Field file · Spectral · Local legend
Kuchisake-onna
Also known as Slit-Mouthed Woman, Red-masked woman
Japan’s mask-wearing ‘Am I pretty?’ ghost, whose 1979 rumour sent schools sending children home in groups and police cars on patrol.
Kuchisake-onna, ‘the slit-mouthed woman’, is a figure of Japanese urban legend. She is a tall woman in a surgical mask who stops a passer-by (usually a child on the way home) and asks, ‘Watashi, kirei?’ – ‘Am I pretty?’ If the answer is yes, she removes the mask to show a mouth slit from ear to ear and asks again. Any answer is risky; stories offer escape tricks such as calling her ‘average’, offering sweets or saying ‘pomade’ three times.
Some folklorists link her to Edo-period tales of mutilated wives, but the modern legend is documented only from the late 1970s. According to the yokai.jp archive, an early rumour came from Motosu district in Gifu in December 1978, and the first printed mention is a column in the Gifu Nichinichi Shimbun on 26 January 1979. Shukan Asahi carried the first national magazine story on 23 March 1979, and a long feature on 29 June marked the height of the craze.
In spring and summer 1979 the rumour spread by word of mouth from Gifu to Aomori and Kagoshima. Schools tightened commuting rules, children were sent home in groups in Kushiro and Niiza, and police cars patrolled in Koriyama and Hiratsuka. On 21 June 1979 a 25-year-old woman in Himeji was arrested for carrying a kitchen knife while dressed as Kuchisake-onna. The panic ended when school holidays began in August and the children’s rumour network broke up.
Japanese versions blame a jealous rival or a failed cosmetic procedure for the wound, while Western retellings invent a samurai’s unfaithful wife. The artist Shigeru Mizuki later included her in yokai guides, and she appears in films and games.
What does Kuchisake-onna look like?
A tall woman with long black hair and pale skin, a surgical mask, and a pair of scissors or a knife; beneath the mask, a mouth cut to the ears.
Where is Kuchisake-onna seen?
Streets after school hours, dusk, back roads and underpasses, mostly encountered by children walking alone.
Kuchisake-onna sightings
- December 1978First rumour in Gifu Motosu district, Gifu
A farmer’s wife is said to have been terrified by the woman at an outdoor toilet, according to later magazine reports.
- January 26, 1979First newspaper mention Gifu
The Gifu Nichinichi Shimbun noted a rumour circulating among children.
- June 21, 1979Copycat arrest Himeji, Hyōgo
A woman dressed as Kuchisake-onna was arrested for carrying a kitchen knife.
- June 29, 1979Shukan Asahi feature Japan
A major feature on the nationwide scare confirmed it as a media event.
Is Kuchisake-onna real? What could explain it
- A classic contemporary legend of the kind that spreads among schoolchildren, fed by magazines and TV.
- Anxiety about cosmetic surgery, stranger danger and women with masks may have helped the story.
- Summer holidays ended the transmission network, and the legend has been revived with each generation.
Legend, culture and tourism
Kuchisake-onna appears in the film Carved (2007), anime such as Jujutsu Kaisen, games, and Mizuki’s yokai encyclopedias.
Places to visit
The prefecture where the 1979 scare began; local museums cover folklore.
Where it’s reported
Sources
First published · Updated
