Pathway to Japanese Literature

Author: Kozakai Fuboku

I

Tragedies often arise from causes so absurdly foolish they seem unworthy of being called stories.
It is often written in stories how momentary whims or utterly trivial pranks can trigger major incidents beyond anyone’s imagination.

The tale I am about to relate is likewise a story of three jewel thieves who lost their lives due to an absurdly foolish cause.
At this, astute readers might think, “Ah! A detective story involving jewels.”
“How antiquated—using jewels in a detective story these days!” you must be declaring.
Indeed, this was precisely the case—jewels and pistols had grown utterly tiresome to everyone involved.

However, just as a pocket watch cannot abandon jewels, detective fiction too finds it remarkably difficult to sever ties with them.
Truly, the color and radiance of jewels are simply intoxicating.
If one gazes upon them long enough, they eventually experience a kind of religious ecstasy—thus when Minoshima, Senba, and Kyōzan conspired to become jewel thieves, their motives weren’t solely driven by a desire for money to squander on wine and women.
However, how these three men came to work together, or what backgrounds they had—such matters being unrelated to this tale—I shall not recount.
In any case, the three shared the same taste for jewels and stole others’ treasured gems, but after always spending a fixed period admiring them, they would sell them off for cash and squander that money within a short time.

When considered, their trio’s taste for jewels could not be called pure.
Not only that, but because they even dared to injure or kill others to steal jewels, their so-called hobby could only be described as perverse in nature.

Such perverse tastes cannot thrive long under broad daylight, yet strangely enough, the police had long failed to eradicate these depravities—in truth, they did not even know where the three men lived or what they looked like.
The only one privy to this was the author of this story; in reality, they maintained two dwellings—hideouts—within the city, with all three men being exceptionally skilled at disguise. They excelled not merely at altering their appearances but found impersonating others’ visages an exceedingly simple task.
Thus it remained profoundly difficult for the police to uncover them.
After all, there were cases where the thieves would immediately disguise themselves as the very household’s master upon breaking in—a circumstance that made their evasion only natural.

However—whether one might say their ill fortune had finally run its course, or perhaps it was akin to the proverbial nets cast too often at Akogi Bay—the police had at last managed to locate one of their two hideouts. The location was in a town called S Ward B-chō—a place with many nunneries that seemed utterly improbable for jewel thieves to inhabit. Moreover, secret passages unknown to the police had been constructed so they could make their escape when the time came.

And so, the police had arranged that if the three were to break into some mansion and steal jewels this time, they would immediately raid this hideout and apprehend them.
This fact was known only to the author, and the three of them remained completely unaware of it.
It was precisely because of this that they broke into Baron N’s house, stole the baron’s treasured blue diamond, had their hideout raided by the police, and—due to a peculiar turn of events—ended up losing all three of their lives.

The blue diamond from Baron N’s house was what the three of them had long been targeting.
It was a jewel worth at least 200,000 yen at current prices, about the size of a ring finger’s tip, yet its color—as blue as southern seas—was unbearably beautiful.
In truth, they had formulated a plan to flee Japan for China immediately after stealing it, but as worldly affairs rarely proceed as intended, they ultimately journeyed to a realm beyond ten trillion Buddha-lands—far more distant than China.

II

In terms of narrative sequence, I ought to recount what means they employed to successfully obtain the diamond that had been in Baron N’s safe, but since readers must by now be thoroughly tired of such detective story conventions, I shall instead abruptly begin by describing the scene where the three men, in a room of their B-chō residence, placed the stolen diamond upon the central table and surrounded it to freely admire while gazing enraptured.
Usually, the three would gaze at the jewel’s alluring radiance under the light of a desk lamp with a green shade, but now—precisely at two in the morning—perhaps due to considerable physical and mental fatigue from their time at the baron’s mansion an hour prior, they continued a long silent vigil before the blue glow wearing expressions as vacant as if under hypnosis.
Since all three disliked tobacco, to an outside observer they must have appeared utterly idle, though they themselves likely didn’t feel it so.
With hands clasped on the table and leaning forward in their chairs, they became lost in various recollections stimulated by the gem’s radiance.
The autumn night outside stood utterly still, and the quiet of that temple-filled town could not help but make people sense an eerie presence.

