Urban Legends / Rituals

Okiku Doll

In a little wooden box on display in the Mennenji Temple in Iwamizawa, 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 until it hits knee length on the doll then its trimmed back to just before the shoulder length. The hair has been growing for at least the past 75 years and it is from this that the shrine has became famous. The doll was bought in 1918 by a 17 year old, Eikichi Suzuki for his 2 year old sister, Okiku. The doll stood 40cm tall dressed in a traditional kimono with black hair cut to about shoulder length in a traditional style and the eyes where piercing like shiny black beads pressed into the life like flesh of the doll. When Eikichi returned home he presented the doll to his little sister who fell in love with it immediately. The doll soon became Okikus favourite toy and it would seem,  best friend. Okiku played with her doll every day and soon gave it the same name as herself, Okiku. The doll  would never be out of Okikus sight. Unfortunately in 1919 Okiku passed away after a severe fever. She was only 3 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 familys alter in commemoration of their daughter. Sometime thereafter, the Suzukis 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 going down towards its waist. The family believed that the spirit/soul of their daughter inhabited the doll. In 1938 the family moved away 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 Mennenji Temple. Here they informed the priest about the dolls hair, and the priest, over time , could confirm that the story was true. The hair did indeed grow. Eventually photos of the doll with different hair lengths began to surround the shrine. It has been said that upon analysis of a cut sample of the dolls hair that it does indeed does belong to that of a child.