#JLMyūreioftheday : Today’s ghost story is about Okiku, or the plate-counting ghost. Accor

#JLMyūreioftheday : Today’s ghost story is about Okiku, or the plate-counting ghost. According to Japanese folklore, there was once a beautiful maid named Okiku who worked for a samurai. 

The samurai fell in love with her, but she always repelled his romantic advances. Desperate, the samurai tricked Okiku into believing that she broke one of the 10 ancestral plates in the samurai’s mansion, a crime punishable by death. Okiku counted the plates again and again to find the missing plate, but to no avail. She tearfully asked for forgiveness from the samurai, but he told her that unless she marries him, she will not be forgiven. 

Despite this, Okiku still rejected him. The samurai then angrily pushed her down the well, where she drowned and died. It is said that from then on, she haunted the mansion, specifically the well. Her ghostly sobbing voice can be heard counting up to nine again and again. It is said that one needs to shout “ten!” after she says “nine” to make it stop. #japanloverme Art by @littlemisspaintbrush