futakuchi-onna
Sign in to savethumb|250px|An image of futakuchi-onna from the Ehon Hyaku Monogatari is a type of yōkai or Japanese monster. She is characterized by her two mouths – a normal one located on her face and a second one on the back of the head beneath the hair. There, the woman's skull splits apart, forming lips, teeth and a tongue, creating an entirely functional second mouth.
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
4 sectionsContents
- Origins of the second mouth
- Prototypical story
- See also
- References
thumb|250px|An image of futakuchi-onna from the Ehon Hyaku Monogatari is a type of yōkai or Japanese monster. She is characterized by her two mouths – a normal one located on her face and a second one on the back of the head beneath the hair. There, the woman's skull splits apart, forming lips, teeth and a tongue, creating an entirely functional second mouth.
In Japanese mythology and folklore, futakuchi-onna belongs to the same class of stories as rokurokubi, kuchisake-onna and yama-uba, women afflicted with a curse or supernatural disease that transforms them into yōkai. The supernatural nature of the women in these stories is usually concealed until the last minute, when the true self is revealed.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “futakuchi-onna” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.