Irezumi

by Akimitsu Takagi, Mathilde Tamae-Bouhon (translator)

Tokyo, été 1947. Dans une salle de bains fermée à clef, on retrouve les membres d’une femme assassinée. Son buste – lequel était recouvert d’un magnifique irezumi, ce célèbre tatouage intégral pratiqué par les yakuzas qui transforme tout corps en œuvre d’art vivante – a disparu. Le cadavre est découvert par deux admirateurs de la victime : un professeur collectionneur de peaux tatouées et le naïf et amoureux Kenzô Matsushita. La police a deux autres meurtres sur les bras : le frère de la première victime, dont le corps était lui aussi recouvert d’un irezumi, retrouvé mort et écorché, et l’amant jaloux de la jeune femme, tué d’une balle dans la tête. Frustré par leur incapacité à résoudre ces affaires, Matsushita appelle à la rescousse Kyôsuke Kamisu, dit «le Génie». Seul ce surdoué charismatique et élégant peut démasquer le psychopathe arracheur de tatouages.
Paru en 1948 au Japon, vendu à plus de 10 millions d’exemplaires, Irezumi, véritable classique du polar nippon, est enfin publié en France.

Genres: Mystery, Japan, Fiction, Crime, Japanese Literature, Thriller, Mystery Thriller

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1948

About the author

Akimitsu Takagi (高木 彬光 , Takagi Akimitsu?, 25 September 1920–9 September 1995), was the pen-name of a popular Japanese crime fiction writer active during the Showa period of Japan. His real name was Takagi Seiichi.

Takagi was born in Aomori City in Aomori Prefecture in northern Japan. He graduated from the Daiichi High School (which was often abbreviated to Ichi-ko) and Kyoto Imperial University, where he studied metallurgy. He was employed by the Nakajima Aircraft Company, but lost his job with the prohibition on military industries in Japan after World War II.

On the recommendation of a fortune-teller, he decided to become a writer. He sent the second draft of his first detective story, The Tattoo Murder Case, to the great mystery writer Edogawa Ranpo, who recognized his skill and who recommended it to a publisher. It was published in 1948.

He received the Tantei sakka club sho (Mystery Writers Club Award) for his second novel, the Noh Mask Murder Case in 1950.

Takagi was a self-taught legal expert and the heroes in most of his books were usually prosecutors or police detectives, although the protagonist in his first stories was Kyosuke Kamizu, an assistant professor at Tokyo University.

Takagi explored variations on the detective novel in the 1960s, including historical mysteries, picaresque novels, legal mysteries, economic crime stories, and science fiction alternate history.

In The Informer (1965), a former Tokyo stock exchange worker is fired because of illegal trades. A subsequent stock market crash means that he has no hope of returning to his old career and therefore he accepts a job from an old friend even though he eventually discovers that the new firm he works for is really an agency for industrial espionage. The plot is based on actual events.

He was struck by stroke several times since 1979, and died in 1995.

From Wikipedia

Reviews

[Helga · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

The snake eats the frog. The frog eats the slug. The slug dissolves the snake.
And the book bores the reader to death!

If you like to read a locked-room murder mystery, then look no further! This book is what you need!
An intriguing beginning, where a torso-less body is found in a locked-from-inside bathroom, believed to be the body of a tattooed woman who used to be a geisha. There are suspects, obviously and a couple of red herrings.
You think there may be more here than meets the eye, right? Well there isn’t.

There is of course a detective who thinks he is the bee’s knees, top-notch solver of puzzles (sorry Poirot!) who doesn’t do much detecting, but theorizes incessantly and listens to every character and their aunts and uncles hypothesize as how the murder was committed.

This is indeed a mystifying mystery which the reader solves way before the detective begins his investigation aka sitting in his home, playing chess and blowing smoke rings with his cigarette.

The case was discussed and hashed out so much that it took the fun out of the revelation at the end.
Actually right until the end, where a genius non-detective miraculously solves the puzzle blow by blow, one has the feeling the author himself has no inkling who the murderer is or how the murder was committed.

Notwithstanding it being a longer book than it needed to be, it was a hoot reading it along with you, Chris, conducting our own investigation, examining the facts and making our discoveries which were spot on. Thanks, Chris!

[Chris Lee (away) · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The Tattoo Murder” is a repetitive and showy locked-room murder mystery set in late 1940’s Japan. The story is filled with more side tangents, ranting, and babbling on than I would care to mention. It’s like Poirot and Sherlock Holmes meets Inspector Jacques Clouseau, but void of the fun, laughs, and genuine entertainment the aforementioned sleuths offer up. Although there were intriguing possibilities here, they were lost in repetition and an overly drawn-out conclusion. It would have worked well as a short, but as a full-length, it just does not have the torso, the arms, the head, or the legs to stand on.

