Forgotten story notes
Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 17:59 -0700
UY #91, the conclusion of a two-part story, comes out this week. However, the story notes I had written for it was inadvertently left out. I don't think posting it here will spoil the ending of the story. The notes will appear in the collected trade edition of UY Book 22: Tomoe's Story.
UY #91 Story Notes
There are two versions of the story of Okiku. Aoyama Tessan, a major retainer of Ietsugu, the seventh Tokugawa shogun (1709-16), was given a set of ten very valuable Dutch porcelain dishes. One was accidentally broken by his wife, who threw the pieces down the well and blamed Okiku, her maid, of stealing it. Okiku was locked up and half-starved but could not produce the missing dish. She escaped, and, in desperation, drowned herself in the well. Each night, her ghost would appear and slowly count until nine, then break into a loud, plaintive wail. Mitsakuni Shonin, a friend of Aoyama exorcised her by waiting near the well one night. When Okiku had counted to nine, he yelled out “ten”. This satisfied her spirit, and she never appeared again.
In the second story, Okiku was a maid who had rejected Aoyama’s advances. He entrusted her with the ten Dutch plates for safekeeping. He hid one of the dishes, then told her to bring out the entire set. When she could not, he demanded she sleep with him or be punished for her carelessness. She still refused. In his anger at being rejected once again, he killed her and threw her body into the well. Her spirit haunted the well, counting, but never reaching “ten”.
The kabuki play Bancho Sarayashiki, or The Dish Mansion of Bancho was based on the second version of the famous story. Bancho is the district of Edo that the story was to have taken place.
Yoshitoshi’s Thirty-six Ghosts by John Stevenson,1983 by John Weatherhill, Inc., of New York and Tokyo and Blue Tiger Books of Hong Kong.
UY #91 Story Notes
There are two versions of the story of Okiku. Aoyama Tessan, a major retainer of Ietsugu, the seventh Tokugawa shogun (1709-16), was given a set of ten very valuable Dutch porcelain dishes. One was accidentally broken by his wife, who threw the pieces down the well and blamed Okiku, her maid, of stealing it. Okiku was locked up and half-starved but could not produce the missing dish. She escaped, and, in desperation, drowned herself in the well. Each night, her ghost would appear and slowly count until nine, then break into a loud, plaintive wail. Mitsakuni Shonin, a friend of Aoyama exorcised her by waiting near the well one night. When Okiku had counted to nine, he yelled out “ten”. This satisfied her spirit, and she never appeared again.
In the second story, Okiku was a maid who had rejected Aoyama’s advances. He entrusted her with the ten Dutch plates for safekeeping. He hid one of the dishes, then told her to bring out the entire set. When she could not, he demanded she sleep with him or be punished for her carelessness. She still refused. In his anger at being rejected once again, he killed her and threw her body into the well. Her spirit haunted the well, counting, but never reaching “ten”.
The kabuki play Bancho Sarayashiki, or The Dish Mansion of Bancho was based on the second version of the famous story. Bancho is the district of Edo that the story was to have taken place.
Yoshitoshi’s Thirty-six Ghosts by John Stevenson,1983 by John Weatherhill, Inc., of New York and Tokyo and Blue Tiger Books of Hong Kong.
that is if the comic shop owner didn't forget again 
Prize? 
Cool!