The Tokyo Zodiac Murders
Encyclopedia
The Tokyo
Zodiac
Murders is the debut mystery novel of Soji Shimada
, the musician and writer on astrology
who is best known as an author of over 100 mystery novels. Besides being Shimada's first novel and a best seller,
it was nominated for the prestigious Edogawa Rampo Award
for mystery
novels.
The first item is a fictional short story
or will
which lays out the setting: it is 1936 in the Shōwa period
of pre-World War II
Japan
.
A painter
and womanizer named Heikichi Umezawa, who has long been obsessed with astrology and alchemy
; he is a wealthy but fairly old man from a respectable family who stills lives in a traditionally run sprawling household. He is finishing up his great cycle of paintings: 12 large paintings, each on one member of the Zodiac. As he works in his private studio on the last one, a portrait of Aries
, his head is smashed in with a blunt object. The murder is curious: it took place on a heavily snowing day, and many of the suspects have solid alibis. Further, when discovered, the room is locked and apparently had been locked from inside - leading to a locked room mystery
.
When the studio, which is a building to itself, is investigated, a notebook is discovered containing a bizarre lengthy piece of prose, the same will or short story which starts the novel. In it, the narrator, who identifies himself as the sane Heikichi who was murdered, describes a long-running battle with mental disease, his diabolism, and his murderous urge to create the perfect woman called "Azoth
", which he will do by cutting his 2 daughters, 2 of his 3 stepdaughters and his 2 nieces up and taking a single astrologically significant and aligned piece of her body and combining it with the others (the reason listed for excluding his remaining daughter, Kazue Kanemoto, is that she is not a virgin
); each one will be killed with an alchemically-significant metal and buried in a place which produces those metals. He writes that he will carry out his insane plan as soon as he finishes the Aries portrait.
Shortly after the murder of Heikichi, Kazue Kanemoto is discovered with her head bashed in as well.
After that murder, the 6 future victims (Heikichi's remaining daughter, stepdaughters and nieces) and Heikichi's widow travel to Mt. Yahiko to placate Heikichi's spirit. They split up there, and the 6 young women disappear, until their bodies are discovered, buried all over Japan near mines
producing the metals listed in the note and mutilated in the listed ways. The murders become a national sensation, but each one remains unsolved for the next 40 years.
The novel is brought up to the present, where a freelance illustrator
and avid fan of mysteries, Kazumi Ishioka, is teaching his friend, the brilliant astrologer Kiyoshi Mitarai (who plays the Holmes
to Ishioka's Watson
) about the Zodiac Murders; Ishioka had been approached by a client who claimed to have new evidence about the murders. The first act (5 chapters and the new evidence) lay out all the needed information about the various suspects and relations, and also includes the text of a secret confession by a policeman involved in the investigation of the murder of Kazue: around the time she had been murdered, he had in fact gone with her to her house and had sex with her. Afterwards, an anonymous letter arrived, which claimed to be from one of the many secret agencies and organizations in pre-war Japan like the Nakano School
, and which blackmailed him: for having sex with Kazue, he would become the prime suspect if the police ever heard of it. He would probably be convicted for it; even if he was not imprisoned for her murder, his reputation and family's life would be utterly ruined. In exchange for the letter sender's silence, he would carry out a task for them: take the dead mutilated bodies of six young women to specified places in Japan and bury them as specified.
In Act 2, Ishioka and Mitarai travel to Kyoto
to interview surviving people related to the case. Mitarai makes a bet with the boorish son of the blackmailed policeman that he can solve the Zodiac Murders in one week's time.
Act 3 sees a more comprehensive investigation of the environs of Kyoto and the people. In the last page, Mitarai is musing about an old scam
in which one used tape to counterfeit
paper bills. Abruptly, he is struck by insight and he solves all three cases.
The author follows with a note to the reader, warning that in the subsequent pages the answers would be revealed, and that the reader has the needed information and a valuable hint as to the answer.
