is a Japanese ghost story (kaidan) of broken trust and broken promises, leading to a dismal fate. Alternatively referred to as the tradition, all versions of the tale revolve around a servant, who dies unjustly and returns to haunt the living. Some versions take place in or , others in the area in

Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...

History

The story of the death of Okiku () first appeared as a

bunraku (also known as ) is a form of traditional Japanese puppet theatre, founded in Osaka in the beginning of the 17th century, which is still performed in the modern day. Three kinds of performers take part in a performance: the or (puppeteers ...

play called ''Banchō Sarayashiki'' in July 1741 at the Toyotakeza theater. The familiar ghost legend had been adapted into a '' ningyō jōruri'' production by Asada Iccho and Tamenaga Tarobei I. Like many successful

shows, a

kabuki is a classical form of Japanese dance- drama. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily-stylised performances, the often-glamorous costumes worn by performers, and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. Kabuki is thought ...

version followed and in September 1824, ''Banchō Sarayashiki'' was staged at the

Naka no Shibai Naka no Shibai (中の芝居, Central Theatre), also known as Naka-za (中座), was one of the major kabuki theatres in Osaka, Japan. History It was first built in 1652, in Osaka's Dōtonbori entertainment district, and saw the premieres of many f ...

theater starring Otani Tomoemon II and Arashi Koroku IV in the roles of Aoyama Daihachi and Okiku. A one-act kabuki version was created in 1850 by Segawa Joko III, under the title ''Minoriyoshi Kogane no Kikuzuki,'' which debuted at the

Nakamura-za was one of the three main ''kabuki'' theatres of Edo alongside the Morita-za and Ichimura-za. History It was founded in 1624 by Nakamura Kanzaburō 1st. The Nakamura-za relocated to the new capital Tokyo in 1868 and reopened under Nakamura ...

theater and starred

Ichikawa Danjūrō VIII was a Japanese kabuki actor of the prestigious Ichikawa Danjūrō line. He was a ''tachiyaku'' (male roles) actor in the '' aragoto'' style, like all members of the lineage, but particularly specialized in the roles of young lovers, for which h ...

and Ichikawa Kodanji IV in the roles of Tetsuzan and Okiku. This one-act adaptation was not popular, and quickly folded, until it was revived in June 1971 at the

Shinbashi Enbujō The is a theatre in the Ginza neighborhood of Tokyo, Japan. It is a major kabuki venue, though other types of performances take place there as well. History The theatre was originally built in 1925 to provide a venue for the ''Azuma Odori'' g ...

theater, starring the popular combination of Kataoka Takao and Bando Tamasaburō V in the roles of Tetsuzan and Okiku. The most familiar and popular adaptation of Banchō Sarayashiki, written by Okamoto Kido, debuted in February 1916 at the Hongō-za theater, starring Ichikawa Sadanji II and Ichikawa Shōchō II in the roles of Lord Harima and Okiku. It was a modern version of the classic

ghost story A ghost story is any piece of fiction, or drama, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them."Ghost Stories" in Margaret Drabble (ed.), ''Oxford Companion to English Literature'' ...

in which the horror tale was replaced by a deep psychological study of the two characters' motivations.

Plot summary

Folk version

Once there was a beautiful servant named Okiku. She worked for the

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They ...

Aoyama Tessan. Okiku often refused him when he said he was in love with her and wanted to marry her, so he tricked her into believing that she had carelessly lost one of the family's ten precious

Delft Delft () is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, and The Hague, to the northwest. Together with them, it is part of both the Rotterdam–The Hague metropolita ...

plates. Such a crime would normally result in her death. In a frenzy, she counted and recounted the nine plates many times. However, she could not find the tenth and went to Aoyama in guilty tears. The samurai offered to overlook the matter if she finally became his lover, but again she refused. Enraged, Aoyama threw her down a well to her death. It is said that Okiku became a vengeful spirit ''( Onryō)'' who tormented her murderer by counting to nine and then making a terrible shriek to represent the missing tenth plate – or perhaps she had tormented herself and was still trying to find the tenth plate but cried out in agony when she never could. In some versions of the story, this torment continued until an exorcist or neighbor shouted "ten" in a loud voice at the end of her count. Her ghost, finally relieved that someone had found the plate for her, haunted the samurai no more.

Ningyō Jōruri version

Hosokawa Katsumoto, the lord of

Himeji Castle is a hilltop Japanese castle complex situated in the city of Himeji which is located in the Hyōgo Prefecture of Japan. The castle is regarded as the finest surviving example of prototypical Japanese castle architecture, comprising a network o ...

