List of massacres in Japan
The following is a list of massacres that have occurred in Japan and its predecessor entities ranging back to the Tokugawa shogunate (Some historical numbers may be approximate). The massacres are grouped into different time periods. Massacres have become a growing problem in contemporary Japan in recent years, with at least 110+ deaths during the 2010s.
Most notably, the 2019 Kyoto Animation arson attack claimed at least 36 lives and injured an additional 34. It is one of the deadliest massacres in Japan since the end of World War II and the deadliest building fire in Japan since the 2001 Myojo 56 building fire. It was considered "suicidal terrorism" by one criminology professor at Rissho University, as the attack was reportedly intended to be a suicide mission by the suspect.[1] In December 2021, another arson attack occurred, this time at a building in Osaka, specifically at a psychiatric clinic located on the fourth floor. It killed 25 and injured an additional 3. The suspect, who died in hospital two weeks later, is believed to have been inspired by the 2019 attack in Kyoto.[2]
Massacres
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Sengoku period (1467–1603)
Date | Name | Location | Perpetrator | Deaths | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
30 September 1571 | Siege of Mount Hiei | Inside the Enryaku-ji temple complex on Mount Hiei | Oda Nobunaga's army | 1,500-4,000 | Massacre of the Buddhist warrior monks who refused to submit to the warlord Oda Nobunaga.[3] |
1579 | Siege of Itami | Itami Castle, Settsu Province | Oda Nobunaga's army | 670[4] | Defenders from the Itami clan and their families were killed after the capture of Itami Castle. |
5 September 1595 | The massacre of Toyotomi Hidetsugu's entire family | Kyoto | Toyotomi Hideyoshi | 39 | Hideyoshi ordered the execution of Hidetsugu's entire family, including children, wives and concubines. |
Tokugawa shogunate (1603–1868)
Date | Name | Location | Perpetrator | Deaths | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
12–15 April 1638 | Mass beheadings at the final days of the Shimabara revolt | Inside and around Hara Castle, Minamishimabara | Shogunate army | 37,000 | Rebels and sympathizers were beheaded by military forces. Afterwards, the Hara Castle was also burned to the ground. |
December 1696 | Yoshiwara spree killing | Yoshiwara | Sano Jirōzaemon | ? | Sano Jirōzaemon murdered dozens of prostitutes with a katana in Yoshiwara[5] |
Empire of Japan (1868–1947)
Date | Name | Location | Perpetrator | Deaths | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
25 May 1893 | Kawachi Jūningiri | Chihayaakasaka, Minamikawachi District, Osaka[6][7] | Kumatarō Kido and Yagorō Tani | 13 (including the perpetrators) | Kumatarō Kido and Yagorō Tani killed eleven people before committing suicide. |
1 March 1919 | March 1st demonstrations | Korea under Japanese rule | Imperial Japanese Army | 7,509 | 15,849 Koreans wounded[8] |
15 April 1919 | Jeamni massacre | Hwaseong, Chōsen | Imperial Japanese Army | 29 | Killing of Korean civilians inside a church in Hwaseong |
October 1920 | Gando massacre | Jiandao | Imperial Japanese Army | 5,000+[9] | |
July 1922 | Shinano River incident[10] | Shinano River | Okura zaibatsu | 100+ | Documentation on death incomplete[citation needed][clarification needed] |
September 1923 | Kantō Massacre | Kantō region | Imperial Japanese Army, police and vigilantes | 6,000+ | Multiple incidents, including the Fukuda Village Incident |
21 May 1938 | Tsuyama massacre | Tsuyama | Mutsuo Toi | 31 (including the perpetrator) | After cutting off electricity to his village, 21-year-old Mutsuo Toi proceeded to go on a late-night killing spree with a shotgun, a katana, and an axe before killing himself, 3 injured |
2 September 1944 | Chichijima incident | Chichijima, Ogasawara Islands | Imperial Japanese Army | 8 | Japanese soldiers killed eight American airmen on Chichi Jima, in the Bonin Islands, and cannibalized four of them. The ninth, and only one to evade capture, was future U.S. President George H. W. Bush |
