Idea: the “Woman” as the base for monsters and horror in Japanese folklore and media (possibly attributed to sexism and objectification of women)
General notes regarding examples:
Folklore
- Futakuchi onna: mouth on back of head; stingy husband wouldn’t feed her; possibly let a stepchild die of starvation
- Rokurokubi: neck stretches while sleeping; disease; yokai
- Nukekubi: head detaches when body is asleep; like astral-projecting
- Yama uba: eats children; seduces people by dancing; lives in mountains; Jynx
- Onibaba: shriveled old cannibal woman; tore out daughter’s fetus’ liver by accident and went mad
- Yuki onna: leaves people frosty corpses; maybe a soul who died in a snowstorm; no feet; sometimes succubus-like and drains people of life
- Okiku: tricked into losing one of the ten important plates; gets thrown into a well after refusing advances of guy
- Oiwa: gets face scarred by poison cream and accidentally stabs herself
- Botan Dourou: a ghost girl seduces a guy several times and he dies
- Ohaguro bettari: woman with only a blackened mouth on her face
Urban Legend
- Teke teke: half body; carries scythe and cuts people in half
- Hanako: WWII girl haunting bathrooms; 3rd floor 3rd stall 3 knocks
- Kuchisake onna: slit mouth; chases children; asks “am I pretty”
Modern Media (I plan to look into the progression of themes in Japanese horror)
- Sadako: from Ringu; hair in face; comes out of well
- Kayoko: from Ju-on; bloody; murdered and murderer; clicks
Sources so far
Myths and Legends of Japan, F. Hadland Davis
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