The haunted japanese doll Okiku, possessed by the spirit of a 10 year old girl who took refuge inside it. Some time after the funeral
of the girl, the hair of the doll began to grow. Although the doll’s
hair is cut regularly, the hair grows again and again. A mysterious doll
possessed by the spirit of a child has captured the curiosity of people
across Japan for decades. The legendary Okiku doll, named after the
girl who long ago used to play with it, is a 40-centimeter (16-in) tall
kimono-clad figure with beady black eyes -- and hair that grows.
The Okiku doll has resided at the Mannenji temple in the town of
Iwamizawa (Hokkaido prefecture) since 1938. According to the temple, the
traditional doll initially had
short cropped hair, but over time it has grown to about 25 centimeters
(10 in) long, down to the doll's knees. Although the hair is
periodically trimmed, it reportedly keeps growing back.
It is said that the doll was originally purchased in 1918 by a 17-year-old boy named Eikichi Suzuki while visiting
Sapporo for a marine exhibition. He bought the doll on Tanuki-koji --
Sapporo's famous shopping street -- as a souvenir for his 2-year-old
sister, Okiku. The young girl loved the doll and played with it every
day, but the following year, she died suddenly of a cold. The family
placed the doll in the household altar and prayed to it every day in
memory of Okiku.
Some time later, they noticed the hair had started to grow. This was
seen as a sign that the girl's restless spirit had taken refuge in the
doll.
This doll was originally purchased in 1918 by a Eikichi Suzuki in Sapporo, where he saw a beautiful Japanese doll
with a Kimono. Eikichi bought this doll for her sister, who is two
years old named Okiku. She loved this doll and play it every day. But
unfortunately, Okiku died shortly afterwards of a fever. Then at his funeral,
family want to put a doll into his coffin, but somehow they forgot. The
girl’s family then put the doll on the household altar and pray for
every day in order to commemorate Okiku.
Some time later, they saw the hair began grows. According to this story
is the spirit of the girl who took refuge inside the doll.
Okiku - Ghost Story of Japanese Haunted Devil Doll
Yuurei, is the soul(reikon) of someone wandering around seeking revenge. This is because the person died either by murder, slain in battle, suicide, or the person hasn’t been given an appropriate funeral.
Often said to be haunted by the ghost of Okiku. She is supposed to rise from the well at night and count to nine before shrieking and returning to the well. The ghost story of Okiku, an unfortunate servant maid, is one of the best known and was transformed into a Kabuki play and numerous novels.
Some stories, however, locate the haunted well in the Canadian embassy in Tokyo's garden.
There are different versions of the ghost story of Okiku. What they all have in common is the description of her ghost coming out of the well and counting from one to nine and then breaking out into a heart-rendering sobbing.
In another version, Okiku really breaks a plate and is killed by her master and her corpse is thrown into the well.
In yet another version, it is the wife of Aoyama, who breaks the plate. To hide her guilt, she throws the broken plate into the well and accuses Okiku of having it stolen. In this version she is also killed by her master for punishment and thrown into the well.
There is also an alternate version for the end of the story. To stop the nightly sobbing, a friend of the family of Aoyama is hired. He is hiding at the well during the night and after Okiku had counted from one to nine, he is stepping forward shouting loudly "ten". From then on the ghost of Okiku was never seen again.
In Japanese culture, ghosts take on many different forms. Yuurei are ghosts whose deaths came about so suddenly that they did not have time to make their peace, either because they were murdered or committed suicide rashly (defeated warriors in Japan were often forced to commit suicide). This is the tale of a woman who was so deeply wronged in life that, after more than four hundred years, her soul remains hostage to the agony of the betrayal that killed her. Himeji Castle is an imposing wooden structure, extremely well preserved despite its age. It stands on an elevated position in the center of town of Himeji, thirty miles west of Kobe. The castle's earliest origins are in the early fourteenth century, but it is in the seventeenth century, at a time when the local Shogun government commissioned the tower to be built to its five-story height, that this story is set. At the foot of the tower, known as the Donjon, and located next to the Hara-kiri Maru (the Suicide Gate), where people were forced to commit ritual disembowelment stands the castle well. Its proximity to the gate is no mere coincidence; it was not a source of drinking water, but a means of washing away the blood of a hara-kiri suicide. Today it is known as Okiku's Well.
Read more at Okikus-Well
