Skip to main content

OKIKU'S WELL, JAPAN

 By Nicole Panken

Looming over the surrounding city of Himeji, in Hyogo Prefecture, Himeji Castle would be an impressive enough sight without the added lure of a spookily famous well contained within its massive grounds.
Ghost Stories are a popular subject of Japanese woodblock prints. 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.
Kabuki (歌舞伎) is a classical Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for the stylization of its drama, the often-glamorous costumes worn by performers, and for the elaborate keishi/keishomake-up worn by some of its performers.
Kabuki is considered to have begun in 1603 when Izumo no Okuni formed a female dance troupe to perform dances and light sketches in Kyoto, but developed into an all-male theatrical form after females were banned from kabuki theatre in 1629. This form of theatre was perfected in the late 17th and mid-18th century.
In 2005, the "Kabuki theatre" was proclaimed by UNESCO as an intangible heritage possessing outstanding universal value. In 2008, it was inscribed in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Bancho Sarayashiki
In the kabuki play Bancho Sarayashiki, Okiku is a maid at the mansion of the Japanese samurai Tessan Aoyama. The samurai wants to seduce the cute girl but she rejects his advances. Aoyama uses a trick. He hides one of ten valuable Dutch plates and threatens Okiku to make public that she had stolen the plate unless she agrees to become his mistress. In her desperation Okiku throws herself into the well and drowns.
Okiku's ghost comes out every night, counting from one to nine and then breaks out into a terrible howling and sobbing. Finally Aoyama goes insane by the daily apparitions at night.
Different Versions of the Ghost Story of Okiku
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.
The Himeji Castle Version
One of the tourist attractions on Himeji Castle is Okiku's well. In the Himeji version, Okiku was a servant of Aoyama, a retainer who planned a plot against his lord. Okiku overheard the plot and reported it to her lover, a loyal warrior. The plot was averted.
When Aoyama found out that Okiku had been the cause for his failure, he decided to kill her. So he accused her of having stolen one of ten valuable dishes. She was tortured to death and thrown into the well.
Okiku's well on Himeji Castle is in competition with another location of the well, the garden of the Canadian embassy in Tokyo - established on land bought from the Aoyama family. Looks like there are at least as many locations of the well of the poor girl as there are different versions of her story.
All the variations of the ghost story of Okiku have an extremely wrongful and cruel treatment of a poor girl of the lower classes in common. But different from the ghost story of Yotsuya, revenge towards the tormentor is not the big Leitmotiv (apart from one variation of the story).

Okiku's story has remained popular in Japan, inspiring stage productions, video games, and horror film Ringu, as well as its American remake, The Ring. The well where she's said to have drowned remains at Himeji Castle ... along with (maybe) her ghost.








Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How To Get Rid of Negative Energy With Palo Santo

  How To Get Rid of Negative Energy With Palo Santo Whether it’s to refresh your spirit, to cleanse your home, or to help the not so friendly ghost move out, Palo Santo is a powerful helper. Palo Santo is one of a favorite items for clearing a person from negativity, a space from heavy energy, or even removing unfriendly Spirits. Don’t get me wrong, I love white sage, it’s one of the most widely known and used herbs for smudging. But not everyone likes the smell of white sage, and it can even cause respiratory issues for some people. But have you ever tried the sweet aromatic smoke of Palo Santo instead? Literally meaning “wood of the Saints” Palo Santo is just as effective as white sage, but has a much gentler touch. Palo Santo grows from Mexico all the way into South America, is related to copal and frankincense, and is used commonly in rituals and smudging in those areas. It is very good at keeping energy clear and grounded, and has a light, sweet and slightly piney scent. It wi...
Post a Comment
Read more

ANCIENT ASTRONAUTS IN THE CAVE PAINTINGS OF TASSILI N’AJJER

  ANCIENT ASTRONAUTS IN THE CAVE PAINTINGS OF TASSILI N’AJJER Tassili n’Ajjer (Arabic: plateau of the rivers) seems like an endless stretch of unforgiving desert to the modern traveler. It’s a dry and visually harsh looking area, located in south-east Algeria at the borders of Libya, Niger and Mali. However, that initial analysis is somewhat deceiving. Covering more than 28,000 square miles of the Sahara desert and mainly composed of sandstone, Tassili n’Ajjer holds many secrets which have enamored both the scientific community and alien enthusiasts alike.  For hidden in the many caves and crevices in the crumbling rock, is a treasure trove of ancient cave paintings and rock art. Since it’s first discovery in 1910, and later exploration in the 1930’s, scientific teams have been searching the area in earnest. What they discovered on the cave walls, was both amazing and surprising; some say the pictures are factual evidence that earth has been visited by alien astronauts. Regard...
Post a Comment
Read more

REAL OR NOT? "La Pascualita," the mannequin that might be a corpse

  REAL OR NOT? "La Pascualita," the mannequin that might be a corpse CHIHUAHUA, MEXICO’S LA PASCUALITA  has been giving window shoppers the creeps for decades with her eerily lifelike appearance and possible adventures after dark. Dressed in bridal wear and exhibited in an otherwise unremarkable storefront window, La Pascualita is not your average mannequin. Local rumor has it that the clothing dummy is actually the well-preserved corpse of the owner’s daughter, who died from a black widow spider bite just before her own wedding. Amazingly, La Pascualita has ‘lived’ in the La Popular store window for over 90 years. She made her first appearance on the 25th of March 1930, reportedly wearing a gown from the spring/summer collection. Immediately locals were struck by how real La Pascualita looked. They were also curiously concerned about her uncanny resemblance to the owner Pascuala Esparz, and given the recent passing of her daughter, rumors of a grisly origin instantly began t...
Post a Comment
Read more