The Many Faces of Kuchisake-Onna

Content Notes: Discussions of Ableism, Castration, Classism, Misogyny and Vagina Dentata

In my previous article we examined the history of Kuchisake-Onna, exploring the many posited origins. But the interpretations of her are even more numerous. Academics and amateurs alike have understood and reimagined the slit mouth woman in a plethora of diverse ways. So, without further ado, let’s dive into the depths of Kuchisake-Onna

What’s In A Smile?

The most distinctive feature of Kuchisake-Onna is her slit mouth, described in various ways, from sheathe-like to…well “sheathe-like”. But, interestingly, I can find only one article comparing her most distinctive feature to real life facial disabilities. Kun Hwang authored a paper relating the mythological figure to lateral facial clefts, that is a congenital opening of the face around the mouth.^[1] He wrote a passage that I believe is important to initiate this discussion of Kuchisake-Onna.

“We plastic surgeons should be aware that facial cleft patients in past societies may have been treated as ‘Ghosts’ who harm other people.”

Within any discussion of folkloric figures and the horror of disability, it is critical to recognise one fundamental truth. People will use these stories to otherise those with similar disabilities, to treat them as monsters. As much as we can abstract the various parts and tales of Kuchisake-Onna to look at societal issues (and trust me we will) it’s equally important to recognise the more obvious reflections. How a society, even a modern day one, treats and perceives those with disabilities.

Clefts, scars and other physical differences can cause medical problem for the individual. However, when stories villainise and stereotypically portray them, it is not for the fact they are detrimental to the person with them. Indeed, Kuchisake-Onna’s slit mouth is not disgusting for the effects it has on her but the effect it has on the viewer. This centring of the (presumed) physically normative individuals reaction is exceedingly common in all media representation of those who experience visible disabilities. But in all of horror’s subgenres, including folklore, it is strikingly apparent. The removal of limbs or deforming of the body remains a staple of the genre as a way to get a quick and easy shock. The sensationalism of this is a lesson to the audience. That those who possess similar features should be viewed as inherently horrific and unusual. Whether this means they are pitiable or villainous depends on the tale.

But there is another layer of this to unpack. Kuchisake-Onna disfigurement is repeatedly described as having come about due to a surgical procedure, either a vanity based plastic surgery^[2] or as a result of trying to be rid of a pre-existing cleft.^[1] The first case plays into two tired but tested tropes of fiction, the vain woman getting ironic revenge and the use of disability as retribution. The former will be discussed in another post, but the latter is worth investigating further. Disabilities are not solely used as a sign of a deformity in character but as some form of karmic or divine justice for a person’s misdeeds. This reflects on the disabled individual as inherently corrupted, perhaps even from birth. Their disability, therefore, can be seen as a shorthand for the stain upon their soul that the audience can instantly identify. A lesson which is then replicated in real life.

The second case represents a notable contrast to the first, as the implication (in my opinion at least) is that in trying to reduce her cleft, she is punished. One could interpret this as again punishing vanity, but I think there is another interpretation. That those with disabilities cannot win. That by trying to change your physical difference, you are transgressing. Because if a person can change themselves to look like the physical majority, it shows the artificality of such a construct. If it is not inherent, but something which can be achieved through sleight of hand, it loses both it’s power and meaning to those born physically normative. This idea, is unpalatable to many, so stories and folklore exist to counter such narratives.

It is somewhat ironic for a famous myth that villanises those with facial clefts to quite accurately surmise the catch-22 many find themselves in. There is no winning for the physically different but to atone in the manner society seems fit. Which is typically whatever soothes the mind of the physical majority and encourages them to feel better, at the cost of the physically different.

Sheathing A Theory

Let’s take a breather from the somewhat depressing societal implications and talk about something much more fun. The psychoanalytical theory relating to Kuchisake-Onna. For those who don’t have an extra psychology degree lying around (and why don’t you?) psychoanalytics is the field of psychology pertaining the ideas of Sigmund Freud. You may have heard of Freud through the Oedipus complex, the idea that adolescent boys really… REALLY love their mothers. But the topic relevant today is castration anxiety.

Castration anxiety is pretty much what it sounds like, the belief that pre-pubescent boys are pathologically scared of being castrated.^[7] This comes about because apparently boys believe their mothers are castrated men, rather than women. Freud really did just get away with declaring anything. As reported by Barbara Creed in her seminal work The Monstrous-Feminine, Joseph Campbell first linked castration anxiety to vagina dentata.^[8] That is, a literally toothy genital, a la Teeth (2007). The vagina dentata appears in a variety of cultures and according to Campbell is a sign of men’s latent castration anxiety and fear of vaginas. In addition Campbell argues it represents gynephobia, a term used by Freud to describe men’s fear of women’s sexuality and feminity. This is often considered decoupled from misogyny by psychodynamic academics. How much you wish to decouple it is up to you.