“Beautiful!” Minoshima whispered in a hushed voice.

“Incredible!” said Senba.

“Splendid!” said Kyōzan.

Then, silence fell once more.

When approximately thirty minutes of silent appreciation had passed, Minoshima—whose hearing was most acute—detected an unusual sound outside.
Had all three possessed hearing of equal acuity, the tragedy about to unfold might never have occurred. Yet Senba and Kyōzan—though sharing Minoshima’s age of thirty-five or thirty-six—had ordinary auditory faculties and perceived no sound whatsoever at that critical moment.
Thus when Minoshima suddenly reached toward the blue diamond, swiftly brought it to his mouth and swallowed it in one gulp, they did not think he had instinctively recognized the outdoor noises as police pursuit and concealed the diamond internally out of danger, but instead misconstrued that Minoshima intended to monopolize the gem for himself.

Senba and Kyōzan simultaneously lunged at Minoshima.
At that moment, had Minoshima explained his reason, it might have sufficed—but Minoshima, focused on preserving all three lives, suddenly twisted the desk lamp switch and extinguished the light.
However, this act further deepened the other two’s suspicions.

“Shh!” Minoshima tried to alert the other two, but it was already too late.
The next instant came the sounds of a chair toppling, a table rolling, and a desk lamp shattering.
Needless to say, a fierce struggle in the dark began.

For a spell, a series of banging and clattering noises continued, when suddenly a pistol shot rang out—and in that same instant came the sound of a groan: "Ugh..."
For a while, all noises ceased completely, but just then, a great many people’s footsteps suddenly clamored outside the room.
In other words, the police, having received news of the burglary at Baron N’s residence, raided the trio’s hideout they had long had their sights on.

The police required a considerable amount of time to enter the room where the three had been.
That is because they had to break down the door.
The smell of gunpowder smoke hung in the room.
When the police shone their flashlights around the room, amidst the disarray of furniture lay Minoshima—that is, the Minoshima who had just swallowed the diamond—dead, bleeding from his left chest.

III

If Minoshima had not swallowed the diamond, Senba and Kyōzan would likely not have met with a tragedy costing their lives—but precisely because the two devised a plan to retrieve the diamond from Minoshima’s stomach, they inadvertently invited calamity.

Senba and Kyōzan, who had successfully escaped through the secret passage of their B-chō hideout, arrived at their second safe house and heaved a sigh of relief.

“Because you killed Minoshima, we had to abandon the diamond we went through so much to get right before our eyes,” said Kyōzan with a look of regret.

According to Kyōzan’s words, it appeared that Senba had been the one who fired the pistol.

“It can’t be helped. That bastard Minoshima tried to outwit the two of us and take the diamond for himself. Better that than letting him take it,” said Senba with an attitude that showed neither much regret for killing Minoshima nor particular sorrow over losing the diamond.

“I’d been so thrilled thinking we could finally leave Japan behind, but now our whole plan’s gone to ruin,” Kyōzan spat out.

“Now don’t get so gloomy,” Senba chided.
Senba’s naturally short temper—the very trait that had driven him to kill Minoshima in a burst of passion after their long partnership—left him no recourse but to steady himself first before attempting to console Kyōzan’s profound dejection.

“But what a waste!” Kyōzan still couldn’t relinquish.

“Hey now,” Senba said to regain Kyōzan’s attention.
“Consider my position.
I’ve turned murderer—from today onward I’m marked.
Though mind you, when they catch me I’ll drag you down too—but since I don’t plan on getting caught soon, spare your worries.
Better we plot fresh work instead!”

“Rather than new jobs, I want to retrieve that diamond Minoshima swallowed.”
“I wonder… isn’t there some decent way?”

Kyōzan continued to cling to the blue jewel to the very end.

When considered, even Senba wasn’t entirely without regret.
That said, retrieving the diamond in question from Minoshima’s corpse—which by now had likely fallen into police custody—was utterly impossible.

“It’s no use. Minoshima’s body isn’t ours anymore.”
“Still, how the hell did those police bastards manage to sniff out our hideout?”
“Perhaps that bastard Minoshima was colluding with the police—maybe he intended to hand the two of us over to them and slip away during that incident,” Senba persisted in misunderstanding Minoshima’s actions.

“So when I think about the jewel being seized by Minoshima, it just makes it all the more regrettable, doesn’t it?” Yet even Kyōzan failed to grasp Minoshima’s true intentions.

“Hmm, that’s true too...” Senba began to consider.
“But there’s absolutely no way to retrieve it, right?”

“Let’s try to devise a way around that point.”
“You know far more about the human body than I do—give it some serious thought.”

Senba had formerly worked as a janitor in T Medical University’s pathology department and was accustomed to human dissections, which was why Kyōzan had said this.
Senba had constantly observed human dissections, which naturally fostered a ruthless disposition in him, but no matter how familiar he was with the human body’s interior, no brilliant scheme to retrieve the diamond from Minoshima’s body seemed forthcoming.

“Wait,” Senba crossed his arms, closed his eyes, and sank into thought for a while.
Dawn seemed to be approaching, as the sound of carts passing through the town could be heard.
The two men showed no particular signs of fatigue as they thought earnestly.

A bright expression soon appeared on Senba’s face.

“I’ve got a brilliant idea,” said Senba with a grin.

“What’s the idea?” Kyōzan asked breathlessly.

“Well, listen carefully,” Senba declared smugly.
“Minoshima’s corpse will be taken to the university’s forensic medicine department today and dissected without fail.”
“Back when I worked at the pathology department, I sometimes visited the forensic medicine department too. They’ve only got four people there—the professor, two assistants, and a janitor. Sometimes the professor does the autopsies, sometimes the assistants.”
“When they bring in murder victims from outside, they first leave them in the dissection room. Occasionally they start right away, but usually wait four or five hours—sometimes even until next day if it suits the professor’s schedule.”
“So this time too—we just sneak into the department during that window, slice open the corpse’s belly, and fish out the diamond from its stomach.”

“That makes sense,” Kyōzan said, feeling emboldened by this brilliant scheme.
“But even leaving nighttime aside—if they perform the autopsy this afternoon with police officers stationed nearby, we won’t be able to sneak in at all, will we?”

“That’s true too,” Senba said, sinking back into contemplation.
After a moment, he fixed his gaze on Kyōzan’s face and grinned. “I’ve got it!” he exclaimed.

“What’s with you staring at my face like that?”

“It’s your face we need. Because if we put a white wig on you and add a salt-and-pepper mustache and beard, you’ll look exactly like Professor Okuda of forensic medicine.”
“So disguise yourself as the professor, sneak into the department, and extract the diamond—that’s all you need to do.”

"I see. If that's the case, it sounds intriguing," said Kyōzan, who had been the most skilled at disguise among the three, feeling a certain pride. But the next moment, his face suddenly clouded over.

"But I don’t know the first thing about autopsies—wouldn’t that be a problem? If there are too many people around—there’d be nothing we could do about it!"

“That’s exactly where your skills come into play. In other words, you’ll disguise yourself as the professor, order the assistant around, and just let them handle everything while you watch.”

“But if we do that, won’t that assistant take the diamond?”

“Of course we can’t just dawdle about.”
“Meaning you order that assistant to cut out the stomach and intestines under the pretext of wanting to study them yourself, then take those and make your escape.”

“I see.”
“But if there are two professors around, wouldn’t they notice immediately?”

“That’s why I’ll help you out,” Senba said, his voice having grown earnest without him realizing it.

“First, we’ll visit the forensic medicine department together under the pretense of being police officials.”
“Meet the professor and exchange a few casual remarks; during that time, you study his vocal patterns and mannerisms.”
“Then suddenly we’ll bind up the professor and gag him.”
“Then using those disguise tools you brought, quickly dress up as Professor Okuda and head straight into his dissection room.”
“In the meantime, I’ll turn the key from inside the professor’s office and keep watch over the real professor.”
“You order the assistant in the dissection room to extract the stomach and intestines, say you’re going to your office for a moment, and come back with them.”
“There you immediately change back into your original clothes, wrap the organs in newspaper, and slip out of the forensic medicine department.”
“How about it?”
“With this, it shouldn’t be too difficult, right?”

“Brilliant, brilliant!” Kyōzan said with a delighted expression, as though their plan had already succeeded.
If this plan succeeded, they could split two hundred thousand yen between them—no wonder they were delighted.
“Alright then, let’s settle on that and start preparing.”
“Once we’ve gotten some shut-eye, I’m afraid you’ll have to make a dial telephone call and find out what time the autopsy begins.”
“Or perhaps the autopsy might have already started?” he said with an anxious look.

“Don’t worry. It absolutely won’t start before nine o’clock,” Senba declared confidently.

IV

A little before nine o'clock, Senba went to make a dial telephone call to the forensic medicine department and returned grinning.
Both men were in vigorous spirits owing to sound sleep and breakfast.

"How did it go?" Kyōzan asked.

“Complete success,” Senba replied.
“They said the autopsy will be performed at exactly three PM.”

“That works out perfectly,” Kyōzan said cheerfully.
“By the way, how exactly did you phrase your inquiry to them over the phone?”

“It wasn’t particularly difficult,” Senba said, not without some pride.

“I said, ‘This is the police—has the corpse from last night’s murder in S Ward B Town arrived yet?’”
“Then, in the janitor’s voice, came the reply: ‘It arrived early this morning.’”
“I thought that settled it.”
“Then when I asked what time the autopsy would start, they answered that it begins at 3 PM.”
“Everything went smoothly.”

Then, the two of them examined the tools necessary for their disguises.
And so, when they visited the forensic medicine department around 2:40 PM, they had completely taken on the appearance of plainclothes police officers.

Thus, they were welcomed into the professor’s office without arousing any suspicion.
The moment Kyōzan saw the professor’s face, he recognized certain resemblances to his own features while simultaneously realizing how remarkably easy it would be to mimic both the professor’s demeanor and vocal patterns.

After a few exchanges with the professor, they now knew police and Prosecutors Bureau staff had already gathered in the autopsy room and were simply awaiting his arrival.
Senba quickly signaled Kyōzan, and before one could blink, they gagged the professor with a muzzle and bound him up.
In less than five minutes, Kyōzan had fully transformed into Professor Okuda wearing a white surgical gown.

No sooner had the fake Professor Okuda stepped into the corridor than a white-clad man approached from the opposite direction.
Kyōzan instinctively recognized him as the assistant.

“Professor, everyone has been waiting impatiently, so I’ve come to fetch you.”

“Ah yes, I was rather tied up just now,” replied the fake professor with an air of composed dignity.

The assistant tried to walk behind the professor to show respect.
Kyōzan was startled.
Not knowing where the autopsy room was, he unintentionally came to a halt right there.
But being the seasoned Kyōzan who had disguised himself countless times before, he came up with an idea in that critical moment.

“Actually, I’ve decided to have you two perform today’s autopsy. So go on ahead with that in mind and tell that to the other assistant.”

The assistant looked up at the professor’s face with a puzzled expression and said, “Since Mr. Yano is absent today, I was supposed to perform the autopsy with you, Professor, but…”

“Ah, right—exactly,” Kyōzan answered while inwardly startled. “I was careless.
“Actually, there’s something slightly suspicious about that corpse, so I want to examine the... internal organs in the abdomen myself.
“So I’m afraid it’s a bother, but could you first extract everything inside the abdomen?”

The assistant found it suspicious that he had never once heard the Professor use a term like 'internal organs' before, but given that he had even forgotten about Assistant Yano's absence, he thought the Professor must be acting strangely today.

“Understood.”
Having said this, the assistant started to run ahead when—

“Ah, you there—wait a moment,” called out the fake professor.
“You there—I’ll wait here, but could you extract just the abdominal contents and bring them to me?
“I’m not feeling quite myself today.”

Kyōzan was growing somewhat timid.

“But Professor, unless you personally inform the prosecutor about this matter first, it would be problematic.”
“If you would be so kind as to remain nearby, Professor, I will immediately proceed with the extraction.”

Encouraged by these final words, Kyōzan said, “Alright then, let’s go make our greetings,” and followed the assistant into the autopsy room.

In the autopsy room stood several people—the prosecutor, other judicial officials, and police officers—all wearing solemn expressions.
Kyōzan felt somewhat hesitant, but thinking that having come this far only to fail would render everything meaningless, he mustered his courage and gave a slight nod to everyone.

But upon seeing the corpse laid out on the central autopsy table, he found himself unable to look away.
The corpse's face and genital area were covered with gauze, but with the chest wound fully exposed and blood seeping from it, Kyōzan—who had never before seen such a thing—found his inner balance considerably disturbed.

“This corpse,” Kyōzan suddenly began.
The voice was slightly off-key, so everyone turned their gaze directly at the professor’s face.
Then the Professor became even more agitated.
“I believe there’s dia—no—important evidence in the abdominal cavity, so first let’s extract just the abdominal contents for me to examine personally.”
“Hey, you!” he said, turning to the assistant. “Extract them immediately!”

Naturally, no one opposed the Professor’s words, so Kyōzan—who had been anxiously fearing someone might question him—was now able to breathe somewhat easier. However, he felt sweat seeping out all over his body.

The assistant, following the professor’s orders, opened the abdominal wall and swiftly began extracting the internal organs. Kyōzan initially felt a sense of dread, but as he continued watching, strangely enough, it ceased to affect him. And when, after several dozen minutes, all the abdominal organs had been extracted onto a large enameled metal basin, he found the courage to pick up the nearby tweezers and touch a portion of the viscera with feigned expertise.

The fake professor soon picked up the large basin but, surprised by its unexpected weight, set it back down.

“Shall I carry this to your office?” said the assistant.
“That won’t be necessary.”
Having said this, he lifted it again—but in that instant, it suddenly struck him that these might be Minoshima’s “innards” he had spoken with just yesterday, and his mind went blank.
If at that moment, the assistant had not cried out,

“Professor!”

Had he not shouted, he might have dropped that basin onto the floor.

The assistant continued speaking.
“How should we proceed with the chest dissection?”

“Carry on with it. I’ll be back shortly.”

Having said this, Kyōzan left the autopsy room as if fleeing.

5

“Heavy... So heavy. Honestly, I’m completely exhausted,” Kyōzan said, tossing the large newspaper-wrapped bundle onto the table and slumping into a chair.

“You’ve brought this on yourself.”
“Just the stomach and intestines would have sufficed, but you had to go and bring extra parts as well,” Senba admonished.
But on both their faces floated expressions of satisfaction at having proceeded according to plan and successfully retrieved the diamond.

“But I forgot the term ‘stomach and intestines’ and accidentally blurted out ‘internal organs’!”

“Idiot! If you say ‘internal organs,’ no—that includes the chest organs too!”

“But that assistant completely swallowed my words and let us achieve our purpose.”
“But by now they must be raising hell in the classroom.”

“Exactly.”
“But while I was keeping watch, the Professor stayed perfectly quiet.”
“Still, that extraction took way too long.”

“I was sweating bullets the whole time.”
“…Shall we get on with retrieving the diamond?”
“From here on out—it’s your show,” Kyōzan pressed.

“Alright, let’s do this.”
Having said this, Senba began to unwrap the newspaper.
As he unwrapped it further and fresh bloodstains began to appear, Kyōzan grew unsettled, but Senba continued handling the task with detached efficiency.

At last, relatively dry internal organs came into view.

“This is the spleen, and this is the liver. This one’s damn heavy. This is the stomach – the diamond should be inside.”

Having said this, he touched the surface of the stomach with his finger.

“The diamond should be detectable just by feeling from the outside.”

He felt it for some time,

“Hmm, this is strange!” he said.
At these words, Kyōzan instinctively tensed his entire body and stared at the tip of Senba’s bloodstained finger.

“Hey, pass me the scissors and knife,” said Senba. When Kyōzan handed them over, Senba swiftly cut open the stomach.

“It’s not here. I wonder if it moved to the intestines?”

Having said this, Senba—now somewhat flustered—cut open the duodenum, small intestine, large intestine, and rectum, then examined their contents, but the diamond failed to materialize.

The two men exchanged glances for a while.
Due to anger and despair, their faces suddenly paled.

“It’s not here!” shouted the impatient Senba, veins bulging on his forehead.

“There’s no way it’s not here!” Kyōzan said with a doubtful expression.

“But it’s not here!”

“Search harder.”
“What about that big liver? Isn’t it in there?”

“As if it would end up in a place like this!”

“Then, could Minoshima have kept it in his mouth?”

Come to think of it, this possibility couldn’t be dismissed outright. Senba—

“Damn it… Did that bastard trick us again?”
“That bastard’s haunting us even from the grave!”

As he spat these words, Senba wielded his knife like an instrument of vengeance against Minoshima, slicing through liver and spleen with methodical fury.
He kept stabbing relentlessly at the remaining mass of organs, flipping them over repeatedly with his bloodied blade.

“Hey, stop it.
“It can’t be helped if it’s not here, can it?”
“I’ve already given up.”
“After all we went through getting this far with your help, this time we’ve been completely outplayed by bad luck.”
“You should just give up already!” he spat out.

How strange.
At first it had been Kyōzan who couldn't give up and hatched the scheme, but now it was Senba who found himself unable to relinquish his efforts.
And still, he continued the act of mutilation.

"Haven't you had enough?" Kyōzan said, raising his voice.

At that moment, Senba—who knows what thought crossed his mind—began staring fixedly at one of the organs as if he’d discovered something horrifying. Then, no sooner had he picked it up to examine it than—

“Gah!” he shouted.
“This… You’ve brought something unthinkable here!” he said with terrifying eyes.

“What?”

“This—you bastard—it’s a uterus!”

“What?”

“What? Don’t play dumb.”
“Listen up—what you brought here is a woman’s womb!”

“Woman?”
“That’s right, men don’t have uteruses.”

"But..."

"Don't 'but' me! What idiot mistakes a woman for a man? It's obvious at a glance!"

"But there was white cloth covering the face and genitals."

"The hair! Look at the hair!"

"There didn't seem to be any hair."

"Don't lie! The breasts would've told you!"

"But the breasts weren't large either."

"Hey, hey," Senba's voice turned rough.

"Don't treat people like fools! People!"

“What?!” Kyōzan retorted indignantly.

“You deceived the assistant and swiped Minoshima’s diamond, then brought me some other corpse’s guts instead? No wonder it took so damn long!”

Being accused of something he hadn’t done, Kyōzan’s anger surged.

“What did you say?!
“If we start hashing this out, it’ll never end.
“You’ve been poking around everywhere since earlier—sneaked out the diamond when I wasn’t looking, then cooked up this uterus story to trick me! Thinking I don’t know my guts!”

In a flash, Senba lunged at Kyōzan.
The next instant, a fierce struggle broke out, and soon two gunshots rang out, turning both men into corpses.

The next day’s newspapers featured an article titled “A Rare Crime,” detailing both the calamity that befell Professor Okuda of T University’s Forensic Medicine Department and the particulars of stolen abdominal organs from an autopsy corpse. According to the report, on the previous night, burglars had broken into a nunnery in S District’s B Town, stabbed a nun through the chest with a short sword, and stolen valuables; moreover, two men had made off with the deceased nun’s organs, though their motives remained unclear. It was further noted that while pilfering organs from crematorium corpses occurred frequently, raiding a forensic medicine department for such purposes was deemed an extraordinary crime.

By now, dear readers, you must have understood the reason for the organ mix-up. But here arises an inevitable question: what became of Minoshima’s corpse?
This did not appear in the next day’s newspapers either.
This was because the police had acted covertly to locate the other two members of the trio.
Minoshima’s corpse was dissected by a police doctor at the trio’s hideout in B Town, and as a result, the blue diamond was naturally discovered inside his stomach.
And so the jewel was successfully returned to Baron N’s hands.

(“Weekly Asahi Special Issue”
January 1927 (Showa 2))