In 1918 a young man bought this doll for his two year old sister. The sister and the doll became inseperable until her untimely death the following year. It was soon after the death that the family noticed the dolls hair getting longer.
Was 'Okiku' the doll inhabited by the spirit of their daughter?
Located in a little wooden box, on display in the Mannenji temple in the town of Iwamizawa, Hokkaido, Japan, stands a small, 40cm doll, which takes pride of place as part of a shrine.
This doll is no ordinary doll, as every year its hair needs to be trimmed, as it grows. The hair is allowed to grow till it hits knee length on the doll, then is trimmed back to just below shoulder length. Now I am not exactly an expert on such things, but I was always under the impression that a dolls hair does not grow.
The hair has been growing for at least the past 75 years, and it is from this that the shrine has become famous.
The Gift:
The doll was bought in Sapporo by a 17 year old Eikichi Suzuki in 1918, for his 2 year old sister Okiku. He was visiting the area for a marine exhibit, but upon seeing the doll in a shop window, he knew at once that the doll needed to be bought and given to his sister.
The doll stood about 40cms tall and was dressed in a traditional kimono. The hair was black and cut to about shoulder length, in a traditional style, and the eyes were piercing, like black beads pressed into the life-like flesh of the face.
When Eikichi returned home he presented the doll to his little sister, who fell in love with it immediately. The doll became Okiku's favourite toy and, it would seem, best friend.
Okiku played with her doll everyday, and soon gave it the same name as herself, 'Okiku'. The doll would never be out of Okiku's sight.
Unfortunately, in 1919, Okiku passed away after a severe fever. She was only three years old. The doll was to be buried along with Okiku, but due to some unforeseen circumstance, the doll was never placed with Okiku in her final resting place.
Okiku (the doll) was instead placed in the family's altar, in commemoration of their daughter.
Sometime thereafter the Suzuki's noticed that the dolls hair was getting longer. It once had a traditional shoulder length cut with neat ends, but now the doll had hair reaching down towards the waist, and the ends were more random in length.
The family believed the spirit/soul of their daughter inhabited the doll.
Okiku Doll:
In 1938 the family moved to another locality, but not wanting to take Okiku with them (possibly out of fear that the 'magic' of the doll was due to the proximity with their daughters resting place) they instead took it to the Mannenji Temple.
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Here they informed the priest of the dolls hair, and the priest, over time, could confirm that the story was true, the hair did indeed grow. Periodically the hair would get a trim and soon photos of the doll with different lengths began to adorn the small shrine, dedicated to the Okiku the doll and Okiku the girls memory.