At this moment, you may be rather reasonably asking, how does a slit mouthed woman relate to a toothed genital? Well the idea of vagina dentata, and a lot of psychodynamic symbolism, is its focus on evoking iconography. Even if they’re not necessarily the exact same symbol. In this case, both Foster and Shartle make comparisons to Kuchisake-Onna mouth and female genitalia.^[2][4] The essential point is Kuchisake-Onna is part of a lineage of vagina dentata stories. And Kuchisake-Onna’s rise to fame is a representation of the prevalent fears Japanese men had in the 70s. This fear was presumably aided by the rise in feminist movements at the time. And the theorising is not merely academic. I wish I was kidding, but Foster found the following anonymous quote from a male student:

“The mouth of Kuchi-sake-onna is genital-like. And what’s more, it’s ridiculously huge and gaudy and unclean, so I don’t want to be touched by it!”^[2]

I mean at least he was honest.

You may have noticed throughout this section my incredibly subtle disdain. Some of it is around 5 years of repeatedly having to listen to Freud’s weird personal theories that feel like textbook projection. But, as well, nearly all of psychodynamic theory has fallen out of vogue in psychology because people just don’t often think this way. You will be able find some cases of people who are…let’s say highly sexed. But the unconscious framework underlying seeing a slit mouth as a sexual object both cannot be proven and is not the simplest explaination.

Castration anxiety could just be the relatively ordinary feeling the majority of people have about their most sensitive area being hurt. Made worse for the half of the population for whom that area is exposed.As for vagina dentata, it is theorised to originate from medical stories of calcified lumps within vaginas.^[9] And unlike nearly all vagina dentata myths, Kuchisake-Onna does not emasculate her victims, let alone with her teeth. She slices people with scythes or scissors which is either a left over from her rural predeceeding folklore or just a common household item.

I do believe there is some merit to the idea that Kuchisake-Onna represents the fears of men. However, there is a tendency in psychology and especially psychodynamic theories, to over-generalise and overcomplicate simple ideas. The fear of being harmed and the misogynistic framing is more likely to be context and socially specific, rather than tapping into a disproven latent fear.

A Class Act

As stated in my previous post, Kuchisake-Onna first spread around Japan through the juku or preparatory schools, which were new at the time.^[3][5] In fact, Takaji even believed that the rumour spread as a method of keeping lower class children out of these schools.^[3] By instilling fear of being in the city at night, it could convince children to never attend. This in and of itself, its emblematic of the class divide within Japanese society. How many disliked or outright feared the intermingling of numerous sects that used to be separated. There was a palpable anxiety around the blurring of distinct strata and what that would mean for those who benefitted from such a system.

However, one cannot separate Kuchisake-Onna from her rural beginnings. From her tale originating in the Gifu Prefecture and likely being inspired by ghost stories of the farmer’s uprising in 1754.^[10] To her oft used scythe, an item rarely seen in urban settings and considered short hand for rurality.^[2] To even the methods of repelling her evoking traditional Edo period yōkai, such as chanting “pomade” three times. ^[2] Kuchisake-Onna is part and parcel a tale of rurality within an urban setting and the mismatch between those two worlds. And with that mismatch, comes classism.

In the 1970s, on top of a wave of feminist thinking, the Japanese population was beginning to be disillusioned with urbanisation. This was somewhat due to a lack of worker’s rights as well as an increased separation between the urban and rural. ^[2] Accompanying this was an almost fetishistic level of adoration for the past including for previous mythology of that time. This led, in some part, to the adoption of Kuchisake-Onna. Foster claims that she can even be seen as a trasitional folkloric figure, incorporating both the old and the new. In this way, she represents the desire of many to return to simpler times. But the view was rather rose tinted, as alongside this rise in traditionalism, was an elevation in disdain for the working class.

The 1970s saw a rise of worker’s strikes and student protest within Japan.^[2] Many stories of the strikers at the time were exaggerated, frequently portraying them as boorish and even violent. The mask Kuchisake-Onna is reported to wear can be seen as a sign of protest, as it was used by many political movements to provide anonymity when protesting. As such, the story aligns Kuchisake-Onna with the perceived violent protests, demonstrating the danger that may lie under the mask. This can be extended further to a more impersonal interpretation. The fear of the wealthy about what student and worker’s rights protests may mean for sense of safety and security. Both in a financial and very literal physical way.

