A mysterious doll possessed by the spirit of a child has captured the curiosity of people across Japan for decades. The legendary Okiku doll, named after the girl who long ago used to play with it, is a 40-centimeter (16-in) tall kimono-clad figure with beady black eyes — and hair that grows.

The Okiku doll has resided at the Mannenji temple in the town of Iwamizawa (Hokkaido prefecture) since 1938. According to the temple, the traditional doll initially had short cropped hair, but over time it has grown to about 25 centimeters (10 in) long, down to the doll’s knees. Although the hair is periodically trimmed, it reportedly keeps growing back.

It is said that the doll was originally purchased in 1918 by a 17-year-old boy named Eikichi Suzuki while visiting Sapporo for a marine exhibition. He bought the doll on Tanuki-koji — Sapporo’s famous shopping street — as a souvenir for his 2-year-old sister, Okiku. The young girl loved the doll and played with it every day, but the following year, she died suddenly of a cold. The family placed the doll in the household altar and prayed to it every day in memory of Okiku.

Some time later, they noticed the hair had started to grow. This was seen as a sign that the girl’s restless spirit had taken refuge in the doll.
In 1938, the Suzuki family moved to Sakhalin, and they placed the doll in the care of Mannenji temple, where it has remained ever since.

Nobody has ever been able to fully explain why the doll’s hair continues to grow. However, one scientific examination of the doll supposedly concluded that the hair is indeed that of a young child
http://pinktentacle.com/2010/04/okiku-doll/

Creepy.

Yea Id like to see this doll for myself

1 examination actually does not convince me though

It's the growing part that interests me, the human girl hair thing is less baffling somehow.

wigs and dolls in old times usually use human hair, was easy to aquire, and easy to implement. Oh and in de 20th century beginning there were no artificial hairs which were plausible

Yea exactly but why would it grow?
Or better yet, how?

very creepy, like most dolls >_< but I bet you if that is real human hair there might be something in the doll which would allow the hair to grow.

That would have to be nutrients, and those can only be acquired if something alive is in it, something that gets fed.

DNA test...?

Or its a hoax. not saying it is but a possible outcome. During the night or every once in a while someone comes and pushes some hair through the head, from a stock in the back to make it look "growing"
Conspiracy theory from the top shelf, but eh worth considering

It seems very likely to be false, not true, but it is very possible that the hair is actually growing, but the doll is an inanimate object so there is no possible way it could have growing hair. There are dolls that do have growing hair on them, I think there is a Dora the Explorer doll that has hair that grows, in fact, I know there is. But I doubt the dolls are anything alike. I doubt personally that it is a conspiracy or cover up, I bet the doll is haunted.

I know there are barbie dolls with 'growing' hair, but you just pull it down.

The face creeped me out already.

Maybe it's a hair plant.