, has fallen seriously ill. Katsumoto's heir, Tomonosuke, plans to give a set of 10 precious plates to the ''

shōgun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamaku ...

'' to ensure his succession. However, chief retainer Asayama Tetsuzan plots to take over. Tomonosuke's retainer, Funase Sampei Taketsune is engaged to marry a lady in waiting, Okiku. Tetsuzan plans to force Okiku to help him murder Tomonosuke. Tetsuzan, through the help of a spy, steals one of the 10 plates and summons Okiku to bring the box containing the plates to his chamber. There, he attempts to seduce Okiku. She refuses due to her love for Taketsune. Rejected, Tetsuzan then has Okiku count the plates to find only nine. He blames her for the theft and offers to lie for her if she will be his mistress. Okiku again refuses and Tetsuzan has her beaten with a wooden sword. Tetsuzan then has her suspended over a well and, erotically enjoying her torture, has her lowered into the well several times, beating her himself when she is raised. He demands that she become his lover and assist in the murder of Tomonosuke. She refuses again, whereupon Tetsuzan strikes her with his sword, sending her body into the well. While wiping clean his sword, the sound of a voice counting plates comes from the well. Tetsuzan realizes that it is the ghost of Okiku but is entirely unmoved. The play ends with the ghost of Okiku rising from the well, Tetsuzan staring at her contemptuously.

Okamoto Kido version

Set in

in 1655, a

vassal A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerai ...

of the Shogun, Aoyama Harima, has fallen in love with a young servant girl, Okiku. Aoyama has promised to marry her but has recently received an auspicious marriage proposal from an aunt. Aoyama promises Okiku that he will honor their love and refuse the proposal. Okiku doubts and tests him by breaking one of the 10 heirloom plates that are the treasure of the Aoyama household. The traditional punishment for breaking one of the plates is death, which is demanded by Aoyama's family. At first, Aoyama is convinced that Okiku broke the plate by accident and pardons her, but when Okiku reveals that she broke the plate on purpose in order to test his love, Aoyama is enraged and kills her. He then throws her body down a well. From then after, Okiku's '' yūrei'' (ghost) is seen to enter the house and count the plates, one through nine. Encountering her in the garden, Aoyama sees that her ghostly face is not one of vengeance, but beauty and calm. Taking strength from this, he commits

seppuku , sometimes referred to as hara-kiri (, , a native Japanese kun reading), is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. It was originally reserved for samurai in their code of honour but was also practised by other Japanese people ...

and joins her in death. Okamoto's version is notable for being a much more romantic adaptation of the story, similar to the kabuki version of

Botan Dōrō is a Japanese ghost story () and one of the most famous in Japan. The plot involves sex with the dead and the consequences of loving a ghost. It is sometimes known as , based on the kabuki version of the story; this title is commonly used i ...

. This was an influence of the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

, which brought Western plays to Japan for the first time. Western plays were much more noticeable for romantic elements, and this was adapted into a style of theater known as Shin Kabuki, or New Kabuki. Shin Kabuki was ultimately an unsuccessful merger of East and West, although Okamoto's Banchō Sarayashiki remains as one of the few classics.

Variations

In some versions of the tale, Okiku is a maid who incurs her mistress' jealousy. Her mistress breaks one of the dishes that Okiku is responsible for and Okiku commits suicide. Similar to the other versions, her ghost is heard counting the plates, but her mistress goes insane and dies.

Okiku and ukiyo-e

Like many kabuki plays, Okiku was a popular subject matter for

ukiyo-e Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk ta ...

artists. In 1830,

Katsushika Hokusai , known simply as Hokusai, was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist of the Edo period, active as a painter and printmaker. He is best known for the woodblock print series '' Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji'', which includes the iconic print '' The Grea ...

included her as one of the kaidan in his ''

One Hundred Ghost Stories ''One Hundred Ghost Stories'' (, ''Hyaku monogatari'') is a series of ukiyo-e woodblock prints made by Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) in the Yūrei-zu genre circa 1830. He created this series around the same time he was creating his most famous wo ...

(Hyaku monogatari)'' series. Ekin, a somewhat notorious artist who had troubles with the law, painted a ''byōbu-e'' of Okiku being accused by Tetsuzan Aoyama and his brother Chuta. Most notably, she appeared as one of the ''New Forms of Thirty-Six Ghosts'' by

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi Tsukioka Yoshitoshi ( ja, 月岡芳年; also named Taiso Yoshitoshi ; 30 April 1839 – 9 June 1892) was a Japanese printmaker. Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric. (2005)"Tsukoka Kōgyō"in ''Japan Encyclopedia,'' p. 1000. Yoshitoshi h ...

