What is a futakuchi-onna?
The futakuchi-onna is a female yokai with a second, large mouth on the back of her head. Normally it is hidden by her hair, but her hair moves like snakes to grab food and carry it to the mouth behind, it is said.
The futakuchi-onna of Ehon Hyaku Monogatari
The yokai book Ehon Hyaku Monogatari (Tosanjin Yawa), published in 1841, tells her story. A stepmother refused to feed her late husband’s first wife’s child and let it die. Later, as her husband was splitting firewood, his axe accidentally struck the back of her head. The wound became a mouth with lips and teeth, and unless it was fed she suffered terrible pain. It is portrayed as punishment for letting the child die.
The folktale “The Wife Who Doesn’t Eat”
The folktale “Kuwazu Nyobo” (The Wife Who Doesn’t Eat) closely resembles the futakuchi-onna. A stingy man wishes for a wife who doesn’t eat, and a woman who eats nothing comes to marry him. But his rice keeps disappearing, and when he secretly peeks, he sees her tossing rice balls one after another into a huge mouth on the top of her head. Her true form is said to be a yamauba or a spider.
