However, if as I had imagined she was Ōe Shundei and she perpetrated those terrible crimes, I would still have some peace.
Yet how could I be certain now? Oyamada Rokurō was dead. Oyamada Shizuko was dead. And it seemed as if Ōe Shundei had disappeared forever without trace. Honda had said that Shizuko resembled Shundei’s wife, but what sort of proof was ‘resemblance’?
I have visited Inspector Itosaki several times to find out about subsequent developments, but as he has only made vague replies there would appear to be no resolution in sight in the search for Ōe Shundei. I asked someone to make inquiries about Hirata Ichirō in Shizuko’s hometown and the report came back that Hirata Ichirō had gone missing, for my hope that he was merely a fiction proved vain. But even if a person named Hirata did exist, how could one conclude that he was really Shizuko’s former lover, that he was also Ōe Shundei, and that he had killed Oyamada? He was nowhere to be found now and it was not possible to deny that Shizuko could have simply used Hirata as the real name for the character of one of the three roles she played. After gaining the permission of Shizuko’s relatives, I thoroughly searched her belongings and documents in order to find some sort of evidence either way, but this move did not achieve any results.
I regret my proclivity to reasoning and fantasy, but regret though I might it is not enough. I feel like walking, searching Japan – no, every corner of the earth – in a lifelong pilgrimage to discover the whereabouts of Hirata Ichirō–Ōe Shundei, even though I know it might be pointless.
But even if I found Shundei perhaps my suffering would only grow, though in different ways depending on whether he was or was not the criminal.
Half a year has passed since Shizuko’s tragic death, but Hirata Ichirō has still not appeared and my awful doubts about what now cannot be changed deepen every day.
Originally published as a serial in Shin Seinen,
August 1928 special edition–October edition
Edogawa Rampo (pseudonym of Hirai Tarō, 1894–1965) is the acknowledged grand master of Japan’s golden age of crime and mystery fiction. In the early part of his career, he created the Japanese gothic mystery, developing the work of Edgar Allan Poe and related nineteenth century writers in a distinctly Japanese form. This part of his career coincided with a great flowering in Japanese literature and culture, a relatively free and uninhibited popular press being a defining feature of the times. In this context, Rampo’s dark vision and extravagant grotesquery found an avid readership, and had a profound influence on other writers. Public morals tightened in the years leading up to Japan’s Asian and Pacific wars, and censorship was tight in the war years. Rampo’s early work fell out of favour, and he turned to adventure stories with detective characters in leading roles. After the war, he concentrated on stories for young readers, and on developing the Japan Association of Mystery Writers. The Edogawa Rampo Prize, originally endowed by Rampo himself, is awarded annually to the finest work of the year in the mystery genre. It is the most important prize of its type in Japan. Edogawa Rampo – whose name is meant to be read as a punning reference to ‘Edgar Allan Poe’ – remains popular and influential in Japan. His work remains in print, in various different editions, and his stories provide the background for a steady stream of film, television, and theatrical adaptations.
Translator Ian Hughes went to Japan in his early thirties with the intention of teaching English for six months before traveling further in Asia. Instead, he stayed for eleven years during which time he married, started a family, and moved into translating financial Japanese into English. In late 2003, he and his family moved back to Perth, Western Australia, where he does the same kind of work from home.
Mark Schreiber has lived and worked in Asia for the past forty years. Best known perhaps for his summaries from men’s tabloid weekly magazines that appeared in the now-defunct Mainichi Daily News’ ‘Waiwai’ page (which moved to the Japan Times under the name ‘Tokyo Confidential’ from April 2001), he has authored, co-authored, ghostwritten or translated some dozen books, including the acclaimed Tabloid Tokyo (Kodansha International).
Illustrator Kawajiri Hiroaki was born in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan in 1962. He began work in the printing industry in 1985, and has been involved in design for advertising and publishing since 1995. Kawajiri won recognition in the Education/Academic/Teaching category of the Twentieth Annual Independent Publisher Book Awards in 2002 for design of Getting Ready for Speech (Language Solutions Inc.). He uses a wide range of techniques and media, from pen and brush to oils, in his illustrations, coupled with digital work. He has handled design and illustrations for a number of books including Humanity and Technology and English–Live! (Intercom Press Inc.).
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This edition © 2014 Kurodahan Press
Kurotokage and Injū © Hirai Ryūtarō
English translations © 2006 Ian Hughes
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The Black Lizard and Beast In the Shadows Page 25
