Okiku, The Ring's Original Ghost Who Can't Count to Ten
The long black hair, the white dress and the well in The Ring look a lot like Okiku, a Japanese ghost who is about three hundred years old. Every night she climbs out of a well and counts plates. She gets to nine, screams, and starts again. She has never reached ten.
In this Halloween episode Tadashi wants to crawl out of the bathtub as Sadako at a party and count plates. He can't count past two. So Rin, dressed as Okiku, teaches him to count to ten in Japanese, plus the two numbers nobody in Japan wants to say.
Okiku, the ghost of the nine plates
Okiku was a maid in a castle who looked after ten plates. A samurai wanted her and she said no. So he hid one plate, accused her of losing it, killed her and threw her down the well. Every night since, she counts.
She counts with 枚 (mai), the word Japanese uses for flat things like plates and paper. 「いちまい、にまい、さんまい…」 (ichimai, nimai, sanmai), one plate, two plates, three plates. The first three kanji are easy: 一, 二, 三 are one, two and three lines. Everyone can read Japanese up to three. Then come 四 (yon), 五 (go), 六 (roku), 七 (nana), 八 (hachi) and 九 (kyū). Tadashi thinks "nana" sounds like a grandma. It does.
Her well is real, or at least there is a well with her name on it. Okiku's Well is in Himeji Castle and visitors look into it every year. At night? Not recommended.
There is also a cure. A monk waited in the garden, and when she got to nine he shouted "ten". She said 「あら、うれしや」 (ara, ureshiya), "oh, how nice", and never came back. Someone had found her plate.
The two numbers nobody says: 4 and 9
Four can be read 「よん」 (yon) or 「し」 (shi). And "shi" sounds exactly like 死, "death". Nine can be read 「きゅう」 (kyū) or 「く」 (ku), and "ku" sounds like 苦, "suffering". Saying them does nothing. But nobody says them.
That's why hospitals and hotels in Japan skip rooms ending in four and nine. Room 304 can turn into 305A and 305B. License plates avoid ending in 42, because four is "shi" and two is "ni", and "shi-ni" means "to die". A government building in Osaka has no 42nd floor. And you never give four of anything: plates come in sets of three or five.
So what does Okiku say when she reaches four? "Yon". She's a ghost, not rude. Tadashi learns to count one to nine the safe way: 「いち、に、さん、よん、ご、ろく、なな、はち、きゅう」.
Two funerals at the dinner table
Before the party, Tadashi manages two funerals in twenty seconds. First he sticks his chopsticks, 箸 (hashi), upright in his rice. Standing chopsticks, 立て箸 (tatebashi), are how the bowl for the dead is served. Nobody else gets rice like that.
Then he passes a piece of chicken to Rin, chopstick to chopstick. That's 箸渡し (hashi-watashi). After a cremation, two family members pick up the bones that way and place them in the urn. It's the only time you do it.
Two more, fast. When a hearse passes, people hide their thumb. In Japanese the thumb is 親指 (oyayubi), the "parent finger", and the saying goes that if you leave it out, you won't be there when your parents die. And don't sleep with your head to the north, because that's how the dead are laid out. In the episode, Mikan the cat has been sleeping that way for a year.
Ten is a cross
After all that, ten is the easiest number of all. 十 (jū). It looks like a cross. Add the plate word and you get 「じゅうまい」 (jūmai), ten plates.
Then Rin turns off the light, lights a candle and starts counting as Okiku. When she reaches nine, Tadashi shouts 「じゅうまい！」. She looks up and says, flat as ever, "Oh, how nice." He found her plate. Then he counts to ten on his own, the safe way, without "shi" or "ku".
Japanese words from this episode
| Japanese | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 一 二 三 | ichi, ni, san | one, two, three |
| 四 | yon / shi | four |
| 五 六 七 八 | go, roku, nana, hachi | five, six, seven, eight |
| 九 | kyū / ku | nine |
| 十 | jū | ten |
| 枚 | mai | counter for flat things like plates |
| 死 | shi | death |
| 苦 | ku | suffering |
| あら、うれしや | ara, ureshiya | oh, how nice |
| 箸 | hashi | chopsticks |
| 立て箸 | tatebashi | chopsticks standing in rice |
| 箸渡し | hashi-watashi | passing food chopstick to chopstick |
| 親指 | oyayubi | thumb ("parent finger") |
FAQ
Is Sadako from The Ring based on Okiku?
Many critics read it that way: the well, the long hair and the white dress all point back to Okiku. It's a reading of the story, not something the author stated.
Why are 4 and 9 unlucky in Japan?
Four can be read "shi", which sounds like 死, "death". Nine can be read "ku", which sounds like 苦, "suffering". So people say "yon" and "kyū" instead, and many buildings skip those numbers.
Can you visit Okiku's well?
Yes. Okiku's Well is inside Himeji Castle and is part of the visit.
