Despite the ravages of Parkinson’s disease and increasingly frail health before his death, at age seventy, in July 1965, Rampo continued in his unflagging efforts to lay the foundations for the mystery genre in Japan, and perhaps this stands out as his most important contribution of all. Three decades after his passing, the centenary of his birth, 1994, was marked by a resurgence of Rampo-related films, articles, books and commemorative publications that attested not only to his enduring popularity as an author, but recognized his status as a cultural icon who helped to define the Taishō era.
Notes to the introduction
1. Author, Shocking Crimes of Postwar Japan, The Dark Side: Infamous Japanese Crimes and Criminals.
2. For Rampo’s own character, apparently the reverse applied; Kaijin Nijū Mensō was said to have been inspired by English crime author Thomas W. Hanshew’s character Hamilton Cleek, known as “Man of the Forty Faces.”
3. Contains “The Human Chair;” “The Psychological Test;” “The Caterpillar;” “The Cliff;” “The Hell of Mirrors;” “The Twins;” “The Red Chamber;” “Two Crippled Men;” and “The Traveler with the Pasted Rag Picture.” “The Psychological Test” and “The Red Chamber” were republished in the short-story anthology Murder in Japan (1987).
4. Rampo’s short novel Ichimai no Kippu (One Ticket) had been published in Esperanto in July 1930.
5. Two of Ikenami’s books have been translated into English by Kodansha International. One, Ninja Justice: Six Tales of Murder and Revenge, remains in print.
Bibliography
Apostolou, John L. and Greenberg, Martin H., eds. Murder in Japan: Japanese Stories of Crime and Detection. New York: Dembner Books, 1987.
Edogawa, Rampo 江戸川乱歩. “Nisen Dōka” (The Two-Sen Copper Coin) 二銭銅貨, in Edogawa Rampo Kessaku Sen (Edogawa Rampo Best Selection) 江戸川乱歩傑作選. Tokyo: Shinchō-sha, 2005 (88th printing).
———. Gen’eijō (The Illusory Castle) 幻影城. Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1979 (reprint of 1951 original).
———. Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination. Trans. James B. Harris. Rutland, Vt. & Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle, 1956.
———. Tantei Shōsetsu Yonjūnen (Forty Years of Writing Detective Stories) 探偵小説四十年. Tokyo: Tōgensha, 1961.
Haycraft, Howard, ed. The Art of the Mystery Story. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, The Universal Library, 1946.
Hirosawa, Shimpo. “Parallel Lines of Japan’s Master Detectives.” Japan Quarterly 47, No. 4 (October-December 2000): 52-57.
Kawade Yume Mook kawade 夢ムック. Edogawa Rampo: Daremo Akogareta Shōnen Tanteidan (Edogawa Rampo: The Boy Detectives Club That Was Everyone’s Favorite) 江戸川乱歩—誰もが憧れた少年探偵団. Tokyo: Kawade Shobō Shinsha, 2003.
Ōsaka, Gō 逢坂剛 ed. Rampo no Sekai (Rampo’s World) 乱歩の世界. Tokyo: Edogawa Rampo Jikkō Īnkai, 2003.
Queen, Ellery, ed. Ellery Queen’s Japanese Golden Dozen: The Detective Story World in Japan. Rutland, Vt. & Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle, 1978.
Yoshida, Kazuo. “Japanese Mystery Literature,” in Handbook of Japanese Popular Culture. New York: Greenwood Press, 1989.
It was Christmas Eve, when thousands of turkeys have their necks wrung, even in this country… or so they say.
Ginza, the largest and most prosperous part of the Imperial City, where the neon lights created a rainbow of colours in the darkness and illuminated the tens of thousands of passers-by… and the streets of darkness, the underground, began only a block back from it.
Ginza, where – surprisingly to the denizens of the night, and with a propriety only reasonable for one of the most famous spots in the Imperial city – the streets empty by about eleven in the evening, while at the same time the dark district backed up against it gradually becomes more active. There, along grey streets faced by buildings with shut windows, men and women squirm and wriggle through the gloom in endless pursuit of pleasure until two or three in the morning.