July 1945 | Hanaoka incident | Ōdate | Imperial Japanese Army | 418 | 113 prisoners of war executed; 307 also died |
Occupied Japan (1947–1952)
Date | Name | Location | Perpetrator | Deaths | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
26 January 1948 | Teigin case | Tokyo | Sadamichi Hirasawa | 12 | False verdict suspected |
15 July 1949 | Mitaka incident | Tokyo | Keisuke Takeuchi | 8 | 20 injured. False verdict suspected |
State of Japan (1952–present)
Date | Name | Location | Perpetrator | Deaths | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
30 June 1966 | Hakamada Incident | Shimizu, Shizuoka | Iwao Hakamada | 4 | False verdict suspected |
30 August 1974 | Mitsubishi bombing | Tokyo | East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front | 8 | Powerful bomb explodes at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries headquarters in Marunouchi. Eight killed, 378 injured. Eight left-wing activists are arrested May 19, 1975, by Japanese authorities. |
6 November 1975 | 1975 Aki shooting | Aki, Kōchi Prefecture | Ikuya Hatakeyama | 6 | 31-year-old Ikuya Hatakeyama shoots eight of his neighbours with a 12-gauge shotgun, killing six and critically injuring two |
19 August 1980 | Shinjuku bus attack | Shinjuku, Tokyo | Maruyama Hirobumi | 6 | A mentally disturbed man Maruyama Hirobumi throws a bucket of petrol and a lit newspaper into a bus. The ensuing fire killed 6 and injured 14.[11][12] |
9 February 1982 | Japan Air Lines Flight 350 | Haneda Airport, Tokyo | Seiji Katagiri | 24 | Flight 350 was on approach to Haneda Airport when the pilot Seiji Katagiri deliberately nose-dived the plane to crash it. The pilot was then subdued by other flight crews, yet the plane remained descending. It then crashed into Tokyo Bay. The pilot who deliberately nose-dived the plane was suffering from mental illness before the incident |
27–28 June 1994 | Matsumoto incident | Matsumoto | Aum Shinrikyo | 8 | Members of the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult released sarin gas near the homes of several judges who presiding over legal cases involving the cult. 500+ injured[13] |
20 March 1995 | Tokyo subway sarin attack | Tokyo | Aum Shinrikyo | 13 | 6,252 injured |
25 July 1998 | Wakayama arsenic poison case | Sonobe district of Wakayama, Wakayama | Masumi Hayashi | 4 | Four people are killed and 63 injured after eating curry laced with arsenic at a community festival in Wakayama. Masumi Hayashi, the chief suspect, has been sentenced to death and is currently appealing.[14] |
8 September 1999 | Ikebukuro massacre | Tokyo | Hiroshi Zota | 2 | 6 injured[15][16][17] |
29 September 1999 | Shimonoseki Station massacre | Shimonoseki | Yasuaki Uwabe | 5 | Yasuaki Uwabe, a former architect, drove a rented car into Shimonoseki Station and hit at least 7 people, two of whom died before the car got stuck. He then proceeded to stab pedestrians at random with a kitchen knife, injuring 4 and killing a further 3. Uwabe was eventually apprehended by a station worker and was arrested shortly after. Uwabe was executed in 2012. |
30 December 2000 | Setagaya family murder | Setagaya | Unknown | 4 | A Family of four are murdered at their home in suburban Tokyo by an unknown intruder, the case remains unsolved. |
8 June 2001 | Ikeda school massacre | Ikeda | Mamoru Takuma | 8 | 37-year-old former janitor Mamoru Takuma entered an elementary school in Osaka, then used a kitchen knife to kill 8 students. He wounded an additional 13 other students and 2 teachers |
1 September 2001 | Myojo 56 building fire | Shinjuku | Unknown | 44 | Perpetrator never caught. |
