Recently, I met a sweet Japanese lady at a blind date. I noticed that she hardly touched her food. She kept saying she was on a diet but something was off about that. I thought nothing of it until now. Incidentally, my experience is similar to the story of today’s yokai. My blind date reminds me of futakuchi-onna, the compulsive secret eater.
According to Japanese folklore, there was a stingy miser married his wife because she never ate anything. Everyday she would cook for him but she never ate. And yet, his storage of rice was dwindling much more than usual. One day, the miser decided to spy on his wife to investigate.
Initially, everything looked normal. But as she was preparing for a meal for the miser, the horror unfolded. The wife’s hair parted of its own accord to reveal a mouth with multiple rows of teeth. Subsequently, her hair grabbed raw rice grains and stuffed it into the second mouth. Aghast with the revelation, the miser went mad and ran towards his wife. He raised his axe and struck his wife shouting, “Futakuchi! Futakuchi-onna.”
Another Story
Conversely, the futakuchi-onna story is very different in Shimosa (now Chiba prefecture). It began with a young daughter who lived alone with his father. Initially, the step-mother was caring and kind to both of them. However, after she had a daughter of her own, the step-mother became selfish and greedy. Gradually she fattens her own daughter while starving the other. Eventually the step-daughter died of hunger.
49 days later, while the husband was chopping firewood, he accidentally struck his wife. Although the cut was small, it festered over time. Eventually, the wound formed lips and her skull protruded into teeth. Although it was ache at times, feeding the second mouth rice eases the pain. But after every feed, the mouth spoke, ” I killed my step-daughter. I am mistaken.”
Conclusion
Interestingly, futakuchi-onna is similar to other female yokai such as rokurokubi, nure-onago and yuki-onna. Female yokai transformed by a horrific curse or supernatural disease. Even if futakuchi-onna was a compulsive secret eater, there was no reason to kill her, yokai or not. Nonetheless, these tales also reveal and underline stories of spousal abuse in olden times.
Yokai Details
- name: futakuchi-onna ( foo-tah-koo-chi-on-nah )
- kanji: 二口女 (ふたくちおんな)
- meaning: two-mouthed woman
- abilities:
- hair manipulation — the ability to control and use her hair as extra limbs
