The Inugami Curse

"I’m afraid to say so myself, but yes. He was born in Kobe, in the west side of Japan right by Osaka. It’s one of the big cities, which has been a trade hub in Japan since the 19th century. So there were a lot of foreign books available with many people coming in, GIs as well. He was always hanging out in the bookstore street, picking up used foreign books. That’s actually how he started to get into mysteries, when he was a very little. He had a great buddy in middle school and high school. They always got together, hopping around that street picking up magazines and books of detective mysteries. I believe Detective Story Magazine, from the US, was one of them. Right after the Tokyo air raid in the spring of 1945, my grandfather decided to leave Tokyo and go to Okayama with his family. They ended up staying there until July 1948. At that time, he took his entire collection of western crime mystery stories with him to be ready after the war. Now the house where they lived in Okayama has become a museum and his collections are still there. The Inugami Curse was originally written from January 1950 to May 1951 in a magazine called King, published by Kondansha Press. This was towards the end of the period of the United States occupation, after government censorship of Western-style detective mysteries had been lifted. It was one of the most popular stories of the Kindaichi series. My grandfather’s work resulted in the solid establishment of the classic detective mystery. He used to be called “the devilish trick man” because he was always thinking of tricks, 24/7. But he does not forget the murderer’s psychological motivation and the Japanese social and historical component as a flavour in the background of the stories. Yes, in terms of the Kosuke Kindaichi detective series, he wrote 77. Since he was writing multiple stories of Kindaichi in different magazines at the same time, it is hard to say precisely, but The Inugami Curse was probably fourteenth or fifteenth story of the Kindaichi series. The first one was The Honjin Murders . Let’s put it this way: this is my favourite for your readers. Unfortunately, although he passed away in 1981, only two of his books have been translated into English. This one was translated before with another title, but I’m so glad Pushkin Vertigo have published it again, because it’s a great way for people to know about the book. I like the new title as well. For me, I like the mystery, but I like the history, also. For every book, the writer has the idea of a plot to write a mystery, but there’s something behind that: the social issues of the time and the historical background. Seishi Yokomizo is a detective mystery author, but there’s always that historical part. In this book, the oldest son coming back from the war is critical for the family in terms of who is going to be inheriting the family business. The story is about the series of mysterious and dreadful murders committed in response to the will. But you also glimpse how the life of people during and after the war in Japan was screwed up not only for the person who went to the war, but also the others, who stayed home and prayed for their family member to come back safely. That’s interesting for me, as one of the post-war generation. The story is set in one of the towns in Nagano prefecture. It’s about Sahei Inugami, who is the king of the silk mill industry there. The silk mills had become one of the major industries since modernisation in Japan in the mid-19th century. Through the Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War and the Pacific War, Sahei Inugami had climbed to the top of the industry. At the beginning of the book, family members are sitting on the tatami floor around him as he lies on his Japanese futon, waiting for his last words as to who is going to inherit the business. However, he stops breathing without any word, except that the family lawyer has his will and that its contents can only be disclosed when all the family members are present. There is one person missing: Kiyo Inugami, the oldest son, who is on his way back from World War II. As I said before, the location of the story is one of the towns in Nagano. It’s the prefecture where my grandfather lived, right after he left Hakubunkan Press to become a writer. My grandfather was supposed to succeed his parents’ pharmaceutical business, but he ran away after a couple years of helping there and went to work for Hakubunkan Press as an editor for 7-8 years. Then he decided he wanted to be a writer for a living. “Each of the books and authors I’ve chosen impacted other authors and new generations and contributed to the growth of the Japanese crime mystery genre” Unfortunately, at that time, he was also diagnosed with tuberculosis, and so in 1934 he had to move from Tokyo to Fujimi Nagano for treatment for a couple of months, along with his wife. After that, they moved there with their two children. They spent about five years there. It was at that time that my mother was born. He was only allowed to write for 30 minutes a day, and according to my grandmother he spent the rest of the time brainstorming protagonists’ characters and structuring every sentence and the story while lying in bed. One of Japan’s silk conglomerates was actually located at Suwa in Nagano, the same prefecture where my grandfather lived. For me, I see a very interesting contrast between my grandfather, who was struggling with his life as a writer and fighting against tuberculosis, and the ‘King of Silk’ whose business was so successful at that time. It’s not that my grandfather was critical of it, but it makes the story more interesting for me and I would love to share that with readers of this book. After World War II, the United States authority running Japan tried to break up the major conglomerates or zaibatsu. Yes, the constitution of the Great Japanese Empire was replaced with a new constitution and Japanese civil law was also extensively amended. Under the old Japanese family system, the right of inheritance goes to the oldest son. Because of further democracy coming to Japan via the United States occupation, that changed so the wife as well as the other sons were included. That was in 1947. It did not directly affect this story, because the story was based on the will. But I wonder if my grandfather had been reading some articles about it in the newspapers, because it was a newsworthy topic back then."