Does this Doll’s hair really grow?
In 1918 a seventeen-year-old boy names Eikichi Suzuki was visiting a marine exhibition in Sapporo, Japan when he spotted a doll, he knew he wanted to buy for his 2-year-old sister, Okiku.
The doll was around 40cms tall and dressed in a traditional kimono. Its hair was dark black and in a traditional ‘okappa’ hairstyle, meaning it was cut to shoulder length. The eyes were black and the doll itself is described as enchanting.
Suziki went on to buy the gift knowing his sister would like it. Okiku loved her gift and was inseparable from it right from the get-go. It became Okiku’s favorite toy and her best friend. Okiku played every day with the doll, never left it alone, and treated it like a little sister. She would talk to it, feed it and sleep with it. She decided to call the doll ‘Okiku’ just like her.
Then a year later something devastating happened. In 1919, Okiku would die of Yellow Fever as it was making its way through Japan. Okiku , in pain and afraid, died gasping for air never letting go of her doll. Only three years old, Okiku was buried, and the family wanted to bury the doll along with her. However, government policies and circumstances forbid this, so the family placed the doll at the family’s altar.
The small shrine celebrated their daughter and marked her passing into the afterlife.
Things would soon begin to get strange.
The family would soon begin to notice the Doll’s hair was seemingly growing. While before the doll had shoulder length straight hair, it started getting longer and longer and wasn’t straight and neat like before.
The family concluded that the restless spirit of Okiku, who died so young, was now inside her beloved doll.
During the night, they began dreaming of Okiku, and from time to time the doll would appear by their side in the morning. Things would only escalate though. Soon lights began flicking on and off, strange noises were heard around the house including voices. Around Okiku’s birthday and the date she died activity would intensify as well.
Spiritual leaders would concur as well that their daughter’s soul was trapped within the doll.
In 1938, the family needed to move to a different area of Japan. They enjoyed having their daughter’s spirit close and interacting with her. However, they believed this was possible because of the proximity to Okiku’s grave being nearby. Thus, they asked their local temple, Mennenji Temple, to take care of the doll.
The Temple was very familiar with the stories of the doll and accepted. The priests happily started taking care of Okiku and Over time, they’ve confirmed that many of the family’s claims are true, most notably that the hair does grow. In fact, the priest that cuts her hair is said he received a message from the doll in his dreams asking him to keep her hair trimmed.
Interestingly the priests sent out some samples for analysis and they were found to be hair of a human child.
Reportedly, the hair gets a trim occasionally and the doll stays content.
As the years went by, the doll’s popularity grew, and her powers developed further. Allegedly, She invades the dreams of the priest and those that come to visit her. She’s stronger with her hair growing faster and much wilder. And, some say she’s much more frightening now too.
One claim is that the mouth of Okiku slowly opens and that if you look inside, you see baby teeth coming from the porcelain gums.
It’s important to note that some claim the temple doesn’t allow the doll’s hair to be tested.
So, what can we make from this story?
Its surely a fascinating story, but there appears to be many unanswered questions. For one, why haven’t the priests provided hair samples to more individuals who have requested them? There’s reports it was analyzed as human hair, but who’s to say the priests didn’t just provide hair from a random child? Or the scientist could have been in on a hoax?
It’s tough to imagine all the priests at the temple are in on a lie or hoax, but it’s possible one or two are lying about the situation and just keeping it from others.
It appears this doll’s popularity is not slowing down, and in the coming years it wouldn’t be surprising if more stories around it surfaced.
