Japanese Urban Legends

Futakuchi-Onna

Have you ever met a person who never seems to eat anything? Well, according to a Japanese urban legend, they may secretly be a Futakuchi-onna.

Futakuchi-onna means "two-mouthed woman" in Japanese, which fits the description of one perfectly. They appear to be a normal woman until their secret is revealed. The woman has a tiny mouth, but on the back of her head is a huge second mouth hidden in her hair. The woman's skull splits apart, revealing lips, teeth, and a tongue. Although she appears to never eat, the mouth on the back of her head is always hungry for food.

It is said that the mouths also have a mind of their own and will whisper horrible things to the woman. It will threaten her, harass her, and demand food frequently; it screeches and causes the woman an unbearable amount of pain until it is fed. The mouth can also control her hair, and make the hair wrap around food to shovel it into the mouth. This lets the mouth help itself to the woman's meals, and consume twice the amount the woman would.

The origin of a Futakuchi-onna's second mouth is often linked to how little a woman eats. In many stories, the soon-to-be Futakuchi-onna is a wife of a miser and rarely eats. A miser is a person that hoards money and rarely spends money in fear of losing wealth. Many people believe that this is the true origin. To counteract this, a second mouth mysteriously appears on the back of the woman's head.

To get a better look at the origins and behavior of a Futakuchi-onna, we can look at Japanese folklore and mythology involving one.

In one story, an extra mouth is formed when a stingy woman is accidentally hit in the back of the head by her husband's ax. In another, a mother lets her one child die of starvation, and the child's spirit lodges itself to form a mouth on the back of her head to get revenge. 

The most famous story with a Futakuchi-onna in it goes like this:

An old miser lived by himself in a small village. He never got married since he hated spending money, and believed that if he took in a wife, he would have to give up a lot of money for her. He couldn't bear the idea of parting with his wealth to pay for his wife's food and housing.

But one day, he came across a young woman who didn't eat a thing. The more he accompanied her, the more he realized that she seemed to eat nothing at all. This thrilled him and he thought he had found the woman of his dreams. Of course, he'd have to pay for housing, but he couldn't care less. Food was expensive back then, and so as long as she ate nothing, he could stay rich. They soon got married and became a very happy couple together.

As time went on, however, the man noticed that his rice storage was steadily decreasing, even though he barely touched it at all. He wondered if someone was sneaking into the storage and eating it while he was gone. Determined to catch the culprit, the man devised a plan.

The next day, the old man pretended to go to work but instead stayed behind to spy on his new wife. He watched her walk into the storage room and crept along into the room as well to get a better view. To his horror, he saw his wife's hair part on the back of her head to reveal that her skull was split open, forming a gaping, deformed mouth. Her hair reached out like tentacles, grasping handfuls of rice and throwing it into the mouth.

When the woman saw that her husband discovered her deep secret, the woman panicked and tried to strangle him. The old man managed to get away from her and ran off into the mountains. Weeks later, he finally worked up the courage to return to his household, only to be stricken with grief. His wife was nowhere in sight, and all of his food had been eaten by the monstrous mouth. Devastated, the old man never married again and died poor.

Futakuchi-onnas have been featured in television shows, as well as anime, video games, and a comic book. Not many people actually believe in them, but rather admire their deceiving looks, and make art pieces of them. Many paintings and sculptures have been made inspired by them.

So maybe if you ever meet a girl with unusual eating habits, then be sure to protect your rice.