Author Archives: Sara Hua

Kuchisake Onna

Informant: In Japan, there’s this… I have to think about this. There’s a women who got her face slitted. Kuchisake Onna, that’s her name! It’s a Japanese urban legend. Apparently she was mutilated by her jealous husband and she returned as a vengeful spirit. She caused a lot of panic, like teachers would even take students home and police would patrol the area.

Informant: Children walking home at night would encounter a women with a mask, you know like those sick masks people wear to prevent germs… anyways she would ask the child “am I pretty” and if the child said no, she would cut the child in half. And if the child said “yes” she would rip off her mask and her face was slitted or scarred from ear to ear. “how about now?” and if the child said “no” she would cut the child in half and if the child said “yes” she would cut the child’s face like hers.

Me: Could you run?

Informant: There is no way to escape because if you tried to run she would just reappear in front of you. But you could confuse her by asking her “am I pretty?” and she would be confused. Or you could say, “You are average” when she asked you and she would also be confused. Then you could run.

Me: When did you hear about this?

Informant: When I was in Japan! People would just warn people against her.

Me: Are you scared of her?

Informant: Not really… but I think if I walked alone at night I’d be scared.

Analysis: It is interesting how while the general consensus is that this story is merely another ghost tale, the stir that the caused in Japan was huge. Especially in 1979, there were reports of extra police around schools at night, and children being sent home because the streets were thought to be unsafe with this story around.

This is relatable to the story of the boogieman in Western culture, in the way that both entities seem to target children. However while the boogieman targets naughty children, research did not show whether Kuchisake-onna had a preference for how well-behaved her victims were. Perhaps the most terrifying part of the story is that the woman looks like a normal person, for many people in Japan wear sick masks.

Annotation: This story was a made into a Japanese horror film in 1996. Kuchisake-onna (Video,1996)

“It is better to bend than to break” – Fable

Informant: “So the story goes like this… There was a palm tree and some reeds. And the palm tree was very cocky, and said to the reeds: “Why do you bend in the winds like that? You need to stand straight and tall! Look at me, I don’t bow down to anyone!” The reeds could care less, so they just swayed back and forth in the wind without caring. So the palm tree was like, “Hmph. I’ll show them.” And one day a storm came, and the winds were all like WHOOO and WUUUUSH [makes large hand gestures]. The reeds were being blown left and right, but the palm tree was like, “I’m not going to give in to some stupid wind!” And it continued to stand very straight and tall. In the end, the winds snapped the palm tree in half.”

Me: “What is the meaning of the story to you?”

Informant: “Well, it’s about compromising with people, rather than severing relationships or getting into a huge argument. Sure you have to stand your ground sometimes I guess, but from time to time it’s okay to let them have their way.”

Analysis: This is a variation of a fable in Aesop’s fables. In the original fable, it is an oak tree and some reeds. Perhaps the fact that the informant grew up in Southern California attributed to the fact that her version of the fable contains a palm tree instead.

The proverb warns against unnecessary stubbornness as well.

This fable is unusual because it does not contain any animal figures, and rather personifies plants.

Annotation: There is actually an overlap with a Chinese proverb that concludes: “A tree that is unbending will break.”

Why the Roussillon rocks are red

Informant: “This Lord and Lady  lived in the castle in Roussillon, which is like this canyon area in France, right? There was this pageboy that came to hang out at the castle and stuff. The Lord was away a lot and didn’t like to spend time at home. So the pageboy and the Lady spent time together and like, fell in love and started to have an affair. The servants started to notice and a jealous maid reported the incident to the Lord. One day, the pageboy sang a song of his love for the Lady, and hearing the truth, the Lord was so mad he decided to take revenge. He took the pageboy hunting, and when the pageboy wasn’t looking, he stabbed him in the back and cut out his heart. Then he went back to the castle with the heart and had his cook prepare it with a spicy sauce. The Lady thought the dish was delicious, until her husband informed her that she had just eaten the heart of her lover. She said, “You have given me such a good meal, that I never want to taste anything else again”. Then she  fled out of the castle to the edge of the cliff, and jumped off the cliff. Her blood spilled over the land and turned it red, and that is why the Roussillon rocks are red.”

My informant first heard this story from a tour guide when he was visiting Roussillon.

Analysis: According to my research, this is the story of Raymond d’Avignon and Lady Sermonde. It is interesting because while this is story is called a legend, it has the quality of a myth because it tells a story of how the earth came to be, and why the rocks are red.