. His portrayal of Okiku is unusually sympathetic, particularly as ghosts were viewed as fearsome apparitions by nineteenth-century Japanese, reflecting a general trend in his later work.

Influences on Japanese culture

In 1795, old wells in Japan suffered from an infestation of byasa larvae that became known as the . This larva, covered with thin threads making it look as though it had been bound, was widely believed to be a reincarnation of Okiku. The Ningyo Joruri version is set in

, a popular tourist attraction at the castle is Okiku-Ido, or Okiku's Well. Traditionally, this is where the hapless maid's body was thrown after being killed by Tetsuzan. Although the castle is closed at night, it is said that her ghost still rises nightly from the well, and counts to nine before shrieking and returning.

Adaptations

Manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is ...

artist Rumiko Takahashi included a parody of the legend of Okiku in her romantic comedy '' Maison Ikkoku''. As part of an Obon event, the residents of Ikkoku-kan take part in a summer festival; Kyoko dresses up as Okiku and is supposed to hide in a shallow well. The noted fiction writer Yūko Tsushima refers to the legend in her novel , where the main character, engaged in a romantic relationship coloured by jealousy, helps her friend clean insects from her flat. Her friend's daughter takes one to show to her father, but the insect disappears and her father tells her that it was probably a Chrysanthemum beetle that turned into a white butterfly. He then tells her of Okiku, a maid who put a needle on her master's (her lover) plate and was murdered as punishment, and whose vengeance lives on in the form of the beetle. Another adaptation was made in 2002, in Story 4 of the

Japanese television drama , also called , are television programs that are a staple of Japanese television and are broadcast daily. All major TV networks in Japan produce a variety of drama series including romance, comedy, detective stories, horror, jidaigeki, thrill ...

Kaidan Hyaku Shosetsu.Kaidan_Hyaku_Shosetsu_[怪談百物語]_::_jdorama.com
/ref> Okiku_and_her_legend_also_appear_in_Rin_Chupeco's_2014_horror_novel_''The_Girl_From_the_Well''_and_its_sequel,_''The_Suffering''._In_this_adaptation,_Okiku_is_a_vengeful_spirit_who_punishes_child_murderers. Kaidan_Hyaku_Shosetsu_[怪談百物語]_::_jdorama.com
/ref> Okiku_and_her_legend_also_appear_in_Rin_Chupeco's_2014_horror_novel_''The_Girl_From_the_Well''_and_its_sequel,_''The_Suffering''._In_this_adaptation,_Okiku_is_a_vengeful_spirit_who_punishes_child_murderers. The_Ring_(franchise)">''The_Ring''_is_a_ Kaidan_Hyaku_Shosetsu_[怪談百物語]_::_jdorama.com
/ref> Okiku_and_her_legend_also_appear_in_Rin_Chupeco's_2014_horror_novel_''The_Girl_From_the_Well''_and_its_sequel,_''The_Suffering''._In_this_adaptation,_Okiku_is_a_vengeful_spirit_who_punishes_child_murderers. The_Ring_(franchise)">''The_Ring''_is_a_Horror_film">horror-film_franchise_featuring_Sadako_Yamamura.html" ;"title="Horror_film.html" ;"title="The_Ring_(franchise).html" ;"title="��談百物語] :: jdorama.com">Kaidan Hyaku Shosetsu [怪談百物語] :: jdorama.com
/ref> Okiku and her legend also appear in Rin Chupeco's 2014 horror novel ''The Girl From the Well'' and its sequel, ''The Suffering''. In this adaptation, Okiku is a vengeful spirit who punishes child murderers. The Ring (franchise)">''The Ring'' is a Horror film">horror-film franchise featuring Sadako Yamamura">Sadako (or Samara). Sadako is a girl that died in a well and seeks revenge by making a haunted videotape and killing whoever views it. Her appearance and traits are based on the Okiku legend. Sadako is depicted as meeting Okiku in the manga series ''Sadako at the End of the World''.

Notes

References

*Addiss, Steven, ''Japanese Ghosts and Demons'', USA, GeorgeBraziller, Inc., 1986, * * *Ross, Catrien, ''Supernatural and Mysterious Japan'', Tokyo, Japan, Tuttle Publishing, 1996, * *

External links

* *
Kaidan Hyaku Shosetsu (Story 4) (2002)
a
JDorama
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bancho Sarayashiki Japanese ghosts Japanese folklore Japanese horror fiction Edo-period works Kabuki Bunraku plays 1741 plays Culture in Hyōgo Prefecture Female legendary creatures