Edogawa Ranpo

Edogawa Ranpo was the pen name of Tarō Hirai, a Japanese author and critic who played a major role in the development of Japanese mystery and thriller fiction. He was born in Nabari, Mie Prefecture in 1894, where his grandfather had been a samurai in the service of Tsu Domain. His father was a merchant, who had also practiced law. The family moved to what is now Kameyama, Mie, and from there to Nagoya when he was age two. At the age of 17, he studied economics at Waseda University in Tokyo starting in 1912. After graduating in 1916 with a degree in economics, he worked a series of odd jobs, including newspaper editing, drawing cartoons for magazine publications, selling soba noodles as a street vendor, and working in a used bookstore. In 1923, he made his literary debut by publishing the mystery story "The Two-Sen Copper Coin" under the pen name "Edogawa Ranpo", which was a phonetic rendering of his idol Edgar Allan Poe's name. The story appeared in the magazine Shin Seinen, a popular magazine written largely for an adolescent audience. Shin Seinen had previously published stories by a variety of Western authors including Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, and G. K. Chesterton, but this was the first time the magazine published a major piece of mystery fiction by a Japanese author. Ranpo went on to write many novels and short stories, featuring the detective hero Kogoro Akechi, who in later books was the leader of a group of boy detectives known as the "Boy Detectives Club". Ranpo was also influenced by other Western mystery writers, such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, whom he attempted to translate into Japanese during his days as a student at Waseda University, and the Japanese mystery writer Ruikō Kuroiwa. Ranpo's works often explored themes of crime, deviance, eroticism, and the grotesque. Some of his notable works include The Fiend with Twenty Faces, The Black Lizard, The Human Chair, The Caterpillar, and The Demon of the Lonely Isle. Ranpo was also a literary critic and a mentor to many younger writers, such as Yukio Mishima, Haruki Murakami, and Rampo Prize winners. In 1947, he founded and served as the first president of the Detective Authors' Club of Japan, which in 1963 was renamed the Mystery Writers of Japan. In 1954, he launched the Edogawa Ranpo Prize with his own funds to encourage younger writers to continue the tradition of Japanese mystery novelists. He was awarded with the Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon in 1961. He died of cerebral hemorrhage in 1965 at the age of 70. He was buried at Tama Cemetery in Fuchu, Tokyo. His pen name and his works have inspired many adaptations, homages, and references in various media, such as manga, anime, film, and television.