The was a revenge

spree killing A spree killer is someone who commits a criminal act that involves two or more murders or homicides in a short time, in multiple locations. The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics defines a spree killing as "killings at two or more locations ...

that occurred on 21 May 1938 in the rural village of Kamo close to

Tsuyama is a city in Okayama Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 102,294 and a population density of 200 persons per km². The total area was 185.73 km². The area increased in 2005 as the result of a merger with adjacent t ...

in Okayama,

Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of Japan, 1947 constitu ...

. , a 21-year-old man, killed 30 people, including his grandmother, with a Browning shotgun,

katana A is a Japanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands. Developed later than the '' tachi'', it was used by samurai in feudal Japan and worn with the edge f ...

, and

axe An axe ( sometimes ax in American English; see spelling differences) is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood, to harvest timber, as a weapon, and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol. The axe has ma ...

, and seriously injured three others before killing himself with the shotgun. It is the deadliest shooting by a lone gunman in Japanese history.

Massacre

Mutsuo Toi cut the electricity line to the village of Kamo on the evening of 20 May, which left the community in darkness. At around 1:30 a.m. on 21 May, he killed his 76-year-old grandmother by decapitating her with an axe in her sleep. Armed with a modified shotgun, a katana, an axe, several daggers and 200 rounds of ammunition, he strapped two flashlights to his head and prowled through the village like a youth engaged in "night-crawling" or , entering the homes of his neighbors. He killed 29 neighbors (27 of whom died at the scene of the incident, while two others were fatally wounded, dying of their injuries later) and seriously injured three others in about an hour and half. This was almost half of the residents of the small community. At dawn he committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest on a nearby mountain.

Mutsuo Toi

was born in Okayama Prefecture to well-off parents. His parents died of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...

when he was a baby, so he and his sister were brought up by their grandmother. He was originally outgoing, but at the age of 17 he became socially withdrawn after his sister married in 1934. He was interested in the story of

Sada Abe was a Japanese geisha and prostitute who murdered her lover, , via strangulation on May 18, 1936, before cutting off his penis and testicles and carrying them around with her in her kimono. The story became a national sensation in Japan, acqu ...

, the prostitute who, in May 1936, strangled her lover then severed his genitals. He had started writing a novel, . He took part in or "night-crawling", a rural custom which involved creeping into young women's bedrooms during the night to seek sexual intercourse. From his suicide notes it appears that after May 1937 when he was diagnosed as suffering from

, the young women in the village rejected his sexual advances.

Location

The massacre was carried out in the small village of Kamocho Kurami, in the now city of

. The village has since been merged with different towns and cities over the years due to depopulation. The village's population at the time of the massacre was 23 households and 111 people, but as of 2010 is 13 households and 37 people. After the massacre, some families moved away. Most of the residents in the village are now over 65 years old and have stated that no one has moved to Kurami since the massacre. The house that Mutsuo Toi lived in was demolished in 2015, after sitting abandoned for years. The coordinates of this location are at the top of the page.

Suicide notes

Toi left several long notes which revealed that he was concerned about the social impact of his tuberculosis, which in the 1930s was an incurable fatal illness. He felt that his female neighbors became cold towards him once they knew of his illness, and that he was despised as

hypersexual Hypersexuality is extremely frequent or suddenly increased libido. It is controversial whether it should be included as a clinical diagnosis used by mental healthcare professionals. Nymphomania and satyriasis were terms previously used for the c ...

, and he also stated in the notes that neighbors insulted and treated him badly after he was found to have tuberculosis. For revenge, he decided to enter their homes and kill them. He waited for the time when the women returned to their houses. The authorities were concerned, and his

gun license A firearms license (also known as a gun license; or licence in British English) is a license or permit issued by a government authority (typically by the police) of a jurisdiction, that allows the licensee to buy, own, possess, or carry a ...

was revoked. He however prepared swords and guns secretly. He regretted that he would not be able to shoot some people he wanted to, as that would have involved killing people he regarded as innocent. He also wrote that he killed his grandmother because he could not bear leaving her alive to face the shame and social stigma that would be associated with being a "murderer's grandmother".

Films

The 1983 Japanese film, '' Ushimitsu no mura'' (''Village of Doom''), was based on the massacre. It stars

Masato Furuoya was a Japanese actor. He won the award for best actor at the 2nd Yokohama Film Festival and at the 5th Hochi Film Award for '' Disciples of Hippocrates'' and at the 12th Yokohama Film Festival for '' Uchū no hōsoku''. He committed suicide on M ...

as Tsugio Inumaru, an emotionally distraught young man who goes on a violent killing spree after his tuberculosis keeps him from serving in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Furuoya committed

suicide by hanging Suicide by hanging is the intentional killing of oneself (suicide) via suspension from an anchor-point such as an overhead beam or hook, by a rope or cord or by jumping from a height with a noose around the neck. Hanging is often considered ...

on 25 March 2003, twenty years after the film's release.
Fukushûki
1969 (''Vengeance Demon'') (''復讐鬼'') * The 8-Tomb Village, 1951 * The 8-Tomb Village, 1977 * The 8-Tomb Village, 1996

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * {{Cite book, script-title=ja:津山三十人殺し―日本犯罪史上空前の惨劇, trans-title=The Thirty Murders of Tsuyama - An unprecedented tragedy in the history of Japanese crime, language=ja, last=Tsukuba, first=Akira, location=Tokyo, publisher=Shinchōsha, date=2005, isbn=978-4-10-121841-0 Mass murder in 1938 Massacres in 1938 Murder–suicides in Japan Massacres in Japan Spree shootings in Japan Deaths by firearm in Japan Suicides by firearm in Japan Axe murder May 1938 events 1938 murders in Japan Mass shootings in Japan