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Mutsuo TOI
"The Tsuyama massacre"
Classification:
Spree killer
Characteristics: Revenge against the women
Number of victims: 30
Date of murders:
May 21,
1938
Date of birth: March
5, 1917
Victims profile: Men, women and children (neighbors)
Method of murder: Using
a Browning shotgun, a Japanese sword and an axe
Location: Tsuyama
city, Okayama, Japan
Status: Committed
suicide by shooting himself in the chest the same day
Mutsuo Toi(都井
睦雄,Toi Mutsuo,
March 5, 1917 - May 21, 1938) was a Japanese
spree killer, who killed 30 people in Tsuyama massacre.
He was born in Okayama Prefecture.
His parents died of tuberculosis, and he was brought up
by his grandmother. He was originally smart, but he had
been a Hikikomori since his sister was married in 1934.
Sada Abe, who killed her lover
sadistically in May 1936, had a great influence on him.
He begun to have sex with many women after that. He
often stole into houses to see women. The tradition is
called Yobai(夜這い,Yobai)
in Japan. He read a book of Sada Abe's testimony in
January 1937. He was writing a novel.
He however was diagnosed as suffering
from tuberculosis in May 1937. He grew desperate because
tuberculosis was regarded as a fatal illness. Women
became cold against him after they knew his illness, and
so he hated women. He had sex with many women after that,
but he was despised as hypersexuality.
For a revenge against the women, he
decided to attack their houses and kill them. He waited
the time when the women returned to their houses. They
felt his crisis, and his licence of guns was revoked.
He however prepared swords and guns
secretly. He killed 30 people aged 5 to 86, and then
killed himself on May 21, 1938. His sister also died of
tuberculosis after his death.
The Tsuyama
massacre was a murder spree that occurred on 21 May 1938 in a
rural village close to Tsuyama city in Okayama, Japan. The massacre
resulted in the deaths of 30 people and the serious injury of 3.
This number of victims had been considered the world's worst
massacre by a single criminal for a long time, up until Woo Bum-Kon
killed 57 people (the number varies by sources) in 1982 in South
Korea.
Mutsuo Toi, a
21-year-old man, began preparing the previous evening (20 May). He
cut the electricity line and blacked out the village. At around
1:30am on 21 May, he started his spree with his own grandmother, who
brought him up after his parents died when he was a baby.
After
that, he took up a rifle and Japanese swords, and killed 29
neighbors in about an hour and half. He committed suicide after
finishing the massacre.
Toi left several
long notes. According to them, he killed the neighbours because they
insulted him after he was found to have tuberculosis, which was
considered incurable at the time.
He regretted that he could not
shoot several people he had intended to, while shooting other people
he had not intended to. He also wrote that he killed his grandmother
at first because he could not bear leaving her as the "murderer's
grandmother".
The Tsuyama massacre(津山事件,Tsuyama jiken) was a spree killing that occurred on 21
May 1938 in the rural village of Kaio close to Tsuyama city in Okayama,
Japan.
Mutsuo Toi, a 21-year-old man, killed 30 people,
including his grandmother, with a shotgun, Japanese sword, and axe,
and seriously injured three others before killing himself with the
shotgun. Until the 1982 killing by Woo Bum-kon, this incident was
regarded as the world’s worst massacre by an individual.
Massacre
Mutsuo Toi cut
the electricity line to the village of Kaio on the evening of 20 May,
which left the community in darkness. At around 1:30 am on 21 May, he
killed his 76-year-old grandmother by decapitating her with an axe.
Then he strapped two electric torches to his head and prowled through
the village like a youth engaged in "night-crawling" or "Yobai"
(夜這い),
entering the homes of his neighbours.
He killed 29 neighbours (27 of whom died at the
scene of the incident, while two others were fatally wounded, died
of their injuries later) and seriously injured three others in about
an hour and half using a Browning shotgun, a Japanese sword and an
axe. This was almost half of the residents of the small community.
At dawn he committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest.
Mutsuo Toi
Mutsuo Toi (都井
睦雄,Toi Mutsuo, March 5, 1917 – May 21, 1938) was born in
Okayama Prefecture to well-off parents. His parents died of
tuberculosis 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 (a widespread social phenomenon in Japan
known as hikikomori) after his sister married in 1934.
He was interested in the story of Sada Abe, the
prostitute who, in May 1936, strangled her lover then severed his
penis. The story became the basis for the 1976 film In the Realm of
the Senses (Japanese: 愛のコリーダ).
He started writing a novel 雄図海王丸 ("Yutokaiomaru").
He took part in a traditional rural Japanese
activity of "night-crawling" or Japanese: "Yobai"
(夜這い),
which involved creeping into young women's beds during the night to
seek sexual intercourse.
From his suicide notes it appears that after May
1937 when he was diagnosed as suffering from tuberculosis, the young
women in the village rejected his sexual advances.
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
neighbours became cold towards him once they knew of his illness, and
that he was despised as hypersexual.
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 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 a "murderer's grandmother.