Okay. Let’s set the scene. The Edo Tattoo Society hosts a judging competition where contestants show off their intricate tattoos to the masses. Kinue, the daughter of a famous tattoo artist, sheds her clothes to show off her tattoo to the judges; she oohs and awes with her design, the sorcerer Orochimaru from Japanese folklore. Before the ink is seen, she confides in Kenzo that her life is in danger—a seemingly rando encounter that sparks the initial plot.

Kenzo is called by Kinue afterwards for a rendezvous at her place. Kenzo shows up at her home and spots blood and severed limbs in the bathroom. Who murdered the woman? Was it the yakuza, another lover, her husband, Dr. Tattoo, who harvests tattoos off those who pass on, a family member, or someone else entirely? The first theory that comes to mind is most likely the correct one. Even if it is not, for the next 275+ pages, the author makes quite certain that you remember each and every detail with painstaking thoroughness.

My favorite part of the movie Office Space is when Tom explains his get-rich-quick scheme, the jump-to-conclusions mat. It’s quite literally a mat that has conclusions you can jump to. I feel like the author might have used this mat to complete the last 100 or so pages of the book. I’ll explain. Around the 70% mark, a young, hot-shot detective friend is brought on to the case. After a few moments of introspection, he is laying out exactly what happened. The detectives marvel at his genius, but the actual work could have revealed itself if they had thought the case through for just a few minutes. Obvious questions are asked, answered, and subsequently baffling to the lead investigator. The ‘leaps’ of logic were not that complex.

Have you ever finished a book and thought, I would have loved to have certain aspects explained in greater detail? Well, this book will make quite certain that no stone is unturned. Surprisingly enough, quite a few ideas were heavily inspired by the book The Honjin Murders, which was released two years prior. I am not sure if this particular locked room idea was common in mysteries of that time, but once a certain aspect is revealed in this novel, it takes your mind straight there.

Maybe it’s my Poirot withdrawal, or the translation (which is utterly confusing at some points), or my hope for a story that was much more intricate. Whatever the case may be, I would recommend reading Out instead.

** A big thank you to my partner in crime, Helga, for reading this one with me. **

🎵| Soundtrack |🎵
❖ K/DA – The Baddest
❖ Mamamoo – Moderato
❖ Akira Yamaoka – Theme of Laura
❖ Dreamcatcher – Chase Me
❖ ATLiens – Alchemy
❖ Black Pink - Savage

⭐ | Rating | ⭐
❖ 3 out of 5 ❖

[Vikas Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This classic Japanese locked room mystery has been brilliantly translated in English by Deborah Boehm. The translation beautifully captures the fine nuances of Japanese culture and ethos. Perhaps the only plot of its type to have been attempted, tattoo artists and tattoo designs are central to the mystery. Beyond the usual thrill of chase and whodunit, the novel also captures the pain and trauma of a society defeated in war and having witnessed the horrors of two nuclear bombs. In classic locked room mystery genre, there are lots of red herrings designed to throw the readers off the track only to marvel at the genius of the plot at the end. Great engrossing read!

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine for a moment Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had decided to set his Sherlock Holmes mysteries in Japan. Now imagine the time is not the late 19th century, but the middle of the 20th century, right after the devastation of World War II. Takagi Akimitsu (1920-1995) published this, his first novel, to great acclaim in 1948 Tokyo. Translated into English for the first time in 1999 by Deborah Boehm and published by Soho Crime, this translation bridges the half century since the novel was first published and gives us a fresh, new locked room mystery in a country where full body tattoos reach the status of art.

When parts of a dismembered body are found in a room locked from the inside, Kenzo Matsushita, 29-year-old former military medic, contacts his older brother, Detective Chief Inspector Daiyu Matsushita to investigate the case. Kyosuke Kamizu, nicknamed “boy genius” and schoolmate of Kenzo from Toyko University Medical School, is enlisted to help solve the case. Kenzo is Doc Watson to Kyosuke’s Sherlock Holmes.

Most entrancing in this mystery, perhaps, is the culture that surrounds art tattoos. The locked room is of course a mind-bender. Additionally, one cannot help but be drawn to the enigmatic, self-contained, and suave Kyosuke. Sherlock is the absolute yardstick and measure Takagi means us to use. All this is overlaid with a gauzy screen of Japanese culture and habits. It is fascinating: oriental, yet the best Sherlock impersonation I have met.

Takagi won the Japan Mystery Writers Award in 1950 for his second mystery called The Noh Mask Murder Case . However, to my knowledge, only The Informer (1965), a mystery based on a true stock market scam, and Honeymoon to Nowhere (1965) have been translated into English, all by Soho Crime.

A note to the publisher: The digital file for this downloaded book was rife with extensive errors in spelling, grammar, and punctuation. It was difficult to read. Small mistakes like those found in advance galleys can be accommodated, but the mistakes in this actually made it difficult for me to understand what was going on. Since I paid full price for the book, it stands to reason I would like a product that is not defective. Digital files produced by different vendors have different outcomes, and this one definitely needed massaging. Hope to see you do better in the future.