It was about one in the morning on that particular Christmas Eve and in a giant building deep in the darkness that looked deserted from the outside, a wild, even insane party was reaching its climax.
Several dozen men and women occupied a floor area about the size of a nightclub: one shouted out ‘Bravo!’ as he hoisted his glass; another with a brightly dyed pointy party hat worn sideways on his head danced feverishly; another acted like a gorilla and chased a frantically fleeing young girl; others cried, or shouted in anger. And on top of them all fell a blizzard of multi-coloured confetti, with coloured streamers streaming down like brilliant waterfalls, while countless red and blue balloons flew aimlessly among the choking clouds of tobacco smoke.
‘It’s the Dark Angel! The Dark Angel has come!’
‘The Dark Angel has come!’
‘Bravo! Three cheers for the queen!’
The drunken voices were jumbled together, and suddenly a cacophony of applause broke out.
A single woman stepped lightly into the centre of the crowd as they parted to let her pass. She wore a black evening dress with a black hat, black gloves, black stockings, and black shoes. Totally framed in black, her vivacious and beautiful face was thrilled, flowering like a red rose.
‘Good evening, all! I am drunk, already drunk! But let us drink together anyway! Let us dance!’
The beautiful woman fluttered her right hand above her head, and called to the crowd in a delightful voice.
‘Let us drink! And dance! Three cheers for the Dark Angel!’
‘Waiter! Champagne! Bring the champagne!’
Presently, tiny pistols began to make bright popping sounds and corks flew between the multicoloured balloons toward the heavens. Here, there, everywhere the sounds of glasses clinking together. And yet again a chorus of:
‘Bravo, Dark Angel!’
Where did this incredible popularity of the queen of the underworld come from? Even if you knew nothing of her, her beauty, her ebullient gestures and actions, her incredible luxury, the munificent amounts of jewellery she wore… no matter which of these aspects you examined, she was every inch a queen, but she possessed an even more wonderful fascination: She was an indefatigable exhibitionist.
‘Dark Angel! Show us the Jewel Dance again!’
Once one person asked, they all clamoured, and again applause erupted.
The band in the corner began to play again. An erotic saxophone tickled the ears of the listeners eerily.
She had already started the Jewel Dance, in the middle of the crowd, the Dark Angel transformed into the Angel of Light. All her beautiful and flushed body wore was a double strand of large pearls around her neck, incredible jade earrings, bracelets peppered with countless diamonds and three rings on her fingers. She wore no thread or scrap of cloth.
She had become nothing more than a lump of flesh, scintillating as she undulated her arms, kicked her feet, and skilfully danced the captivating motions of the ancient Egyptian court.
‘Look! The black lizard has begun to crawl! It’s wonderful!’
‘You’re right! That tiny lizard is moving, alive!’
The young men in their chic tuxedoes whispered and bobbed.
On the left arm of the beautiful woman a pitch black lizard was wriggling. As her arm moved, it appeared to move its suction-pad tipped feet and crawl. It seemed as if it would crawl from shoulder to neck, neck to chin, and to her red and shining lips, but somehow the creature stayed wriggling on her arm all the time. It was a black lizard tattoo, made to look incredibly real.
Her bold, incredible dance lasted only four or five minutes, and when it ended the tipsy but emotionally fired gentlemen crowded in, shouting out their excitement and emotion, lifting the naked woman off the floor and flinging her into the air, carrying her on their shoulders throughout the room with cheers and shouts.
‘I’m cold, I’m cold. Car
ry me to the bath!’
And as she commanded, the cavalcade carried her down the hall and into a prepared bath.
Christmas Eve in the streets of darkness ended with her Jewel Dance, and the people gradually drifted off to their hotels, or their homes, in couples or groups.
