Was doing research on my middle name and found out that it’s the name of a character in a popular Japanese folktale:

Once there was a beautiful servant named Okiku. She worked for the samurai Aoyama Tessan. Okiku often refused his amorous advances, so he tricked her into believing that she had carelessly lost one of the family’s ten precious delft plates. Such a crime would normally result in her death. In a frenzy, she counted and recounted the nine plates many times. However, she could not find the tenth and went to Aoyama in guilty tears. The samurai offered to overlook the matter if she finally became his lover, but again she refused. Enraged, Aoyama threw her down a well to her death.

I’ve been thinking of redoing my personal logo for a long time now. It was originally a simplified chrysanthemum (“kiku” translates into chrysanthemum) but thanks to this story, I think I’ve got it. Coincidentally, my favorite number has always been 10. Creepy.