[Uhtred · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title of the book is certainly intriguing and even the short description attracts the potential reader who loves thriller-noir: some pieces of a woman's corpse are found in a room closed from the inside. In perfect Agatha Christie style. In reality "The tattoo murder case" is not a thriller of that type; is a novel that has a lot of Japanese culture inside, a lot of love for tattoos and many other things. But in the end they slow it down and weigh it down. The plot takes place in Tokyo, after the Second World War, with a devastated Japan trying to return to normal. The atmosphere is dark and the first pages immediately immerse us in the art of irizumi, Japanese tattoos, with their perfect contrast between the beauty of the art itself and the transgression they represent. A fascination that becomes an obsession for the killer, so much so that he kills a woman, Kinue, and steals her torso only to get the tattoo she has on her back. Or so it seems, because in reality the investigation will reveal a different truth. And the investigation is precisely that part of the book that I liked least, too slow and cumbersome, full of explanations, instead of facts that follow one another, free to be imagined by the reader. There is a famous doctor with his collection of tattooed human skin; there's a forensic student who gets swept away by Kinue's life without even realizing that; there is a rich and jealous lover who tries to keep Kinue locked up, out of sight for all to have her for himself only. Kinue is beautiful and rebellious: many want her, and therefore many could be the killer. But the author seems to have fun exhausting the reader, chasing the solution through exhausting hypotheses and possible solutions reasoned at the table by the inspector in charge of the case. Three stars, but I don't think it will be a book that I will reread in the future.

[Mrs.Martos · Rating 3 out of 5]

"...si los abrumas con 99 verdades, no se darán cuenta cuando les cueles una pequeña mentira."

[Jr Bacdayan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ink bleeding into human skin is an artform nearly as old as civilization itself. This age-old practice of using skin as canvas for the expression of art has remained to this day a vastly appealing practice. To its many patrons who are captivated by this medium, the colorful pull of its dyes is almost like the smell of opium to an addict. The layers of pigments embedding into the dermis mixing with flesh and screams is an intoxicating allure that offers both pain and eventually pleasure. The combination of the mystifying elegance of the tattoo set in the backdrop of the marvelous Showa-era Japan is too deadly a pairing for our little locked-room murder not to satisfy. I was thoroughly taken by the world that was carefully painted, to the point where I didn't really want the story to unfold in the grim way it was bound to go. It did. This world or carnal artistry fell like a cold knife slashing onto plump flesh, only to notice the blood patterns evoke a fascination. It was like seeing a murder through the lens of a kaleidoscope. But perhaps the crime-scene was more compelling than the crime. However much enchanting the setting, the excitement of sleuthing in post-war 1940s Japan is pretty much tempered when read by someone from the present day. Please don't misconstrue and think that I am disappointed by its logic or mystery. It is interesting, in the way old outdated machines are interesting. However I am infinitely more fascinated by the lore of the artform and how it tied to tragic omens that later on came to fruition. Mythological figures like Orichimaru, Tsunadehime, and Jiraiya find their way into the story bringing with them an almost unsettling feeling in the gut, like the feeling of unease underneath your skin during a dark and eerie night. I didn't really care much about what actually happened. I did want to understand the role of the ink in the spilling of blood, but I would rather stare at the mystifying fog than see the stark view.

[The Frahorus · Rating 4 out of 5]

È stata una piacevole scoperta imbattermi in questo romanzo giallo scritto dal giapponese Akimitsu Takagi ambientato in una Tokyo del secondo dopoguerra: alla fine della lettura mi è subito venuto in mente che colui che indaga e poi risolve il misterioso omicidio della donna tatuata (e non solo quello), rispecchia e ricorda molto Sherlock Holmes (a cui palesemente l'autore si è ispirato). Ringrazio dunque la Einaudi che ci ha tradotto per la prima volta (inedito in Italia) questo piccolo capolavoro che fu pubblicato, in Giappone, nel 1948.

Una donna, Nomura Kinue, dal tatuaggio particolare, un serpente, viene infatti ritrovata a pezzi dentro il bagno di casa sua e subito i sospetti si indirizzano verso un dottore appassionato collezionista di tatuaggi su pelle umana (tra l'altro questo signore è esistito veramente, si chiamava Masaichi Fukushi che inventò un metodo per conservare le pelli tatuate e ne collezionò ben 105!). Questa donna, scopriremo, era figlia di un famoso tatuatore, Hori’yasu, il quale aveva tatuato sia lei, sia sua sorella gemella e sia suo fratello. Ma quei tatuaggi si prospetteranno una vera e propria maledizione per tutta la famiglia.

L'autore giapponese riesce a regalarci una storia piena di colpi di scena e di mistery, e tutto ruota attorno a quel misterioso tatuaggio su Kinue: chi desidera ucciderla e perché? Egli ci presenta il delitto perfetto: la donna viene ritrovata, a pezzi, dentro una stanza chiusa. Come ha fatto l'assassino?

“Pochi al mondo conoscono la bellezza dell’irezumi-il tatuaggio. E ancora meno sono coloro che subiscono il fascino insito nel gesto di imprimere una vita segreta su un corpo umano.”