After the festivities the room was left scattered with multi-coloured confetti and crêpe streamers, like a wharf after the ship has left, and those balloons still buoyant bobbed against the ceiling, sadly.
Sitting in a chair in one corner of the room, now a wasteland like the wings off the stage, one young man was left, a scrap of litter. This man, of a dandyish appearance, was wearing a red tie and a gaudy striped coat with wide shoulders, and had the flattened nose and well-muscled frame of a fighter. In spite of his appearance, he drooped despondently, and ended up looking like crumpled waste in the corner.
‘Why is she taking so long without a thought for me? I’m in a bind! Risking my life coming here! Damn detectives might bust in any time!’
He shook himself, and ran his fingers through his frowsy hair.
A uniformed waiter wove through the streamers, carrying a glass of something that looked like whisky. The man took it, and scolded him with a ‘Pretty late, aren’t you?’ as he downed it in one gulp, then ordered another.
‘Jun-chan, sorry I kept you waiting!’
At last the person he had been waiting for had appeared. The Dark Angel.
‘I finally got rid of those noisy boys and made it back here. Now what’s this about the only request you’ll make of me in your life?‘
She sat down in the chair across from him, face serious.
‘Can’t talk here.’
The young man she had called Jun-chan answered quietly, his face still sour.
‘Because you might be overheard?’
‘Yeah.’
‘A job?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Are you injured?’
‘Nah. Wish that was all it was.’
The woman in black understood the situation and stood without any more questions.
‘Right, outside. Nobody’ll be in Ginza this time of night except the workers building the subway. Let’s walk; I’ll listen.’
‘Yeah, all right then.’
The unusual couple, the young man in the ugly red necktie and the Dark Angel beautiful enough to wake anyone up, left the building side-by-side.
Outside was the boulevard at night, like a land of death where only the streetlights and asphalt were visible. The sound of their footsteps echoed.
‘So? What crime have you committed now? I’ve never seen you look so depressed… very unlike you, Jun-chan.’
The woman in black started the conversation.
‘I killed them.’
Jun-chan kept his eyes on the pavement and spoke in an eerie quiet tone.
‘Who?’
The Dark Angel did not appear to be especially upset by this sudden announcement.
‘My rival. That son of a bitch Kitashima and his slut, Sakiko.’
‘So, it finally came to that… where?’
‘In their apartment. The bodies are stuffed in the closet. They’ll be discovered tomorrow morning, no question about it. Everyone knows about the three of us, and the deskman at the apartment house knows I was there tonight. If they catch me, it’s all over. I want to stay on the outside!’
‘Are you thinking of making a run for it?’
‘Hmm… My lady, you always call me your benefactor.’
‘Yes. You saved me from a very dangerous situation, and I’ve been in love with your sheer brawn since.’
‘Return the favour. Lend me enough to get away, make the jump… a hundred thousand yen.’
‘Well, a hundred thousand is simple, but you think you can get away? No way. They’ll nab you while you’re waiting on some wharf in Kobe or Yokohama. The worst thing you can do is just throw everything away and start running.’
The woman in black spoke as if she was very familiar with the situation.
‘So you say I should hide here in Tokyo?’
‘Yes, I think that’s a much better option. Even so, it’s still dangerous. We need an even better way…’
She stopped in thought, and suddenly asked an unexpected question.
‘Your apartment is on the fifth floor, right?’
‘Well, yeah, but so what?’ he answered, irritated.
‘Oh, wonderful!’ The word escaped from her beautiful lips as if she was astonished. ‘There’s a perfect solution! Couldn’t have asked for a better one! Jun-chan, I’ve got the perfect way to make you safe.’
‘What? Hurry up and tell me!’
The Dark Angel gave a thin, mysterious smile, and powerfully uttered one word at a time as she stared into his pale face.
‘You’re going to die. I’m going to murder the man known as Amamiya Jun.’
‘Wha–? What?’
The young man stood, with his mouth flapping open, as he stared at the queen of the underworld.
