ meaning to tear or split and ‘Onna’ meaning a woman. Spooky, isn’t it? 

Historic Mysteries

As per the tale, Kuchisake Onna, while wearing a mask, often approaches people to ask, “Atashi, Kirei?” which translates to “Am I beautiful?”. Now if you answer her saying, no, she’ll obviously take no time to slit your mouth but if you say yes, she’ll take off her mask and ask “Kore demo?” which translates to “How about now?”. If you say no, you die. If you say yes, she may or may not spare your life. 

Unsplash – Representational Image

The scariest bit about this tale is though, that even if you say yes when she asks you that second question, she might just follow you around and slit your mouth anyway just so you look exactly like her. So yeah, there’s no way out. 

If you are visiting Japan anytime soon, well, good luck to you. And if you know about some other urban legends, do let us know in the comments section. Till then, have a happy Monday (LOL).