Un giallo che vi stra-consiglio, da leggere tutto d'un fiato.

[Come Musica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Questo romanzo, scritto da Akimitsu Takagi nel 1948 e pubblicato per la prima volta in Italia nel luglio 2020, per Einaudi nella traduzione di Antonietta Pastore, era in lista (in realtà lo avevo anche iniziato all'epoca) da due anni ed era anche finito nel dimenticatoio, in verità. Il 6 luglio 2022, è stato pubblicato l'audiolibro per Audible, letto da Jun Ichikawa.
Questa è un po' la potenza degli audiolibri: da una parte quella cioè di riportare alla ribalta libri che diversamente sarebbero dimenticati, dall'altra quella di aiutare il lettore (nella fattispecie io :D) a recuperare i libri che erano in lista di attesa da tempo!

Veniamo alla storia, ambientata a Tokyo nel secondo dopoguerra, in un paese devastato che cerca di tornare alla normalità.

Al centro della storia c'è, come si intuisce dal titolo, una donna bellissima, Nomura Kinue, figlia del famoso tatuatore Hori’yasu. Il padre ha inciso sul corpo dei tre figli una rana, un serpente e una lumaca, infrangendo tutte le oscure credenze che impedivano a un tatuatore di rappresentare questi tre animali, perché forieri di una cattiva sorte:

“Pochi al mondo conoscono la bellezza dell’irezumi − il tatuaggio. E ancora meno sono coloro che subiscono il fascino insito nel gesto di imprimere una vita segreta su un corpo umano.”

E anche la bella Kinue subirà lo stesso destino dei suoi due fratelli, andando nella stessa direzione della credenza popolare. All'ispettore Matsushita il caso chiede di andare oltre le deduzioni canoniche:

“– Vedo. Semplice aritmetica. 5 - x = y. Ed ecco il limite delle tecniche scientifiche d’inchiesta. Non è con questi metodi banali, però, che riuscirà a risolvere questo caso, ispettore Matsushita. Qui siamo ben al di là della matematica elementare.”

Infatti, per risolvere questo caso, l'ispettore non potrà seguire il metodo classico, usando i principi della geometria euclidea:

“– Lei forse spera che intervenga un cervello sopraffino, professore? Un deus ex machina che risolva quest’enigma con la sua intuizione? Mi spiace, ma non credo che succederà. Noi lavoriamo diversamente. Metta anche che delle cinque piste, quattro si rivelino senza rapporto col delitto: siamo comunque obbligati a controllarle tutte una per una. Le sembrerà un metodo inefficace, eppure resta il migliore, mi creda.
– Un metodo piatto e mediocre. Di fronte a un crimine ordinario, a un assassino che abbia agito senza un piano, forse può funzionare. Ma la persona che ha ideato quest’omicidio ha un livello di intelligenza ben superiore al nostro, è un genio. Finché si atterrà ai principî della geometria euclidea, ispettore, lei non riuscirà mai a risolvere questo caso.”

Ora, voi non potete immaginare come mi si siano fatti gli occhi a cuoricino quando ho sentito questa frase! Ho interrotto l'audiolettura e sono passata subito a leggerla sull'ebook.

“– Mi sta dicendo che sommando 2 e 2, potremmo ottenere 5?
– 5… oppure 3. A seconda dell’ora e del luogo, in un mondo in cui due linee parallele possono convergere in un punto.
– Già, ma per disgrazia noi viviamo nel mondo reale. E nel mondo reale non si incontrano mai.”

Queste parti sono state per me pura poesia.

L'esistenza delle geometrie non euclidee e l'entrata in scena di Kamizu Kyōsuke, un uomo brillante, "diplomato al liceo Ikkō, come Kenzō, col quale condivideva il talento per la matematica”, porterà l'ispettore alla risoluzione del caso

“È un ragionamento logico che non fa una grinza. Eppure i fatti hanno provato che era sbagliato. L’errore consisteva nel dare per scontato che Tamae avesse una Tsunadehime tatuata sul corpo intero, braccia incluse. E qui dobbiamo rendere omaggio al genio del professor Hayakawa, che in pochi secondi si è reso conto che tutta la vicenda ruotava intorno a quel punto cruciale. Nella geometria euclidea, quella che avete studiato voi, due rette parallele non si incontrano mai, cosí come secondo la logica un tatuaggio non si cancella. Ma esiste una geometria non euclidea.”

La soluzione del caso, frutto del pensiero laterale, sarà possibile anche grazie all'orgoglio che viene messo da parte e all'apertura mentale che accetta anche ragionamenti corretti non convenzionali. Perché l'animo umano ha voragini misteriose e profondità insondabili:

“L’amore per la pelle tatuata… nell’animo umano esistono voragini misteriose.
Per un attimo, Kenzō ebbe l’impressione di essere sull’orlo di un precipizio, e di vederne riflessa negli occhi di Kyōsuke la profondità insondabile.”

