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信濃のコロンボ #2
Togakushi Legend Murders
When the body of one of Nagano Prefecture's most prominent businessmen is found propped against a tree on Poison Plain, home of the legendary Demoness Maple, Inspector Takemura finds himself searching for the killer with the help and hindrance of an esteemed Tokyo professor and a beautiful university student. As the bodies begin to multiply in the sleepy mountain town of Togakushi, the three learn that the resemblance of the murders to those of regional folklore is more than a coincidence. This novel based on Japanese legend and written by famed author Yasuo Uchida will mesmerize mystery buffs as well as those interested in the culture and folklore of Japan.
312 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 1983
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
August 26, 2022
{Revised, spoilers hidden 8/26/2]
This is a good story, a Japanese police procedural.
Someone is killing people near a resort in Japan. The deaths seem connected to an ancient legend hereabouts about the Demoness Maple. The Demoness killed her ancient enemy by serving him poisoned sake, and here is the first victim, poisoned right under her mythical tree on the Poison Plain.
The second victims were a married couple, both found with arrows in them, just like the arrows the Demoness used. The deaths get a lot of attention in the press because one dead man was a member of the Japanese Parliament. The other was a wealthy Master of the Universe type planning a new local golf course development.
I liked the realism of the book and it’s one reason why I read translations of foreign novels. For example, as an older American, I grew up hearing of the stereotypical image of Japanese men in World War II like the Kamikaze pilots, happily going to their deaths with live bombs strapped to their planes and no way to land without them exploding. So imagine my surprise to find that both of the first two male main characters were draft dodgers of a sort. There’s realism for you!
We quickly learn that the reasons for these deaths may go back to WW II.
The police detective is a lot like the detective in the American TV series Columbo. In fact, the author specifically mentions Columbo, telling us that the Japanese detective wears an old ratty raincoat like Columbo. He drives an old car (although an underling usually drives it for him), and presents himself as a stumbling, confused kind of guy.
The detective is 33. He's always stopping to eat wheat noodles. He has empathy for the criminals as well as the victims, so some of his colleagues consider him a 'bleeding heart.' Because of the wealth and political stature of the victims, the higher-ups are immediately on this stumbling detective’s case.
In this story, the Japanese police working on the case are in two separate divisions that seem more in competition than in cooperation with each other. I guess we are lucky in the US that police and the FBI seem to work well together. The Japanese situation reminds me of the competition we read about in French detective novels between the National Police (Police Nationale) and National Gendarmerie (Gendarmerie Nationale). And in Italian murder mysteries we hear about the rivalry between the Carabinieri and the national civil police.
Our detective’s unit focuses on the logistics and forensics of the crime scene; the other unit does the 'white collar' work, looking into the backgrounds and the relationships between victims and possible perpetrators. Luckily our detective ignores these boundaries and pretty much handles the whole case himself.
The story is set in the Togakushi Mountains around Nagano in central Japan west of Tokyo. We learn a bit about the symbolism of Noh stage performances. As a geographer I appreciate the geographic details, but I skipped the occasional list of towns in the prefecture or of rivers in the local area.
And a note (a plea) to translators, if any of you happen to read this review: please give your foreign readers a break! It’s hard for an English reader to process foreign names. The first three main characters we meet are Takemura, Tachibana and Takeda. Later we read about others named Taira, Taki, Tsuneda, Takano, Tsukamoto and Tokuoka. Come on!
The author (1934-2018) was a well-known Japanese writer of detective novels. He wrote several series with different detectives and many were made into Japanese TV serials. His books have been translated into many languages and more than 100 million copies have sold worldwide.
Two photos of scenery with the Togakushi Mountains in the background. Top photo from previews.123rf.com; second photo from cdn.zekkei-japan.jp/images
The author from prabook.com
This is a good story, a Japanese police procedural.
Someone is killing people near a resort in Japan. The deaths seem connected to an ancient legend hereabouts about the Demoness Maple. The Demoness killed her ancient enemy by serving him poisoned sake, and here is the first victim, poisoned right under her mythical tree on the Poison Plain.
