The following is a list of

massacre A massacre is an event of killing people who are not engaged in hostilities or are defenseless. It is generally used to describe a targeted killing of civilians Glossary of French words and expressions in English#En masse, en masse by an armed ...

s that have occurred in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and its predecessor entities ranging back to the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

(Some historical numbers may be approximate). The massacres are grouped into different time periods. Massacres have become a growing problem in contemporary Japan in recent years, with at least 110+ deaths during the 2010s. Most notably, the 2019 Kyoto Animation arson attack claimed at least 36 lives and injured an additional 34. It is one of the deadliest massacres in Japan since the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and the deadliest building fire in Japan since the 2001 Myojo 56 building fire. It was considered "suicidal terrorism" by one criminology professor at Rissho University, as the attack was reportedly intended to be a suicide mission by the suspect. In December 2021, another arson attack occurred, this time at a building in Osaka, specifically at a psychiatric clinic located on the fourth floor. It killed 25 and injured an additional 3. The suspect, who died in hospital two weeks later, is believed to have been inspired by the 2019 attack in Kyoto.

Massacres

Heian period (794–1185)

Kamakura period (1185–1333)

Sengoku period (1467–1603)

Tokugawa shogunate (1603–1868)

Empire of Japan (1868–1947)

Occupied Japan (1947–1952)

State of Japan (1952–present)

References

External links

Factbox: Recent mass killings in Japan
{{massacres

Massacres A massacre is an event of killing people who are not engaged in hostilities or are defenseless. It is generally used to describe a targeted killing of civilians en masse by an armed group or person. The word is a loan of a French term for "b ...