[Lori Keeton · Rating 3 out of 5]

My interest in wanting to explore some Japanese literature has come from recently watching the latest Shogun series and a Netflix series called Tokyo Vice which is based on a memoir of an American journalist in Tokyo in the 1990’s. I highly recommend both of these tv programs and look forward to diving into reading them as well. However, my first experience of a Japanese crime, mystery, thriller fell way short. I chose this one because it was a ‘locked room mystery’ in which a crime occurred which would fulfill a reading challenge prompt and would allow me to read a book in translation as well as a “classic” – written in 1948. I will briefly explain a few things that I noted about this particular book - The Tattoo Murder Case.

Set just after WW2 in a defeated Japan, the victim has survived the war only to be murdered because of her full body tattoo – an illegal act for all parties. Not only was this illegal but for a woman to have such an art form on her body was considered shocking. The author writes in a way that tells a LOT and shows very little. We hear a LOT about tattooing and that there are people who are collectors of skins – yes, that’s right, the skins of the bodies of those individuals who after death have allowed their tattoos to be preserved. UGH! Well, ok. Moving on.

There was much repetition of the story throughout and not a lot of plot to move this forward. The police were made out to be unable – not smart enough – to solve a case where a dismembered body was found inside a locked bathroom and the torso which contained the tattoo was missing. The brother of the chief inspector played a rather large role in investigating and he was a medical student who had had a brief intimate encounter with the victim prior to her death. But what I couldn’t fathom was the introduction of a character presented to be a genius and friend of the chief’s brother who proceeded to do what the police were unable to do – solve the murder with quite a few twists and turns.

Trying to be brief here, so wrapping this up – the translation fell way short for me and was rather clunky and very American sounding if that makes sense. It was not at all what I expected from my first experience of Japanese literature. I’m sure there are way better books and even better crime/mysteries to choose to read. This was ok if you’re intrigued at all by tattoos.

[Mizuki · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8 stars for The Tattoo Murder Case by Akimitsu Takagi, and this is his first novel from more than half a century ago.

The explanation for the murder mystery is outstanding and logical, the setup about a serial murder case surrounding tattoos and the gloomy, haunting atmosphere is great too, but the characters look kind of flat though it doesn't bother me too much.

PS: we are reminded by the novelist that in the 1950s Japanese society, tattooed people were being viewed as outlaws and criminals and then discriminated, poor them!

My review for The Noh Mask Murder Case by the same author: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Laura]

I'm giving up on this - not rated. It was written/published in 1947 - right after the war - and I have this sense of a Japanese man writing as an American - what do we call that - negative internalization. It comes up in abusive relationships - whereby the victim has to appease his oppressor - in order to survive. Takagi -copying or internalizing?

I couldn't stand all the fake conversations - jostling for position type of conversations - and of course the item of Japanese identity and culture - whole body tattoos - held up for admiration, inspection - an attempt to grab the tail of the devil?

Here is the opening paragraph:

It was the summer of 1947, and citizens of Tokyo, already crushed with grief and shock over the loss of the war, were further debilitated by the languid heat. The city was ravaged. Seedy looking shacks had sprung up on the messy sites of bombed-out buildings. Makeshift shops overflowed with colourful black-market merchandise, but most people were still living from hand to mouth.

If he had continued in the realist style I would have read on.

[Carlo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A classic (1948) Japanese locked room mystery set in Tokyo in the aftermath of WW2: nice and enjoyable.
-------
Un giallo classico giapponese (1948), basato su un enigma della camera chiusa, ambientato a Tokyo all'indomani della Seconda Guerra Mondiale: carino e divertente.

[hans · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ‘can you solve the mystery of the tattoo murder?’ on the back cover was quite inviting. I love how the plot brought me to an intricate details of its postwar setting with enticing history and culture commentary on the Japanese tattoo art that became the plot arc of this inventive ingenious crime.

Tokyo, 1947. The first postwar meeting of the Edo Tattoo Society was held where Kinue Nomura reveals her full-body snake tattoo for the first time. When Kinue was found dead in her locked bathroom days later, her snake tattooed torso was found missing from her dismembered corpse. Her lover, Kenzo Matsushita was determined to help his brother, DCI Daiyu Matshushita to solve the case but after two months with blind alleys and two more related deaths, Kenzo seeks to find help from his math and physics genius friend, Kyosuke Kamizu.

Such a twisty whodunnit narrative with engaging red herrings hinged with complex and intriguing list of suspects— I fancy Dr Tattoo the most as his obsessiveness was somehow so wicked and intimidatingly appealing. Loving Kyosuke’s dynamic even though he only came out later; he was so clever and mysterious (he reminds me to Manabu Yukawa a bit), his deductions were outstanding and the exploration of howdunnit too was so entrancingly thorough.