20 June 2003 | Fukuoka family murder case | Higashi-ku, Fukuoka | Wei Wei, Yang Ning and Wang Liang | 4 | Businessman Shinjiro Matsumoto, his wife Chika and two children aged 11 and 8 are murdered in a robbery by three Chinese students who broke into their home and dumped their bodies in Hakata Bay. Two of the three - Yang Ning and Wang Liang – fled to China where they were arrested. Yang was executed and Wang sentenced to life imprisonment. The third, Wei Wei, was arrested in Japan and was held on death row until finally executed in December 2019. |
18 and 20 September 2004 | Ōmuta murders | Omuta, Fukuoka | Kitamura-gumi | 4 | Mob wife Mami Kitamura murders four people with her husband and two sons. |
19 - 23 March 2008 | Tsuchiura massacre | Tsuchiura, Ibaraki | Masahiro Kanagawa | 2 | 7 injured[18][19] |
8 June 2008 | Akihabara massacre | Chiyoda | Tomohiro Katō | 7 | 10 injured |
1 October 2008 | Osaka movie theater fire[20][21] | Osaka | Kazuhiro Ogawa[22] | 16 | |
12 January 2010 | 2010 Habikino shooting | Iichan bar, Habikino, Osaka Prefecture | Yasuhisa Sugiura | 4 (including the perpetrator) | |
14 March 2013 | Etajima stabbings | Etajima, Hiroshima | Chen Shuangxi | 2 | 6 Wounded |
21–22 July 2013 | Yamaguchi arson and murders | Mitake | Kosei Homi | 5 | |
17 May 2015 | Kawasaki building fire | Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture | Unknown | 11 | 11 people died and 17 were seriously injured in an arson attack on 2 buildings[23] |
26 July 2016 | Sagamihara stabbings | Sagamihara | Satoshi Uematsu | 19 | 26 injured |
6 October 2017 | Komatsu family murder | Hitachi, Ibaraki | Hirobumi Komatsu | 6 | Hirobumi Komatsu killed his wife and five children by stabbing, he then set the bodies on fire.[24] |
31 March - 1 April 2018 | Hioki murders | Hioki, Kagoshima Prefecture, Kyushu | Tomohiro Iwakura | 5 | Tomohiro Iwakura Kills Four Members of His Family and a Neighbor by Strangulation[25][26] |
25 - 26 November 2018 | Takachiho Murders | Takachiho, Nishiusuki District, Miyazaki Prefecture | Masahiro lihoshi[27][28] | 7 (including the perpetrator) | Masahiro lihoshi stabs his family and friend to death before committing suicide by jumping from a bridge[29][30] |
28 May 2019 | Kawasaki stabbings | Tama ward of Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture | Ryuichi Iwasaki | 3 (including the perpetrator) | 18 injured |
18 July 2019 | Kyoto Animation arson attack | Kyoto | Shinji Aoba | 36 | 33 injured[31] |
17 December 2021 | Osaka building fire | Osaka | Morio Tanimoto (suspect) | 25 (including the perpetrator) | 3 injured, including suspect; arson suspected[32][33] |
25 May 2023 | Nagano Attack | Nagano | Masanori Aoki | 4 | Attacker stabbed 2 women dead, then shot 2 responding police officers.[34] |
References
- ^ Yamaguchi, Mari (19 July 2019). "Kyoto Animation studio arson fire suspect reportedly had grudge". CTV News. CTV. Archived from the original on 30 December 2019. Retrieved 30 December 2019.
- ^ "Osaka clinic fire suspect may have copied Kyoto Animation arson attack". The Japan Times. 21 December 2021. Retrieved 2021-12-21.
- ^ "What makes a good priest — good looks or a knack for violence?". The Japan Times. 19 February 2023.
- ^ Ōta, Gyūichi (2011). The chronicle of Lord Nobunaga. J. S. A. Elisonas, Jeroen Pieter Lamers. Leiden: Brill. p. 342. ISBN 978-90-04-20456-0. OCLC 743693801.
- ^ "殺人のきっかけは「微笑み」?美人花魁、八ツ橋殺人事件、被害者が語る真相とは? - 和樂web 美の国ニッポンをもっと知る". intojapanwaraku.com (in Japanese). 24 April 2020. Retrieved 19 January 2024.
- ^ "【河内幻視行】凄惨、内臓引き出し顔の皮剥ぐ…「河内十人斬り」なぜ起きたのか(1/4ページ) - 産経ニュース". Sankei Shimbun (in Japanese). 20 July 2013. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
- ^ "町田康「告白」 大阪・千早赤阪村 俺の思想と言語が合一するとき俺は死ぬる。滅亡する。 - 日本経済新聞". The Nikkei (in Japanese). 5 September 2015. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
- ^ Ebrey, Patricia Buckley; Walthall, Anne (1947). East Asia : a cultural, social, and political history (Third ed.). Boston. ISBN 9781133606475. OCLC 811729581.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Eckhardt Fuchs; Tokushi Kasahara; Sven Saaler (4 December 2017). A New Modern History of East Asia. V&R unipress GmbH. p. 196. ISBN 978-3737007085. Retrieved 2018-03-03.