As a result, Kuchisake-Onna can be viewed in two contrasting ways. Both as a call to the good old times of strange folklore from rural areas and as a sign of the violence from seemingly kind working-class people. eve the former isn’t exactly a much more favourable interpretation. It leans on tropes that patronise rural communities, depicting them as strange, backwards people with their unusual customs. In essence, mystifying and dehumanising those in rural communities, contrasting them with the more “civilised”, advanced urbanites.

In either case, Kuchisake-Onna could be understood a folkloric backlash to the widespread changes that were happening, and the security of the wealthy being threatened. However, this would not fully explain Kuchisake-Onna wide adoption by the rural and working class. So I have one more aspect to share today.

The Horror of Cities

The urban environments where Kuchisake-Onna propagated were new to many children and adults. As many a horror media can attest, there is a liminality and dread of such environments when devoid of people. Liminal spaces, in internet parlance, represent the quietly unsettling transitional margins.^[11] Often this can be witnessed in pure white corridors within a hospital, a clearly utilitarian artifice that feels devoid of emotions. These hallways exist purely to transition you between different rooms. There is something disquietening about the lack of warmth or humanity in such places. The emptiness in these spaces adds to the unease, as we naturally feel that such spaces should be filled with people and objects. One can view the walkways of urban settings as liminal areas, as they exist merely to transition us between buildings.

If you’ve ever walked alone in a city at night you’ve most likely experienced the horror of liminality. Shadows become people, wind becomes footsteps and buildings become toppling towers. It’s not impossible to identify how people’s fear of this unnerving environment was entangled with Kuchisake-Onna. How transposed onto an originally rural myth, spread a fear of an attractive stranger who was out to wound you in this strange urban hellscape. Who you could never truly tell the intentions of what lied behind the mask. A figure who left you wondering if she was as devoid of humanity as her surroundings.

Additionally, when Kuchisake-Onna rose to international notoriety there was an increase in awareness about the health impacts of city environments within Japan.^[2] People were realising the mental, physical and financial toll the move towards city landscapes as the new hotbed of industry was having. Of particular note was the uptick in cadmium and mercury poisoning as well as the increasing risk of smog. This led to a rise in people wearing masks, as a preventative measure against an environment trying to defeat them.

Therefore, as Foster argues, one can see Kuchisake-Onna as a representation of these fears.^[2] Her mask and the revealing of her disfigurement underlies the concerns of the people living in these contemporary and hazardous environments. How they fear the fact that they too, may become physically ill or even disabled, because the city itself is killing them. Though her slit face mimics a genetic disability, it can be seen as representation for all kinds of illness. As well, her rural trappings can be seen as a contrast between the two environments. How, when the rural transition to the urban, the sole result is a harm to yourself and to those around you.

With all this said, I am eager to hear your thoughts and interpretations of Kuchisake-Onna. There will be a final essay about the many feminist links to Kuchisake-Onna in two weeks. I hope you’ve enjoyed this. Until next time!

References

1. Hwang, K. (2023). Slit-mouthed woman (Kuchisake Onna) and plastic surgery. Journal of Craniofacial Surgery, 34(5), 1370.
2. Michael Dylan Foster. (2009). Pandemonium and Parade. Univ of California Press.
3. Asakura, T. (1989). Ano kuchisakeon’na no sumika o Gifu sanchū ni mita’“uwasa no hon” Takarajimasha
4. Shartle, R. (2023). Motherhood, Femininity, and the Body: Reading Representations of the Feminine in Kuchisake-onna (Postwar Japan) (Master’s thesis, Arizona State University).
5. Yoshiyuki, I. (2019). Japanese Urban Legends from the “Slit-Mouthed Woman” to “Kisaragi Station.” Retrieved From: Nippon.com
6. Hayakawa, K. (2008) Kowai hanashi – anata no shiranai Nippon no “kyōfu”, Mirion Shuppan
7. Freud, S. (1927), “Fetishism’,The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, 24v ols, trans. James Strachey.
8. Creed, B. (1993). The Monstrous-Feminine: Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis. London: Routledge
9. Wikipedia Contributors. (2025). Vagina dentata. Retrieved from Wikipedia website: Wikipedia
10. Hayakawa, K. (2008) Kowai hanashi – anata no shiranai Nippon no “kyōfu”, Mirion Shuppan
11. Wikipedia Contributors. (2025). Liminal space (aesthetic). Retrieved from Wikipedia website: Wikipedia