The development can be a bit slow sometimes as the author tends to drag Kenzo’s perspective with a handful of details. Love how the tattoo culture part relates to the legendary folktale of a curse that was said could bind one’s life; of the three siblings that carried the enchantment of the three wicked sorcerers on their skins— if one dies the others would follow. The prejudice and skepticism were greatly highlighted that it amazes me on how certain people would go blindly judging others with tattoo to be a thief or murderer or a lowlife scum. Raw and so evocatively written, the tension gets me curious and it goes so fiendishly thrilling even until the end.

Would definitely go for another Kyosuke Kamizu if this were ever a series; the idea of having a civilian amateur sleuth was somehow quite admirable to me. 4.1 stars to this!

Thank you Pansing Distribution for sending me a copy in exchange for my honest review!

[Jami · Rating 4 out of 5]

I stumbled upon this book while looking for a different Japanese murder mystery and am eternally grateful. This book was originally published in Japan in 1948; however, it does not seem dated at all. The only way you know the year it takes place is the references to the destruction of Tokyo. I am usually a slow reader, but I devoured this book. A fascinating story that includes a look at how the Japanese culture viewed tattoos, the artists who create them, and the people who choose to adorn their bodies with them.

[yel ᰔ · Rating 4 out of 5]

➺ 3.5/5🌟

I loved that this book wasn't just a crime mystery set in the post-war Japan, but it was actually written in that time period, so you can feel that the condition of the setting was depicted more accurately. I find this read very digestible for a classic Japanese murder mystery. I was expecting a more complex prose but maybe the author's writing style is nothing too complicated or the translator made it more accessible, or both, but I'm glad that this is not too hard to read.

The whole mystery is actually a set of misdirection. It's not exactly predictable, but it's also not something you wouldn't see coming. When you read this, at least half of your theories will probably be in the right direction. Maybe you can even guess the culprit pretty early on or you may even doubt if it's just the author subverting your expectation, but either way, I don't think you would guess the entirety of the mystery without the whole exposition.

I actually appreciate that. I am not entirely hoping to get a mind-blowing plot twist from a classic crime fiction written in 1940s. These classic mysteries are the inspirations of modern mysteries and I'm aware of the possible predictability. I was more intrigued as to how it was executed.

I found it interesting that the main POV of this book is not someone who actually solved the series of murder. He was even a variable that unknowingly confused the whole investigation despite him sincerely wanting to help. From the moment he interacted with the mastermind at the beginning, he has already involuntarily stepped into the intricately made murder plan without even knowing it, even unintentionally helping the culprit to establish the misdirection.

There are moments in the book that come off as a little too convenient, though not enough to ruin the overall story. This is actually quite entertaining and not too long of a read. Because of this, I'm now in the midst of looking for more classic Japanese murder mystery.

[library ghost (farheen) · Rating 3 out of 5]

ik more about japanese tattoos than before so cheers to that!

[Resh (The Book Satchel) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely enjoyed this delicious mystery—pulpy, campy, juicy. Long review on newsletter.
If you are interested in Japanese crime fiction, check this list.
4.5 stars

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[Georgiana 1792 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un classico giallo della stanza chiusa ambientato nel Giappone del dopoguerra in un mondo affascinante quanto misterioso - ancor più perché fuori legge in quel periodo - quello dell'irezumi, il tatuaggio giapponese, che copriva grandi porzioni di torso e di braccia di chi se lo faceva applicare, con tutte le leggende relative ai personaggi mitologici che venivano raffigurati nel tatuaggio.
«Il tatuaggio è l’incarnazione della libido», ha detto uno psicologo. Da una parte abbiamo un lungo ago acuminato, dall’altra l’epidermide perforata, e liquido che sgorga. C’è chi dà e chi riceve: si possono chiaramente vedere, in quest’atto, le due facce di una stessa medaglia.
E anche se a risolvere il caso giunge dopo ben oltre la metà della storia Kamizu Kyōsuke - un giovane medico legale, compagno di studi di Matsushita Kenzō, fratello dell'ispettore Matsushita Eiichirō, a cui sono affidate le indagini - gli indizi dell'autore mi avevano già messa sulla strada per comprendere parte della verità, sebbene solo un genio della logica come Kyōsuke - considerato il Maigret giapponese - avrebbe potuto risolvere il mistero della stanza chiusa.

[Paul Cornelius · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entire murder mystery written around the concept of a figure-ground illusion. It's quite masterful but for one thing. The solution of the crime comes descending out of the blue. Two-thirds of the way through the novel appears a genius friend for whom there has been no connection or allusion in the earlier pages. He solves the case. While his revelations and insights are the work of genius, it seems a clumsy way, a bit of a cheat, in resolving the story. Nevertheless . . . .

What really appeals to me about Tattoo Murder Case, however, is the picture of immediate postwar Tokyo and Japan under American occupation. No, the American occupation only hovers in the background, but it is enough to give a sense of why social moorings have rotted away and left the Japanese with a dissociative identity disorder on a grand scale. Japan is trying to right itself, adjust to a new world, and a changed moral universe. For Akimitsu Takagi, its arrival as something acceptable and stabilizing is no sure thing. A superb peek into the frights and insecurities of a defeated empire that has no clear sense of its future.

