45) Japan - 21. Futakuchi-onna

Literally translating to 'two-mouthed woman,' she appears as an ordinary woman but has a large mouth on the back of her head or crown of her head, which eats food with her hair. She is also called 'Kuwa-zu Nyōbō' (the wife who doesn't eat). There was a charcoal seller in a village. He was an extreme miser and married a woman who claimed she didn't eat. His wife truly didn't eat, but as the rice dwindled day by day, the charcoal seller pretended to go to work and hid on a beam. When her husband wasn't visible, the wife made a large amount of rice balls and ate them with the big mouth on the crown of her head. Angered by being deceived, the charcoal seller confronted her, and the wife revealed her true nature and tried to kill him. As the charcoal seller fled, he found an iris, tore off a leaf, and threw it. It pierced his wife's eyes like a blade, and she stumbled, falling into a ravine and dying. Afterward, the charcoal seller completely reformed his stingy ways, married a diligent woman without regard for how much she ate, and lived happily ever after. From that time on, the Japanese are said to have hung iris leaves in front of their houses every May (lunar calendar) to ward off evil spirits.