The Kuchisake-onna (口裂け女) "Slit-Mouthed Woman" is a type of onryō (vengeful spirit) or Yōkai . It is the ghost of a woman who was mutilated and has come back from to act out her vengeance on the world. She is called this way because of her mouth which is cut from ear to ear. She appears at night while covering her mouth with a fan, cloth mask or handkerchief. She is most often described with long, straight, black hair and a very pale skin, and otherwise being considered beautiful (except for her scar).
Encounter
A kuchisake onna does not attack immediately. She first appears before her victims and asks if she is beautiful. If the victim answers not she kill him with a large pair of scissors. If the person answers yes however she will reveal her face and ask the question once again. If the answer is "no" the second time she cuts the victim in half. Answering "yes" the second time does not give much solace as she then proceeds to use the scissors to cut the victim's mouth like hers.
There are some accounts of surving the encounter without being mutilated. Replying with an answer that she looks "average" appears to give enough time for the victim to run away. Another solution is to throw money or candy as the kuchisake onna will pick this up first, giving the victim the chance to get away.
Origin
Sightings of the kuchisake onna appears to have been especially common during the Sengoku period. This is most likely due to the large number of women who were being mutilated as a result of those wars. But even in modern times the sightings of the woman are not unheard off, especially after a serial killer has been around.
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