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Kuchisake-onna

Kuchisake-onna

Kuchisake-onna's History

The legend has been described as dating back to Japan's Edo period (17th-19th century), but some scholars believe it originated in the 1970s. In print, the earliest sources mentioning Kuchisake-onna date to the late 1970s, including newspaper articles from 1979 in Gifu Prefecture and weekly magazines. Rumors about Kuchisake-onna spread throughout Japan in the 1970s, which led to children sometimes being accompanied by adults when walking home from school. Scholar and manga artist Shigeru Mizuki considered Kuchisake-onna to be an example of a yōkai, a type of Japanese folklore monster or spirit. His inclusion of her in a yokai encyclopedia in the 1980s is cited as when she became "officially" classified as a yokai.The legend experienced a resurgence of awareness in the 1970s in Japan when several newspaper and magazine reports discussed it, helping to spread rumors about encounters with her across the country at that time.