[Meltem Sağlam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eser; yazarın ilk romanı ve ‘Shinhonkaku’ adı verilen, Japon Polisiyesi türünün başlangıç eseri olarak adlandırılıyor. Shinhonkaku, klasik honkaku polisiyesinin, batı postmodernizmimin etkileşimi altında, yeni bir gerçekçilik akımı ile bütünleşerek oluşan bir tür. Bu eser de, bu akımı başlatan, bir tür ‘Sarı Odanın Esrarı’, yani kilitli oda polisiyesi.

Eser, dövme sanatı konusuna yaklaşımı ve detayları ile dikkat çekici. Kültürel öğeler çok başarılı bir şekilde verilmiş. Hikayesi güzel, karakterler sevimli. Karakter psikolojisi ve değişimler çok başarılı bir şekilde işlenmiş. Akıcı anlatımı var ve heyecan düzeyi dengeli. Okuyucuyla, cinayeti çözme anlamında, ipuçlarının yerinde ve yeterli düzeyde paylaşılması, cinayet mahallinin tüm detaylarıyla tanımlanması keyifli bir okuma sağlıyor. Hatta anlatımın bir noktasında, çözüm için tüm ipuçları verildikten ve kısa bir liste çıkarıldıktan sonra okuyucuya meydan okuyor, ki bu da çok hoş.

Okuma zevki vermesi ve iyi Türkçe kullanımı nedeniyle de başarılı bir çeviri olduğunu düşündüm.

[Camilla tra le righe · Rating 3 out of 5]

L'idea c'era, ma è davvero un romanzo confusionario.
Troppi elementi, troppe idee; tra la prima e la seconda parte sembra di leggere due libri diversi.

In aggiunta la risoluzione e il plot twist abbastanza scontati, si capiscono rapidamente.

[QHuong(BookSpy) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

Đọc cuốn này mà cứ liên tưởng đến Tokyo Hoàng đạo án. Mình cảm thấy hai truyện này có vibe khá giống nhau, đen tối và bí ẩn, tạo được cái không khí dị dị ma quái. Cuốn sách này lấy chủ đề về xăm hình, xăm ở đây như một bộ môn nghệ thuật chứ không phải kiểu xăm chơi. Truyện lấy bối cảnh hậu chiến Nhật Bản, nghề xăm hình vẫn bị cấm nên việc đi xăm là trái phép, phải làm giấu diếm - yếu tố này được sử dụng triệt để trong truyện, điều này làm mình rất thích, khiến cho hoàn cảnh vụ án xảy ra chân thực hơn rất nhiều.

Tuy vậy, mở đầu truyện hơi dài dòng. Tác giả kể về lịch sử và những chuyện ngoài lề xoay quanh việc xăm mình, sau đó mới đi sâu về khái quát qua nạn nhân và vụ án diễn ra. Mình không ngờ đây lại là vụ án liên hoàn - lại càng giống với cuốn Tokyo Hoàng đạo án, hơn nữa, thủ thuật gây án cũng phần nào tương tự cuốn Tokyo. Cách điều tra giống như trinh thám cổ điển, một thám tử thông minh xuất hiện và giải thích toàn bộ quá trình gây án của hung thủ. Điều thú vị nằm ở cách điều tra, vị thám tử này kết hợp suy luận logic và phân tích tâm lý con người để loại trừ nghi phạm. Mình thích tác giả tận dụng yếu tố án mạng phòng kín để lòe ngay cả ngươi đọc.

Như cuốn Tokyo, tác giả có thách thức người đọc tự điều tra vụ án vì mọi manh mối đã được trình bày sẵn. Dĩ nhiên là mình không đủ giỏi để tự điều tra rồi, cùng lắm chỉ đoán thủ phạm nhờ vào cách vị thám tử kia lập luận và phân tích.

Mình vẫn hơi chưa được thuyết phục ở mối quan hệ tình cảm, một điểm khá mấu chốt trong truyện.

[Tintaglia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
Piacevole giallo classico che immerge con efficacia nella caotica Tokyo del dopoguerra.

Nota di merito all’impeccabile traduzione, precisa e scorrevole. Di solito sembra che i traduttori dal giapponese escano tutti dalla Scuola Cannarsi, e questo è male.

[RyeCather · Rating 2 out of 5]

Drawn-out and predictable.

[True Blue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cuốn này viết chủ đề lạ : " hình xăm" -nhưng đáng để bỏ thời gian ra đọc nè
Plot giống như " Giúp anh trả lời những câu hỏi của Vương Anh Tú " vậy :v ,tác giả đưa ra hết tất cả giả thuyết để ng đọc suy lận cùng- kiểu rep 1:1

[J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I saw the basics here-- Japanese Murder Mystery circa 1947-- I couldn't wait to read it. But there's something wrong. This comes across as disconnected, disjointed, and at the same time kind of homogenized for general acceptance.

