Kuchisake-onna Storyboard

Video Style: White Board Animation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y9GlmOPT2w

Kuchisake-onna is the story of a woman with a schizophrenic and bipolar husband.
At one point in the marriage, she cant handle him anymore and falls in love with another man.

Prarthana
Talk about how sacred marriage is in Japan. The woman must stand by her husband no
matter what. Show how this story acts as a warning for women to stay loyal (lead into the next
point of the storys plot)
-Marriage was viewed as a sacred bond between a man and woman
-At the time marriage was still somewhat arranged, but with the consent of the children
-Divorce rates were low, but because of new marital laws, women got equal rights
and were able to divorce but looked down upon
-During this time period, women were still considered to be stay-at-home moms that did
household chores and look after children
-However, now days, women are more independent(working class, career driven women) and
are marrying later and choosing who they marry

When her husband discovers that Kuchisake-onna wants a divorce, he knocks her out and
ties her to a chair. When she wakes up, he slits her mouth ear-to-ear and kills her.

Jean
Talk about the difference between the Japanese cause of her slit mouth and the Korean cause
of her slit mouth. How is it affected by their different cultures. How do the differences
contribute to each storys conventional purpose
- in the most popular two korean versions of the story, the cause of her slit mouth is said to be
1: She was the most beautiful one out of the three sisters, and her jealous siblings slit her
mouth to take her beauty away.
2: She attempted to gain beauty through plastic surgery, but failed, and ended up with slit
mouth.
-what put the slit-mouthed woman into her tragic fate is obsession of beauty, whether it was
her own, or from the ones around her.

-the reason why beauty was so highly valued in korea lies in the traditional confucian values
and role of women in marriages and families (women were to follow the lead of the males in
family, thus belonged to her husband and his family after marriage)
-though equal rights were granted to women and marriage for love was prevailing, the
traditional thoughts of the elders was that women could raise in social and economic status by
finding a wealthy spouse.
-women with beauty had larger chance of finding a wealthy husband, thus were considered
superior and more powerful compared to those without beauty - resulted in womens
obsession with beauty that still exists until now.
- therefore, those with beauty could easily gain the jealousy of those without it
- also, plastic surgery (adapted in 1960s) was growing as a very prominent business in korea
towards 1990s. (however, in 1990s, it was still a risky method of gaining beauty, and those
who have done it were looked down upon)

Kuchisake-onna then comes back as an evil spirit that haunts innocent civilians who are in teh
wrong place at the wrong time. She asks them if they think shes pretty. If they say no, she
kills them. If they say yes, she slits their mouth ear-to-ear to look like hers.

Jennifer
Talk about how most evil spirits in Japanese folklore are women and explain why.
In a random samples of 10 evil Japanese spirits: (60% female, 30% unknown, 1% male)
1. Female Kiyohime (voluntarily turns into a serpent after her lover loses interest)
2. Female Yuki-onna (feeds on human essence)
3. Female Yamauba (old women who are are outcasted by society are forced to
live on mountains and eventually become cannibalistic)
4. Female Uji No (voluntarily turns into a 5 horned monster after her husband
cheats on her)
5. Female Oiwa (haunts her cheating husband who tried to kill her, but
accidentally deforms her instead)
6. Female Kuchisake-onna (haunts civilians after she is mutilated/murdered by
her husband)
7. Sex unknown, but disguises as an abandoned woman (a demon who trick men
crossing its bridge)
8. Sex unknown (mountain goblins that play tricks on bystanders)
9. Sex unknown (demon that lives on a mountain)
10. Male Aka Manto (hides in womens bathrooms to mutilate/murder women)
Most evil spirits are depicted as women because:
-Men are seen as having more self-control, and women as having more feelings
-Women are said to be spiritually weak

-suffer latah episodes (spirit attacks) and Americans define these episodes as nervous
break-downs
-Many young Japanese girls are moving into the city and living in dormitories away from home
to work at factories to support their family
-Attacks in these factories are common
-Placed under intense conditions
-Stress/anxiety in the female domestic sphere (men are the money makers and if they
divorce, the women is left broke and helpless)
-These nervous break-downs consist of the girls yelling/using obscene language/breaking
machinery in spite of the factory owner
-Most attacks are by the spirits of vengeful old women (suck on menstrual aids)