Urban Vampire

This legend is about a very famous spirit in Japan， known as Kuchisake-onna. Although she may seem pretty at first， looks can be quite deceiving.

Kuchisake-onna is a woman with a slit mouth that is said to walk around at night， wearing a surgical mask. Legend has it she was mutilated by her husband， and has now returned as a malicious spirit， out to cause havoc and chaos. This caused so much panic in Japan that there were even reports of schools allowing kids to go home only in groups， with teachers escorting them for safety.

She is considered a Yōkai， like many other Japanese urban legends out there. Yōkai are a class of supernatural monsters， demons， and spirits in Japanese folklore. Although I don“t mention the word much later on in this book， it can easily describe half of the Japanese urban legends out there.

There are some other origin stories that people have theorized， although they are far less popular. One of them is that she was once a former patient of a mental asylum， and that she slit her mouth open due to insanity. There is also the one where she was the wife of a samurai， and when he found out she was cheating on him， he cut her mouth from ear to ear and asked， "Who will think you are beautiful now?"