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Joker. Does the main Batman’s enemy come from Japan?

The opponent of Batman by Heath Ledger is now the best of his kind, but few people know that this original character comes from another personage… Japanese ghost woman.

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© TM &DC Comics. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

Joker from The Dark Knight 2008 was a ghoulish character, but so charmingly attractive, that the audience remembers him much more than the Batman. His habits, speech and humor became adorable and turned into a real cult. The opponent of Batman by Heath Ledger is now the best of his kind, but few people know that this original character comes from another personage… Japanese ghost woman. Hard to believe? Go on reading.

Kutisake-Onna — the heroine of Japanese legend, a beautiful woman, who was murdered by her jealous husband. Then she returned to the world of alive as a vindictive evil spirit. Woman covered her lower part of the face to hide her mouth cut from ear to ear. The same peculiarity had Joker in The Dark Knight.

But the evil spirit-avenger never fought with the Japanese analog of Batman super hero. Unlike the Joker, she only asked children: “Am I beautiful”?

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© Kuchisake-Onna 2007 Tornado Film K.K.

If the child answered: “No”, she killed him with the scissors that she always had. If he answered: “Yes”, the woman took off the mask, showed her mouth, cut from ear to ear, with a huge teeth and a snake-type tongue and asked: “Even now?”. If the answer was still “Yes”, the ghost cut the child’s mouth from ear to ear. If the child said, “No”, he was cut in half.

So, the legend is terrible. And since 1979, the story has gained the unexpected popularity in Japan: many people said that they had seen Kutisake-Onna in real life, and she ostensibly killed a lot of children aged from 4 to10 years. The studies in some schools and colleges have been stopped, parents brought the younger school children to school and met them after the studies, the territories of university campuses were patrolled by the police.

The spectator also perceived indifferently the story of the Joker, who, like a female ghost, chased many people in nightmares. Desperate Kutisake-Onna and insane Joker, why did that happen to them? Undoubtedly, the reason was injustice that crippled their souls. So there is nothing to do just to revenge…