Futakuchi-onna (two-mouthed woman) is a type of Japanese youkai or monster. They are characterized by having two mouths - one normally located on the face and a second one on the back of the head below the hair. There, the woman's skull split open, forming large, fat lips filled with teeth and a tongue, creating a completely functional second mouth. However, that's not the worst thing, if it feels hungry its mouth starts to mutter hateful things, threaten and demand food. If not fed, it will scream obscene words and cause pain to the woman. Eventually, the hairs around the second mouth turned into tentacles and snatched all the food from the woman.
In Japanese mythology and folklore, Futakuchi-onna belong to the same story class as rokurokubi, kuchisake-onna, and yama-uba, women who suffer from a curse or supernatural illness that causes them to turn into youkai. The supernatural nature of the women in these stories is often hidden until the very last moment, when the real person is revealed.
Origin of the second mouth
The origin of the second mouth of the Futakuchi-onna is often related to how little a woman eats. In many stories, the Futakuchi-onna is about to become a stingy wife and rarely eats. To combat this, a second mouth mysteriously appeared at the back of the woman's head. The second mouth often mutters malicious things, threatens the woman, and demands food. If not fed, it can squeak obscenely and cause great pain to the woman. Eventually, the woman's hair began to move like a pair of snakes, allowing the mouth to help itself in the woman's meal. While no food passes through her normal lips, the mouth at the back of her head consumes twice as much as the other mouth.
In another story, the silver mouth was formed when a stingy woman was accidentally cut in the head by her husband while chopping wood, the wound never healed.
Another story tells of a wicked stepmother, who always gave plenty of food to her own daughter, but never enough to her stepdaughter. Gradually the stepdaughter grew sicker and sicker, until she starved to death. Forty-nine days later, the wicked stepmother was afflicted with a terrible headache. The back of her head split open, and lips, teeth, and a tongue formed. The new mouth ached with debilitating pain until it was fed, and it shrieked in the voice of the dead stepdaughter. From then on the stepmother always had to feed both of her mouths, and always felt the hunger pangs of the stepdaughter she murdered.
Prototype story
In a small village, there lived a stingy man who, because he could not bear the money to buy food for his wife, lived completely alone.
One day, he met a woman who did not eat or drink, who he immediately took for his wife. Because she never ate a thing, and was still a hard worker, the old stingy man was deeply touched by her, but on the other hand, he began to wonder why the amount of rice their reserves are dwindling.
One day, the man pretends to go to work, but instead stays to watch over his new wife. To his horror, he saw his wife's hair on the back of her head, her skull open wide to reveal a mouth complete with ghastly lips and teeth. Her hair reached out in tentacle-like clumps and began scooping handfuls of rice into her second mouth, with a raspy, raspy voice filled with pleasure.
The stingy man was horrified and decided to divorce his wife. However, she learned of his plan before he could execute it, and she locked him in a bathtub and carried it into the mountains. The wretched man managed to escape and hid in a lily-scented swamp, where the Futakuchi-onna could not find him.
📚 Explore more of the Mystical Creatures series here: Dive into the Enchanted Realms of Mythology
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