The final act see Mitarai gathering together the policeman he made the bet with and a number of other folks. He explains the locked room murder, Kazue's murder, and the Azoth murders: it is possible, if one cuts apart paper money appropriately and then tapes the pieces back together appropriately, to wind up with one more bill than you started with. In the same way, the culprit, Heikichi's daughter from his first marriage, Tokiko (now living under the name of Taeko Sudo), had cut apart the bodies of the other five young women and arranged them in such a way that it only seemed as if there were 6 bodies, when in fact there were 5 - the extra pieces which everyone had assumed would go to building Azoth were in fact all hers. The note too was a forgery intended to mislead and focus attention on Azoth. Taeko was motivated to her elaborate revenge by the extremely poor treatment she received at the hands of her stepmother, stepsisters, and cousins and particularly by the treatment her mother (Heikichi's first wife, Tae) had received: divorced by Heikichi and impoverished, she had to waste her life selling cigarette
s on the street. After Mitarai explains everything, the police take the credit and news soon arrives that Taeko had, after her meeting with Mitarai and Ishioka, committed suicide, after sending a letter to Mitarai detailing her exact role in the story.
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
Zodiac
Zodiac
In astronomy, the zodiac is a circle of twelve 30° divisions of celestial longitude which are centred upon the ecliptic: the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year...
Murders is the debut mystery novel of Soji Shimada
Soji Shimada
is a Japanese logic mystery novelist. Born in the city of Fukuyama, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, Mr. Shimada currently resides in Los Angeles, California.- Biography :...
, the musician and writer on astrology
Astrology
Astrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
who is best known as an author of over 100 mystery novels. Besides being Shimada's first novel and a best seller,
it was nominated for the prestigious Edogawa Rampo Award
Edogawa Rampo Award
The , named after Edogawa Rampo, is a Japanese literary award which has been presented every year by the Mystery Writers of Japan since 1955.Though its name is similar to the Edgar Allan Poe Awards, which has been presented by Mystery Writers of America, the Edogawa Rampo award is not a counterpart...
for mystery
novels.
Plot
The mass of the novel is divided up into several sections. A foreword from the author challenges the readers to try to solve the gruesome mysteries themselves; it claims that every clue necessary will be included in the text, and that the characters will have no unfair advantage over the reader.The first item is a fictional short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
or will
Will (law)
A will or testament is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage his/her estate and provides for the transfer of his/her property at death...
which lays out the setting: it is 1936 in the Shōwa period
Showa period
The , or Shōwa era, is the period of Japanese history corresponding to the reign of the Shōwa Emperor, Hirohito, from December 25, 1926 through January 7, 1989.The Shōwa period was longer than the reign of any previous Japanese emperor...
of pre-World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
A painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
and womanizer named Heikichi Umezawa, who has long been obsessed with astrology and alchemy
Alchemy
Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...
; he is a wealthy but fairly old man from a respectable family who stills lives in a traditionally run sprawling household. He is finishing up his great cycle of paintings: 12 large paintings, each on one member of the Zodiac. As he works in his private studio on the last one, a portrait of Aries
Aries (astrology)
Aries is the first astrological sign in the Zodiac, which spans the zodiac between the zero degree and the 29th degree of celestial longitude. The Sun enters Aries when it reaches the northern vernal equinox, which is usually on March 21 each year, and remains in this sign until around April 20...
, his head is smashed in with a blunt object. The murder is curious: it took place on a heavily snowing day, and many of the suspects have solid alibis. Further, when discovered, the room is locked and apparently had been locked from inside - leading to a locked room mystery
Locked room mystery
The locked room mystery is a sub-genre of detective fiction in which a crime—almost always murder—is committed under apparently impossible circumstances. The crime in question typically involves a crime scene that no intruder could have entered or left, e.g., a locked room...
.
When the studio, which is a building to itself, is investigated, a notebook is discovered containing a bizarre lengthy piece of prose, the same will or short story which starts the novel. In it, the narrator, who identifies himself as the sane Heikichi who was murdered, describes a long-running battle with mental disease, his diabolism, and his murderous urge to create the perfect woman called "Azoth
Azoth
Azoth was considered to be a universal medicine or universal solvent sought in alchemy...
", which he will do by cutting his 2 daughters, 2 of his 3 stepdaughters and his 2 nieces up and taking a single astrologically significant and aligned piece of her body and combining it with the others (the reason listed for excluding his remaining daughter, Kazue Kanemoto, is that she is not a virgin
Virginity
Virginity refers to the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. There are cultural and religious traditions which place special value and significance on this state, especially in the case of unmarried females, associated with notions of personal purity, honor and worth...
); each one will be killed with an alchemically-significant metal and buried in a place which produces those metals. He writes that he will carry out his insane plan as soon as he finishes the Aries portrait.
Shortly after the murder of Heikichi, Kazue Kanemoto is discovered with her head bashed in as well.
