XIII: OKIKU

Thirteenth in the "Women of Japanese Horror" series. Man, when I am I going to stop!? *hand withers and dies*

Okiku is the central character in the story/play "Banchou Sarayashiki" (The Ban-cho Dishhouse). She was the victim of one big nasty "oh, shit!" moment that, in reality, wasn't her fault. She was the servant girl of a wealthy couple, and was in charge of washing their dishes. The wife of the couple became jealous of Okiku's beauty, so she broke an extremely expensive heirloom dish and made Okiku believe it was her fault (poor girl). Okiku, feeling utterly ashamed, committed suicide by throwing herself down an abandoned well (sound familiar, Ringworms?).

After that, a plague of beetles swept over the couple's crops, totalling everything in their path (the bugs were later named "Okiku-mushi" for obvious reasons by the locals). And every night, Okiku's ghost would climb out of the well, count slowly to 10 (10 being the number of plates in the broken one's set), and then scream in agony. The wife soon went mad and killed herself.

Lovely sotry, isn't it? See, kiddies, never try framing somebody for what you did. it's not nice and it'll cost you a fortune in exterminator fees.

And by the way, those big brushy blobs of paint are my attempt at chrysanthemums.

Pencil, watercolor.

Okiku © herself and those who wrote her story down.
Art © Me