As Amamiya Jun’ichi was waiting in the appointed place in Kyōbashi for the woman in black, an automobile stopped in front of him. The young driver, dressed in a black suit and deerstalker, beckoned him from the window.
‘Don’t need a ride!’ said Amamiya, waving the car away while thinking to himself it was pretty luxurious for a taxi.
‘It’s me! It’s me!’ called a woman’s voice, laughing. ‘Hurry up and get in!’
‘M’lady? You can drive?’
Amamiya was astonished when he realized that the Dark Angel of the Jewel Dance had metamorphosed into a suit-attired man and driven to pick him up in only ten minutes. He’d been with her for over a year now, but even he did not know much about the real her.
‘How condescending! Of course I can drive. Don’t stand there with that silly look on your face; hurry up and get in! It’s 2:30. If we don’t hurry it’ll be light soon.’
Still somewhat bewildered, Jun’ichi got into the passenger seat and the car shot down the dark empty avenue like an arrow.
‘What’s this huge bag for?’ he asked the driver, noticing an enormous cotton bag lumped on the seat.
‘That bag is going to save your life,’ laughed the beautiful driver, flashing him a smile.
‘Something is weird here. Where are we going, and what are you doing? This don’t feel right…’
‘Do I hear the hero of Ginza whining? You promised you wouldn’t ask me anything, remember? Are you saying you don’t trust me?’
‘No, I trust you all right…’
No matter what he said after that, the driver kept her eyes fixed ahead and made no answer.
The car swept around the large pond in Ueno Park, and up a slope to stop in a curiously deserted spot, empty of houses, with a long, long wall running along the road.
‘Jun-chan, you have gloves, right? Take off your coat and put your gloves on. Do up all your jacket buttons, and pull your hat down,’ commanded the beauty dressed as a man as she turned off the headlights, running lights and cabin light.
There were no streetlamps outside and it was pitch black. In the darkness the car stood, blind, all lights off and the engine stopped.
‘Right, bring your gloves and follow me,’ she said.
Jun’ichi followed her directions and got out of the car. The beautiful woman in black, collar flipped up like a thief in the night, was also wearing gloves, and grasped his own gloved hand, pulling him through an open gate.
They passed under countless giant trees hiding the sky, and cut across a huge empty field. Then they went along the side of a large Western-style building. The streetlamps of the city were sometimes visible, flashing like fireflies in the distance, but ahead of them was only darkness.
‘M’lady, isn’t this the Tokyo University campus?’
>
‘Shh! Quiet,’ she warned, squeezing his hand. In the freezing cold, his hand felt sweaty in her warmth through the two gloves. Right now, though, the murderer Amamiya Jun’ichi did not have the time to be aware of her as a woman.
As they continued to walk through the darkness, the anger of two or three hours ago was reborn. He saw once again his former lover Sakiko as he throttled her, the tongue sticking out between her teeth and blood dripping from the corner of her mouth, as her huge, cow-like eyes looked at him piercingly. Her fingers clawed the air in her death throes, a phantom sweeping through the air in front of him, threateningly.
After a little while, they saw ahead of them a low, red brick Western-style building standing in a large open space, surrounded by a battered slat fence.
‘It’s inside,’ said the woman in black in a low voice, fumbling for the gate lock. It seems she had a duplicate key, because suddenly the gate rattled open.
They entered and closed the gate, and then she finally turned on the flashlight she had been carrying, using it to illuminate the ground as they walked to the building. The ground was covered with dry grass, and Jun’ichi felt as if they were about to enter a deserted, haunted house.
Up three stone steps was a porch and balustrade with peeling white paint. They crunched over pieces of fallen plaster, and a few meters beyond was an old but sturdy door.
The door rattled as she opened it with another duplicate key, and then unlocked yet another similar door just inside. Beyond it spread an empty room. The powerful smell of disinfectant assaulted him, like the smell of a surgery, but mixed with a queerly sweet odour.
The Black Lizard and Beast In the Shadows Page 2
