OKIKU

Okiku was a beautiful woman who worked as a dishwashing servant at Himeji Castle. Her master’s retainer, a samurai named Aoyama, tried many times to seduce her, but she rejected all of his advances.
So Aoyama decided to trick her into becoming his lover. In the castle there was a set of ten expensive dishes. Aoyama hid one of them, then told Okiku one of his master’s fine dishes was missing and asked her where it was. Okiku was frightened: losing one of her lord’s prized dishes was a crime punishable by death. She counted and recounted the dishes, but each time she came up one short.
Aoyama told Okiku that he would overlook her mistake if she became his mistress. But Okiku refused him once again. The samurai became furious. He tied Okiku up and suspended her over the castle well. He tortured her, dunking her repeatedly into the well only to pull her back out of the water to beat her. Aoyama demanded Okiku one last time to become his mistress. She refused. So Aoyama dropped her body into the well.
Since then, the ghost of Okiku raised every night from the well to search for the missing dish. She counted the plates: “One… two… three… four… five… six… seven… eight… nine…”. After counting the ninth plate, she let out a blood curdling scream that could be heard throughout the castle. She tormented Aoyama in this way, depriving him of his sleep and driving him mad.
Those who heard part of Okiku’s counting became sick. The unlucky ones who heard her count all the way to nine died shortly after.

based on a photo of @martatenshiko, model @shiawase_s, rigger @kurogamiandrea

colored pencils on paper