The Roussillon cliffs are a unique shade of rust-red, therefore it makes sense that someone came up with a story to explain why they were the color they are. This is due to the “ochre” color in the clay of the sand, which is a rose-pigment that is often used in the coloring of textiles.

This story does not appear to be very well known, and is only present in tour-guide websites across the Internet. The story has an almost Shakesperean quality to it. The love, lust and tragedy might be due to the fact that France is known for being the romance capital of the world.

Two Priests on a Plane Joke

(Warning: Content may be offensive)

Informant: “Ok, so two priests are flying with a bunch of kids to meet the Pope. And they get halfway across the Atlantic… and um… the pilot tells them, “The plane is going to crash! We only have two parachutes!” One priest turns to the other and says, “Get the parachutes, and we’ll jump!”

“What about the children?” replies the other priest.

“Fuck the children!” yells the older priest.

The younger one says, “Do you think we have time?”

Me: “Do you find the joke funny?”

Informant: “Yeah! I think it’s like a ‘punny’ play on words, and I know it’s about a sensitive issue but, like I think the fact that there has been so much media coverage on the situation, people are bound to make fun of it. Like… it’s not that we’re trivializing the situation… I mean it’s a bad situation, but people… people make fun of everything, you know?”

Analysis: I certainly had to hold back a chuckle when hearing this joke. The reason why this joke is humorous is because it deals with current events. Many sex scandals involving the Catholic church and other religious institutions have recently been uncovered and the whole situation is under intense scrutiny. The child molestation cases within church and religious institutions has been largely blown up by the media. At the same time, child molestation is an issue that people are uncomfortable with and is one of the taboos. In order to deal with something that makes them uncomfortable, people often try to turn the atmosphere around by making a joke out of it.

My informant was Korean-American, he was born in Kansas, TN.

Bamboo Cutter and the Moonchild

Informant: “There was an old man and wife who wanted a child, because they didn’t have one and couldn’t get one someone. The old man chopped bamboo for a living, and one day he was chopping bamboo and there was a weird light coming from the bamboo stalk. So he chops it down and he finds a baby in the bamboo stalk. He fed her and raised her. Then another day came and he just went about cutting down bamboo trees and this time he found gold inside. There’s gold and jewels and stuff like that. So he and the old women build a nice home and are really happy with their daughter.

But then she grows into a full women in like three months, and everyone is stunned by her beauty. Um… So she has all these people trying to win her hand, but she gives them impossible tasks because she doesn’t want to get married. She’s so beautiful even the Emperor hears word of her beauty and wants to see for himself, so he visits the bamboo cutter’s home. He wants to make her his wife but she is unhappy about it, so he consents to just like writing her songs and letters.

What happened next… Then she gets really sad and stared at the moon and told her foster parents that she was a moonchild and her people were coming for her. This made the foster parents really sad so he tol d the Emperor to assemble an army to fight the moonpeople so they couldn’t take her, but she told him that it was her… like her destiny to go back to the moon. The cloud descends from the moon with her moonpeople and they tell the bamboo cutter how she was put on earth to be punished for a wrongdoing. They give her the Elixir of Life, and she only drinks half and sends the rest to the Emperor in a letter and leaves on the cloud.

The emperor is too scared to drink the Elixir because he doesn’t know what it is so he sends his royals to burn it on the tallest summit in the land. But because it is the elixir of life it never stops burning. And that’s why people see smoke coming up from Mount Fuji to this day.”

Analysis: The original tale is called 竹取物語, or Taketori Monogatari, which translates into The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. It originated in Japan in the 10th century.

This story mostly follows the general traits of a Marchen tale, but the ending has a quality of a myth. With the Elixir of Life, some variations have the Emperor deciding the burn the Elixir at the closest place to heaven, which is Mount Fuji. It is thought that the word immortality (不死 fushi, or fuji) became the name of the mountain itself.

My informant was retelling this story from a picture book she had as a child.

Many Asian fairy tales have been related to people on the moon. The Chinese story of Chang-E has a similar theme in that the girl goes to the moon in order to escape marriage from a man she didn’t love. In other tales there is a man in the moon, or more commonly, a rabbit. This has to do with the emphasis Asian cultures put on the lunar calendar.

The tale of finding a child in a plant relates to the story of Thumbelina, who was given to an old lady who couldn’t have children of her own in a flower.