Oku (奥) is a common

Japanese surname Officially, among Japanese names there are 291,129 different Japanese surnames, as determined by their kanji, although many of these are Japanese orthography, pronounced and romanization of Japanese, romanized similarly. Conversely, some surnames w ...

. Despite the apparent overlap with the modern ''

go-on are one of the several possible ways of reading Japanese kanji. They are based on the classical pronunciations of Chinese characters of the then- prestigious eastern Jiankang (now Nanjing) dialect. ''Go-on'' preceded the readings. Both ''go-on' ...

'' reading of ''oku'' that is derived from

Middle Chinese Middle Chinese (formerly known as Ancient Chinese) or the Qieyun system (QYS) is the historical variety of Chinese recorded in the '' Qieyun'', a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expanded editions. The ...

, this term is actually rooted in

Old Japanese is the oldest attested stage of the Japanese language, recorded in documents from the Nara period (8th century). It became Early Middle Japanese in the succeeding Heian period, but the precise delimitation of the stages is controversial. Old Jap ...

, appearing in the ''

Man'yōshū The is the oldest extant collection of Japanese (poetry in Classical Japanese), compiled sometime after AD 759 during the Nara period. The anthology is one of the most revered of Japan's poetic compilations. The compiler, or the last in ...

'' collection of poetry dating to roughly 759 CE. Cognate with 沖 (''oki'', "the open sea, offshore"), originally in reference to “somewhere far removed, possibly out of sight”. While ''oki'' came to mean “far removed in the wide open → far off shore”, ''oku'' instead came to mean “far removed inside → inside, interior”.1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (''Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition'') (in Japanese),

Tōkyō Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics (manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hit ...

. Notable people with this surname include: *

Daisuke Oku was a Japanese football player. He played for Japan national team. Club career Oku was born in Amagasaki on February 7, 1976. After graduating from high school, he joined Júbilo Iwata in 1994. He debuted in 1996. He became a regular player fro ...

(奧大介, 1976–2014), a Japanese football player who played for Japan national team. *

Hanako Oku is a pop singer famous in her native Japan for her piano ballads. She rose to fame after performing the end-title track for the Madhouse film '' The Girl Who Leapt Through Time'' in 2006. She was signed to a major record label the preceding yea ...

(奥華子, born 1978), a pop singer famous in her native Japan for her piano ballads *

Hiroya Oku is a Japanese manga artist, who is the creator of '' Gantz'', '' Gigant'', '' Hen'' and ''Inuyashiki'', the first two of which have been serialized in '' Weekly Young Jump''. Originally influenced by Katsuhiro Otomo and Ryoichi Ikegami,

(奥浩哉, born 1967), a manga artist who is the creator of Gantz, Zero One and HEN *

Katsuhiko Oku Katsuhiko Oku (奥克彦 ''Oku Katsuhiko'', 3 January 1958 – 29 November 2003) was a Japanese diplomat who played rugby for Oxford and Waseda University. In Britain he was known as "Katsu". Character and life A very popular and dynamic person ...

(奥克彦 1958-2003), a Japanese diplomat who played rugby for Oxford and Waseda University. *

Keiichi Oku is a Japanese keyboardist, composer, and arranger. He was the keyboardist in the Japanese band Spectrum from 1979-1981. In 2009, he won the JASRAC International Award for the background music used in the '' Ashita no Nadja'' anime television ser ...

(奥慶一, born 1955), a Japanese keyboardist, composer, and arranger. *

Manami Oku is a Japanese singer. She is a former member of the Japanese girl band AKB48. She debuted in AKB48 in February 2006 as a member of the "Team K". Oku's mother is Japanese and her father is Italian. she was later transferred to Team B She gradua ...

(奥真奈美, born 1995), a Japanese singer known for her work in the Japanese idol group AKB48. *

Shutaro Oku is a Japanese film and stage director. Biography Shutaro Oku was born in 1975 in Tokyo, Japan. From 2000 to 2009, Oku directed many theatrical films, notably ''The Labor Cop'', ''Japanese Naked Tribe'', ''Aka-sen'', ''Cain's Descendant'', and ' ...

(奥秀太郎, born 1975), a Japanese film director and visual planner. *

Oku Yasukata Count was a Japanese field marshal and leading figure in the early Imperial Japanese Army. Biography Early life Born in Kokura (in present-day Kitakyūshū) to a ''samurai'' family of the Kokura Domain in Buzen Province, Oku joined the military ...

(奥保鞏, 1847 – 1930), Japanese field-marshal, commander of the Second Army of the Japan during the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

References

{{surname Japanese-language surnames

See also

References