After that murder, the 6 future victims (Heikichi's remaining daughter, stepdaughters and nieces) and Heikichi's widow travel to Mt. Yahiko to placate Heikichi's spirit. They split up there, and the 6 young women disappear, until their bodies are discovered, buried all over Japan near mines
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
producing the metals listed in the note and mutilated in the listed ways. The murders become a national sensation, but each one remains unsolved for the next 40 years.
The novel is brought up to the present, where a freelance illustrator
Illustrator
An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...
and avid fan of mysteries, Kazumi Ishioka, is teaching his friend, the brilliant astrologer Kiyoshi Mitarai (who plays the Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
to Ishioka's Watson
John Watson (Sherlock Holmes)
John H. Watson, M.D. , known as Dr. Watson, is a character in the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Watson is Sherlock Holmes's friend, assistant and sometime flatmate, and is the first person narrator of all but four stories in the Sherlock Holmes canon.-Name:Doctor Watson's first...
) about the Zodiac Murders; Ishioka had been approached by a client who claimed to have new evidence about the murders. The first act (5 chapters and the new evidence) lay out all the needed information about the various suspects and relations, and also includes the text of a secret confession by a policeman involved in the investigation of the murder of Kazue: around the time she had been murdered, he had in fact gone with her to her house and had sex with her. Afterwards, an anonymous letter arrived, which claimed to be from one of the many secret agencies and organizations in pre-war Japan like the Nakano School
Nakano School
The was the primary training center for military intelligence operations by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.-History:The Imperial Japanese Army had always placed a high priority on the use of unconventional military tactics...
, and which blackmailed him: for having sex with Kazue, he would become the prime suspect if the police ever heard of it. He would probably be convicted for it; even if he was not imprisoned for her murder, his reputation and family's life would be utterly ruined. In exchange for the letter sender's silence, he would carry out a task for them: take the dead mutilated bodies of six young women to specified places in Japan and bury them as specified.
In Act 2, Ishioka and Mitarai travel to Kyoto
Kyoto
is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...
to interview surviving people related to the case. Mitarai makes a bet with the boorish son of the blackmailed policeman that he can solve the Zodiac Murders in one week's time.
Act 3 sees a more comprehensive investigation of the environs of Kyoto and the people. In the last page, Mitarai is musing about an old scam
Confidence trick
A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence. A confidence artist is an individual working alone or in concert with others who exploits characteristics of the human psyche such as dishonesty and honesty, vanity, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility,...
in which one used tape to counterfeit
Counterfeit
To counterfeit means to illegally imitate something. Counterfeit products are often produced with the intent to take advantage of the superior value of the imitated product...
paper bills. Abruptly, he is struck by insight and he solves all three cases.
The author follows with a note to the reader, warning that in the subsequent pages the answers would be revealed, and that the reader has the needed information and a valuable hint as to the answer.
Solution
In Act 4, Mitarai remains coy as to the solution, but takes Ishioka to a polite meeting with the culprit: an old woman who would've been about 23 at the time of the murders. Ishioka concludes that that means the culprit behind all the murders was in fact one of the daughters, but is unable to deduce which one.The final act see Mitarai gathering together the policeman he made the bet with and a number of other folks. He explains the locked room murder, Kazue's murder, and the Azoth murders: it is possible, if one cuts apart paper money appropriately and then tapes the pieces back together appropriately, to wind up with one more bill than you started with. In the same way, the culprit, Heikichi's daughter from his first marriage, Tokiko (now living under the name of Taeko Sudo), had cut apart the bodies of the other five young women and arranged them in such a way that it only seemed as if there were 6 bodies, when in fact there were 5 - the extra pieces which everyone had assumed would go to building Azoth were in fact all hers. The note too was a forgery intended to mislead and focus attention on Azoth. Taeko was motivated to her elaborate revenge by the extremely poor treatment she received at the hands of her stepmother, stepsisters, and cousins and particularly by the treatment her mother (Heikichi's first wife, Tae) had received: divorced by Heikichi and impoverished, she had to waste her life selling cigarette
Cigarette
A cigarette is a small roll of finely cut tobacco leaves wrapped in a cylinder of thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end and allowed to smoulder; its smoke is inhaled from the other end, which is held in or to the mouth and in some cases a cigarette holder may be used as well...
s on the street. After Mitarai explains everything, the police take the credit and news soon arrives that Taeko had, after her meeting with Mitarai and Ishioka, committed suicide, after sending a letter to Mitarai detailing her exact role in the story.