Hello, my spooky friends! Since Halloween is currently upon us, I’m going to spend some time here talking about some very spoooooooooky Japanese folklore. Come to think of it, a lot of Japanese folklore is pretty creepy.

I wonder why that is.

Anyway, let’s talk about the kuchisake-onna.

Kuchisake-onna literally means “slit-mouth woman” so you can probably take a guess at what that looks like. These take the form of a dark-haired pale woman, with some kind of covering over their face. In modern times, this takes the form of a medical face mask.

What happens next is that they approach people and ask them if they think they’re pretty. Answering no basically just gets you killed on the spot, so that’s probably a bad idea. Answering yes causes the kuchisake-onna to remove the mask (revealing her cut mouth) and ask “how about now?” Answering no to this question prompts her to cut the victim in half. Answeirng yes causes her to give you a matching Gasglow smile.

So you’d want to go with that answer if you want to look like Heath Ledger’s version of the Joker.

Of course, there are ways to avoid instant death or mutilation. One is to just say she looks pretty average, which apparently confuses her long enough to get away. Another is to throw down money or hard candies called bekko ame, which she then has to stop and pick up. Which is probably the most relatable thing about her, since I, too, am distracted by money and candy.

As for the origins, the legend dates back to the Edo period, which is suggested by the above image from 1809. It didn’t really gain a lot of traction until stories about kuchisake-onna started popping up in a bunch of Japanese newspapers in 1979. So this kind of falls a little bit more into urban legend than ancient folklore.

So if you’re ever stopped by a lady in a mask who asks if she’s pretty, noncomittal answers and throwing candy is the way to go.