Seems like it's one of three possibles:
It strains to be generic and polite. Maybe something in the very recent war and conditions of Occupation under which it was written ..? The depiction of the locations and the cultural locale are simply too broad and smoothed-over to be of interest. Period particulars are notably absent.
It's just not very good. A bit pulpy, maybe, and not the last word in characterization, but the story is good enough on its own merits that something more involving could have resulted ...
Translation. Maybe so. Impossible to know without seeing a different translation or reading the Japanese original, but the above could all be shortcomings of the translation.

Occasional slips into contemporary idiom ('a day at the beach'... 'hate it when that happens') and the overall Universalisation of a milieu that shouldn't feel universal at all... It would appear that the translator had a go at editing and revising some of the material here, in order to make it more contemporary, more commercial..

Less of a window in time (into a very strange era in Japan, a recently-postfeudal but credible world-power, reduced to new humiliations every day), and more of a market-competitive genre mystery circa the present, rather than 1947.

All of which points to the translator. And which is borne out by the fine print on the verso of the title page, which says, near the bottom : "translated and adapted by".

In the sense that locale, period particulars and art direction in general would certainly be main attractions for this kind of novel, what's missing amounts to the donut and what's present is the hole.
Give it a pass.

[Gaetano Laureanti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pubblicato da poco (luglio 2020) da Einaudi, questo romanzo del 1948 mi ha trasportato nella Tokyo del dopoguerra: l’autore, Akimitsu Takagi, è molto bravo nel ricostruire l’ambientazione e l’atmosfera della capitale nipponica e descrivere i personaggi in modo da farceli ben conoscere e lasciarci, al tempo stesso, sempre nel dubbio su quello che pensino veramente; il tutto decorato da una serie di meravigliosi tatuaggi (gli irezumi) che sembrano vivere di vita propria ed influenzare addirittura i comportamenti dei loro possessori.

Pochi al mondo conoscono la bellezza dell’irezumi − il tatuaggio. E ancora meno sono coloro che subiscono il fascino insito nel gesto di imprimere una vita segreta su un corpo umano.
… “Il tatuaggio è l’incarnazione della libido”, ha detto uno psicologo. Da una parte abbiamo un lungo ago acuminato, dall’altra l’epidermide perforata, e liquido che sgorga. C’è chi dà e chi riceve: si possono chiaramente vedere, in quest’atto, le due facce di una stessa medaglia.

Il primo delitto, inoltre, è uno di quelli della cosiddetta camera chiusa e sembra davvero inspiegabile nella sua complessità.

Figure enigmatiche, misteri e sensualità compongono un bel puzzle che solo una mente raffinata può ricomporre. Ed il finale è davvero imprevedibile (almeno per me).

Nonostante l’età, grazie anche alla valida traduzione di Antonietta Pastore, si legge come un giallo moderno, senza rinunciare ai numerosi richiami alla tradizione giapponese.

Certo, a volte la storia scorre lentamente, ma non lo trovo un vero difetto.

[Jefi Sevilay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sanki Akimitsu Takagi bir yanında Agatha Christie, diğer yanında Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ile oturmuş yeni yazacağı kitabı tartışıyor. Agatha Christie özellikle içeriden kilitli kapıdaki gizem, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle da o zaman ben de yardımcım Kyosuke (Dr. Watson) ile cinayet çözme kısmını alayım demiş ve iş bölümü yapmışlar.

Bence kitabın en etkileyici ve gizemli kısmı "dövme" sanatı ve Japonlar için bunun ne anlam ifade ettiğiydi. Tsunedahime, Jiraiya ve Orochimaru olarak Naruto'dan çok iyi bildiğim karakterler de aslında polisiye roman olsun anime olsun Japonların köklerine ve mistisizme ne kadar meraklı olduğunun kanıtı.

Uzun zamandır İngilizce kitap okumamıştım, bu hoşuma gitti ama heyecan ve aksiyon seviyesinin hep ortalamanın altında kalması ve okuma zevkinden çok ağır bir tempoyla işin mistisizmine odaklanması hikayenin pek keyifli ilerlememesine sebep oldu. Yine de savaş sonrası Japonya'da geçen 1948 tarihli bu roman eminim ki dönem okurlarına çok daha ayrı bir okuma deneyimi yaşatmıştır.

Herkese keyifli okumalar!

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comment upon first reading: Enjoyable Japanese whodunnit. The characters are somewhat bland in their polite Japanese way, and the solution to the murder mystery is interesting in the same way that the solution to a crossword puzzle is interesting. The chief strengths of the narrative are its evocation of post-war Japan and its portrayal of the Japanese art tattoo subculture. On the whole, worth your time if you have an interest in things Japanese.

Comment upon second reading: I have upgraded from three stars to four, partly in compensation/recognition of my prejudice against locked-room whodunnits. (See recent review of John Dickson Carr's excruciating The Three Coffins.)

First reading: 11 October 2008.
Second reading: 18 February 2009.