THE SLIT MOUTHED WOMAN JAPAN

Mukashi, mukashi, as these stories go, the kuchisake-onna was a vain, gorgeous woman married to a samurai (in some accounts, a ninja) who distrusted her. Believing she was cheating on him, he sliced her mouth open at the sides--splitting her face open from ear to ear.

Now she wanders, hiding her mouth behind a fan, the sleeve of a kimono, a stole, or the surgical-style masks now worn in cold and allergy seasons in Japan. She asks someone "watashi, kirei?" (“Do you think I'm beautiful?”). The answer is usually a resounding "yes" due to her otherworldly beauty, but then she exposes her face and repeats the question; her otherworldly beauty giving way to otherworldly horror. If the person says or does anything besides saying "yes", she pursues him with a kama (sickle) or knife and replies "I want to do for you what has been done to me." She can't be outrun, and eventually slices her victim's mouth open ear to ear. Women killed in this fashion return as kuchisake-onna themselves.

Kuchisake Onna, also known as The Slit-Mouth Woman, is a scary Japanese urban legend about a disfigured Japanese woman who brandishes a large scissors and preys on children. She has an enormous slit mouth, which extends from ear to ear in a horrible, permanent smile. The Slit Mouth Woman walks the streets of Japan, wearing a surgical mask and hunting for children. If you cross her path, she will stop you and ask you a question. If you give her the wrong answer, there will be horrible consequences.

She steps out of the shadows and blocks your path.

“Am I beautiful?” she asks.

Before you can answer, she tears off her mask, revealing a hideously deformed face. Her huge mouth is sliced from ear to ear and gapes open revealing rows of sharp teeth and a big red disgusting tongue twisting and twirling inside.

“Am I beautiful NOW?” she screams.

Terrified, you struggle to answer her. If you say “No”, she pulls out a huge pair of scissors and kills you immediately, chopping off your head. If you say “Yes”, she takes her scissors and slices your mouth from ear to ear, making you look just like her. If you try to run away, she will hunt you down and kill you, by slicing you in two.

The only way to escape from Kuchisake Onna is to give a non-committal answer. If you say “You look average” or you look normal, she will be confused, giving you just enough time to run away.

There are many rumors about how Kuchisake Onna got her horribly disfigured mouth. Some say that her slit mouth is the result of plastic surgery that went horribly wrong. Others say that she was injured in a terrible car crash. Some even believe she is an escaped mental patient who was so demented that she cut her own mouth apart.

According to one legend, years ago, in Japan, there lived a very beautiful woman who was extremely vain and self-absorbed. Her husband was a very jealous and brutal man and he became convinced that she was cheating on him. In a fit of rage, he took a sword and slit her mouth from ear to ear, screaming “Who will think you’re beautiful now?” She became a vengeful spirit, and began wandering the streets of Japan, wearing a surgical mask to hide her terrible scars.

The Slit Mouth Woman’s reign of terror began in the spring and summer of 1979, when rumors began to spread throughout Japan about sightings of the Kuchisake-onna hunting down children. The story spread like wildfire and actually created scares in many towns. Police increased their patrols and schools sent teachers to walk students home in groups.

In 2004, South Korea was plagued by reports of a red-masked woman who was chasing children.

In 2007, a coroner found some old records from the late 1970s about a woman who was chasing little children, but was hit by a car, and died shortly after. Her mouth was ripped from ear to ear.

The USA has its own version of Kuchisake Onna. There were rumors about a clown who appeared in public bathrooms and accosted children, asking “Do you want death or happy smile?” if they chose “happy smile”, he took out a knife and slit their mouths from ear to ear.

There is an infamous murder resembling kuchisake-onna's story in which the woman, Elizabeth Short, was nicknamed the Black Dahlia. However, the murder occurred in Los Angeles during mid-January 1947, not in Japan nor the 1970s. The Black Dahlia legend has been adapted as a novel,

�.m.n. .�+�.�ޥ. listening devices in your home, follow you around without you being aware of it, and watch over you-even as you sleep.

Some say he can teleport and appear at multiple locations at the same time. In some myths he is able to distort electronic equipment; quite possibly Der Großmann is some electromagnetic entity.

Think you can kill or ambush him? Think again. With his psychokinetic powers Der Großmann can deflect bullets and other objects away from his body before impact. Ambush would also be quite impossible; if you’ve seen Der Großmann it is most likely that he is closely watching you and all of your actions. Failed attempts to strike at Der Großmann with a weapon may be met with him obstructing your nervous system and disabling bodily functions-making it ever more easy for him to finish you off.

Again, it is not known exactly what happens once a victim has finally been taken by him. Some say they simply disappear. In more gruesome accounts the victims’ bodies are found impaled on tree limbs with their organs placed throughout their bodies in plastic bags.

The most frightening possible fate may be that Der Großmann extends his fingers to great lengths, punctures the bodies of victims, and destroys every major internal organ they have from within; tying them up from the inside into a great slendery (and bloody) knot.

Remember, the thought of Der Großmann may bring him ever more closer to you. Trying to forget about him will also lead him to you; once you see him there is no turning away from the possibilities of ends which await you.

Those slender shadows you see moving about in the dark of the night or that tall and misshaped tree in the distance may very well be Der Großmann. Waiting…watching…grinning all the while.