The second victims were a married couple, both found with arrows in them, just like the arrows the Demoness used. The deaths get a lot of attention in the press because one dead man was a member of the Japanese Parliament. The other was a wealthy Master of the Universe type planning a new local golf course development.
I liked the realism of the book and it’s one reason why I read translations of foreign novels. For example, as an older American, I grew up hearing of the stereotypical image of Japanese men in World War II like the Kamikaze pilots, happily going to their deaths with live bombs strapped to their planes and no way to land without them exploding. So imagine my surprise to find that both of the first two male main characters were draft dodgers of a sort. There’s realism for you!
We quickly learn that the reasons for these deaths may go back to WW II.
The police detective is a lot like the detective in the American TV series Columbo. In fact, the author specifically mentions Columbo, telling us that the Japanese detective wears an old ratty raincoat like Columbo. He drives an old car (although an underling usually drives it for him), and presents himself as a stumbling, confused kind of guy.
The detective is 33. He's always stopping to eat wheat noodles. He has empathy for the criminals as well as the victims, so some of his colleagues consider him a 'bleeding heart.' Because of the wealth and political stature of the victims, the higher-ups are immediately on this stumbling detective’s case.
In this story, the Japanese police working on the case are in two separate divisions that seem more in competition than in cooperation with each other. I guess we are lucky in the US that police and the FBI seem to work well together. The Japanese situation reminds me of the competition we read about in French detective novels between the National Police (Police Nationale) and National Gendarmerie (Gendarmerie Nationale). And in Italian murder mysteries we hear about the rivalry between the Carabinieri and the national civil police.
Our detective’s unit focuses on the logistics and forensics of the crime scene; the other unit does the 'white collar' work, looking into the backgrounds and the relationships between victims and possible perpetrators. Luckily our detective ignores these boundaries and pretty much handles the whole case himself.
The story is set in the Togakushi Mountains around Nagano in central Japan west of Tokyo. We learn a bit about the symbolism of Noh stage performances. As a geographer I appreciate the geographic details, but I skipped the occasional list of towns in the prefecture or of rivers in the local area.
And a note (a plea) to translators, if any of you happen to read this review: please give your foreign readers a break! It’s hard for an English reader to process foreign names. The first three main characters we meet are Takemura, Tachibana and Takeda. Later we read about others named Taira, Taki, Tsuneda, Takano, Tsukamoto and Tokuoka. Come on!
The author (1934-2018) was a well-known Japanese writer of detective novels. He wrote several series with different detectives and many were made into Japanese TV serials. His books have been translated into many languages and more than 100 million copies have sold worldwide.
Two photos of scenery with the Togakushi Mountains in the background. Top photo from previews.123rf.com; second photo from cdn.zekkei-japan.jp/images
The author from prabook.com
June 10, 2018
A promising, extended prologue that I could not stop reading leads to an uninspired mystery investigated by a completely uninteresting protagonist complete with cringe-worthy dialogue and bizarre attempts at comedy. I'm surprised I read the whole thing. Waste of time.
April 19, 2018
Picked this up as the author passed away recently.
Enjoyable, longer review to follow
Enjoyable, longer review to follow
August 23, 2020
this story starts far back in the past with a description of some war-time atrocities in Japan. we then jump to a more recent time, and we're introduced to a series of dramatic murders that are difficult to explain. Takemura, a recently promoted detective who's respected for his intuition and ability to solve difficult cases, investigates primarily by chatting considerately with various witnesses. a great way to investigate! the mystery itself was pretty easy to figure out; I tend to be more interested in the who and why rather than how, and this story's primary mystery was "how" these dramatic murders were accomplished. I did appreciate some of the questions about how we interpret historical events (the victor writes history) and police corruption.