The Japanese forces then carried out the Gando Massacre, in which they indiscriminately attacked Koreans living in Eastern Manchuria and other regions, killing over 5,000 and burning down more than 3,500 homes.
- ^ "【特集】中津川朝鮮人虐殺から100年~アイゴ谷と呼ばれた地~ - 朝鮮新報". Choson Sinbo (in Japanese). 27 December 2022. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
- ^ "A double dose of Fumiyo Kohinata; arson attack survivor featured on "NHK Special"; CM of the week: Ajinomoto - The Japan Times". The Japan Times. 25 January 2014. Retrieved 24 May 2024.
- ^ "死者6人の「バス放火事件」は現代の格差社会でも起こりうる無差別犯罪【大量殺人事件の系譜】 « 日刊SPA!". SPA! (in Japanese). 14 October 2016. Retrieved 24 May 2024.
- ^ "Incident Summary for GTDID: 199406270007". www.start.umd.edu.
- ^ "Courts ignore reasonable doubt: lawyers". The Japan Times. 2006-11-16. Archived from the original on 2008-10-25. Retrieved 2008-02-04.
- ^ "Ikebukuro killer insane, lawyers say". The Japan Times. Retrieved April 16, 2012.
- ^ "LEAD: High court upholds death sentence for street killer. - Free Online Library".
- ^ "「わしボケナスのアホ全部殺すけえのお」 1999年池袋通り魔事件犯人を死刑前に支配した"怒り"". Shūkan Bunshun (in Japanese). November 14, 2020. Retrieved November 15, 2023.
- ^ "BBC NEWS - Asia-Pacific - Japanese man in stabbing frenzy". BBC News. March 24, 2008. Retrieved November 15, 2023.
- ^ "土浦連続通り魔事件-死刑になりたくて殺人…究極の身勝手男". guardians7.com (in Japanese). Retrieved November 15, 2023.
- ^ Factbox: Recent mass killings in Japan Reuters, July 18, 2019. Retrieved December 26, 2021
- ^ Fire at Japanese Adult Video Theater Kills 15 Fox News, January 13, 2015. Retrieved December 26, 2021
- ^ Suicide was motive in Osaka arson Japan Times, October 5, 2008. Retrieved December 26, 2021
- ^ "Kawasaki lodging fire that claimed 11 lives was arson: fire department - The Mainichi". Mainichi Shimbun. 2 February 2016. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
- ^ "Ibaraki man gets death sentence over murders of wife, 5 children | the Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis".
- ^ "Man given death sentence for 2018 murders of five in Kagoshima - The Japan Times". The Japan Times. 11 December 2020. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
- ^ "日置5人殺害事件、発覚から6年 控訴審日程決まらず「なぜこんなに時間がかかるのか」…遺族悲痛(南日本新聞) - Yahoo!ニュース". Yahoo! News (in Japanese). 6 April 2024. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
- ^ "New details emerge in grisly Japanese murder case that saw six killed in remote scenic village - South China Morning Post". South China Morning Post. 28 November 2018. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
- ^ "宮崎6人殺害 自殺した次男を殺人容疑で書類送検 [宮崎県]:朝日新聞デジタル". TV Asahi (in Japanese). 24 July 2019. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
- ^ McKirdy, Euan; Ogura, Junko (27 November 2018). "Japan mass killing: Six bodies found at house in mountain town - CNN". CNN. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
- ^ "Man among 6 murder victims in Miyazaki got phone call over family trouble - The Mainichi". Mainichi Shimbun. 28 November 2018. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
- ^ "Death toll from arson attack on Kyoto Animation studio rises to 36". japantoday.com. 5 October 2019. Retrieved 2019-10-05.
- ^ "24 confirmed dead in suspected case of arson in Osaka". The Japan Times. 17 December 2021. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
- ^ "Police: Osaka fire suspect may have copied Kyoto arsonist | the Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis".
- ^ "Suspect arrested after shooting and stabbing attack in Japan leaves four dead". CNN. 25 May 2023. Retrieved 28 May 2023.