Oku (surname)


Oku is a common Japanese surname. Despite the apparent overlap with the modern go-on reading of oku that is derived from Middle Chinese, this term is actually rooted in Old Japanese, appearing in the Man'yōshū collection of poetry dating to roughly 759 CE. Cognate with 沖, 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”.
Notable people with this surname include: