Rampo Edogawa

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In this Japanese name, the family name is Edogawa.
Rampo Edogawa

Born October 21, 1894
Mie, Japan
Died July 28, 1965
Occupation Novelist
Nationality Japanese
Genres Detective fiction
Influences

Rampo Edogawa (江戸川 乱歩 Edogawa Ranpo), born Tarō Hirai (平井 太郎 Hirai Tarō, October 21, 1894 - July 28, 1965) was a Japanese author and critic. He wrote many works of detective fiction. Kogoro Akechi was the primary detective of these novels.

Rampo was a great admirer of western mystery writers, and especially of Edgar Allan Poe. The pseudonym "Edogawa Rampo" is actually a Japanese rendering of Poe's name. Other authors who were special influences on him were Maurice Leblanc and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.


Contents

[edit] Biographical Information

Tarō Hirai was born in Mie Prefecture in 1894. He grew up in Nagoya and studied economics at Waseda University starting in 1912. After graduating in 1916 he worked a series of odd jobs, including newspaper editing and selling soba noodles as a street vendor.

In 1923 he wrote his first mystery story, "The Two-Sen Copper Coin." (Nisen Dōka, 二銭銅貨). The story was soon published under the nom de plume "Edogawa Rampo" by the magazine "Shin Seinen," which had also published stories by Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, and GK Chesterton. Although there is a history of crime literature in Japan, this is generally acknowledged to be the first original modern-style Japanese mystery story.

He later went on to found and head the Japan Mystery Writers' Club.

Rampo could understand spoken English, but could not speak or read it particularly well. He and his translator, James B. Harris, collaborated for five years on the first English translation of some of his stories.

[edit] Thematic Elements

  • Many of Rampo's characters are preoccupied with planning and executing a "perfect crime."
  • Mirrors, lenses, and other optical devices appear in many of Rampo's stories and as symbols of distorted or heightened reality.
  • Many of Rampo's stories include characters who were wounded or disfigured during World War I.

[edit] Major Works

[edit] "Kogoro Akechi" stories

  • "The Murder on D-Hill" (D坂の殺人事件 D-zaka no satsujin jiken?, January 1925)
  • "The Psychological Test" (心理試験 Shinri Shiken?, February 1925)
  • "The Black Hand Syndicate" (黒手組 Kurote-gumi?, March 1925)
  • "The Apparition" (幽霊 Yūrei?, May 1925)
  • "The Attic-Stroller" (屋根裏の散歩者 Yane-ura no Sanpōsha?, August 1925)
  • The Dwarf (一寸法師 Issun-bōshi?, 1926)
  • "Who" (何者 Nanimono?, November 1929)
  • "The Spider-Man" (蜘蛛男 Kumo-Otoko?, 1929)
  • The Utmost of the Bizarre (猟奇の果 Ryōki no Hate?, 1930)
  • The Conjurer (魔術師 Majutsu-shi?, 1930)
  • The Vampire (吸血鬼 Kyūketsuki?, 1930) First appearance of Kobayashi
  • The Golden Mask (黄金仮面 Ōgon-kamen?, 1930)
  • Black Lizard (黒蜥蜴 Kuro-tokage?, 1934) Made into a film by Kinji Fukasaku in 1968
  • The Were-Panther (人間豹 Ningen-Hyō?, 1934)
  • The Devil's Crest (悪魔の紋章 Akuma no Monshō?, 1937)
  • Dark Star (暗黒星 Ankoku-sei?, 1939)
  • Hell's Clown (地獄の道化師 Jigoku no Dōkeshi?, 1939)
  • "The Dangerous Weapon" (兇器 Kyōki?, June 1954)
  • (化人幻戯 Kenin-Gengi?, 1954)
  • Shadow-Man (影男 Kage-otoko?, 1955)
  • "Moon and Gloves" (月と手袋 Tsuki to Tebukuro?, April 1955)

[edit] Others

  • "The Two-Sen Copper Coin" (二銭銅貨 Ni-sen Dōka?, April 1923)
  • Hakuchū-mu (July 1925, 白昼夢)
  • "The Human Chair" (人間椅子 Ningen Isu?, October 1925)
  • "The Red Chamber" (赤い部屋 Akai heya?, April 1925)
  • The Strange Tale of the Panorama Island (パノラマ島奇談 Panorama-tō Kidan?, 1926)
  • Kohan-tei Jiken (1926, 湖畔亭事件)
  • "The Hell of Mirrors" (鏡地獄 Kagami-jigoku?, October 1926)
  • Beast in the Shadows (陰獣 Injū?, 1928)
  • "The Caterpillar" (芋虫 Imomushi?, 1929)
  • Kotō no Oni (1929, 孤島の鬼)
  • "The Traveler with the Pasted Rag Picture" (押絵と旅する男 Oshie to Tabi-suru Otoko?, 1929)
  • Hakuhatsu-ki (1931, 白髪鬼)
  • The Blind Beast (盲獣 Mōjū?, 1931)
  • Yōchū (1933, 妖虫)
  • Ryokui no Oni (1936, 緑衣の鬼)
  • Yūrei-tō (1937, 幽霊塔); translation from novel A Woman in Grey of Alice Muriel Williamson, adaptation by Kuroiwa Ruiko(黒岩涙香).
  • Yūki no Tō (1939, 幽鬼の塔)
  • The Triangle-Hall Terror (三角館の恐怖 Sankaku-kan no kyōfu?, 1951)
  • Jūjiro (1955, 十字路)

[edit] In Popular Culture

In 1994, a film entitled Rampo inspired by Rampo's works was released in Japan (The film was retitled The Mystery of Rampo for its American release). Rampo himself is the lead character of the film and is portrayed by actor Naoto Takenaka.

[edit] Trivia

  • In the manga and subsequent anime Case Closed (Meitantei Conan, or Detective Conan in Japan), the protagonist Jimmy Kudo (Kudō Shin'ichi), chooses the pseudonym "Conan Edogawa" after Arthur Conan Doyle and Edogawa. He lives with his best friend, whose father is a detective named Kogoro. Conan's mother also occasionally uses the fake name Fumiyo, a reference to the wife of Edogawa's character Kogoro.
  • Another, less famous manga, CLAMP's Man of Many Faces (20 Mensō ni Onegai!!) is primarily inspired by the Kogoro Akechi series – in particular the villainous "20 Faces" character.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links