April 20, 2023
Interesting to read a murder mystery from Japan. It's at times very polite and formal, and you get to see how pressure is used to influence decisions. Loved the legend and the explanations of Noh theatre. However, the story didn't have as much suspense as I wanted, and with all the summaries from the police, it became a bit simple.
December 22, 2008
One of the biggest things I wanted to do during our Japan trip was get hold of some works by Japanese authors, translated into English. I really wanted to find something by Sakyo Komatsu, since he was after all the author GoH at Worldcon, but unfortunately it seems not many of his books have been translated. Instead, I wound up picking up several mystery/suspense type novels, and the first of these was The Togakushi Legend Murders.
The back cover of this thing says that "This novel will mesmerize mystery buffs as well as those interested in the culture and folklore of Japan." This was in fact the selling point of the book for me, since I wanted to get a feel for what Japanese authors do with supernatural things in their work. Turns out that this particular novel utilizes the legend of the Demoness Maple quite well for its plot, and while there isn't anything actually supernatural going on, the old legends of Maple are fascinating in their own right. So are the backstories Uchida sets up for all his characters, all centered upon a specific tragic event during World War II, and all the glimpses of daily Japanese life that took on added weight after two weeks' stay in the country.
There is a certain formal stiltedness to the language, but I don't know if that's due to the flavor of the original writing or to the influence of the translator. Either way, it oddly worked to set the flavor of the story, especially when dealing with the older events that form the core of the entire plot. And while the ending wasn't exactly surprising, watching everything fall into place was nevertheless quite satisfying. Three and a half stars.
The back cover of this thing says that "This novel will mesmerize mystery buffs as well as those interested in the culture and folklore of Japan." This was in fact the selling point of the book for me, since I wanted to get a feel for what Japanese authors do with supernatural things in their work. Turns out that this particular novel utilizes the legend of the Demoness Maple quite well for its plot, and while there isn't anything actually supernatural going on, the old legends of Maple are fascinating in their own right. So are the backstories Uchida sets up for all his characters, all centered upon a specific tragic event during World War II, and all the glimpses of daily Japanese life that took on added weight after two weeks' stay in the country.
There is a certain formal stiltedness to the language, but I don't know if that's due to the flavor of the original writing or to the influence of the translator. Either way, it oddly worked to set the flavor of the story, especially when dealing with the older events that form the core of the entire plot. And while the ending wasn't exactly surprising, watching everything fall into place was nevertheless quite satisfying. Three and a half stars.
April 23, 2014
Not a bad book. Nice plot. Detective Takemura reminded me of a Japanese Sherlock Holmes: ultra-deductive reasoning and almost an extrasensory intuition but with a jovial optimistic personality that eludes the hardboiled detective archetype completely based on all the detective stories I've read where people go on the brink of insanity trying to find the said serial killer. Takemura, Tachibana, Taki, Kisuke Takeda, Diet Representative Shishido were the most realistic characters of the bunch. Tomohiro Tachibana was the backbone of the story, well its obvious he was. Good read. I love the format in which the character reveals its heinous crimes. Good read. I would Recommend it to people who enjoy Japanese, or rather Asian culture period. With a mix of suspense, romance, murder and a touch of psychological insight it makes an interesting perusal.
April 29, 2009
Not a bad read, but I was expecting more. It reads like the usual detective novel for the most part--dry, a little boring with some exciting bits here and there; but part of me also wondered how the translation affected the work, and that's never a good thing to ask when reading a book in my opinion. In any case, I vastly preferred The Inugami Clan.
June 10, 2013
A solid detective-show like novel, with much of the enjoyment coming from its setting in 1940s and 1980s Japan. The mystery itself is pretty much guessable but the author belabors the explanation, twice over. The novel itself refers to detective shows repeatedly, particularly Columbo, so the author would probably be pleased that it ends up reading like a very good Columbo episode.
March 1, 2013
I don't know why, I felt engrossed reading it. With all the legend, the shrine maiden with her red pantaloon and stuff.
September 8, 2014
The great mystery ended up being not so mysterious.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews