Kogoro Akechi
Encyclopedia
Kogoro Akechi is a fictional character and the creation of Japan
ese mystery
writer Edogawa Rampo
.
He first appeared in the story "The D Slope Murder case" in 1925 and continued to appear in stories for a quarter of a century. Edogawa Rampo (a pseudonym for Tarō Hirai) is considered the father of the Japanese detective story
and was a great admirer of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Akechi is the first recurring detective
character in Japanese fiction and is clearly inspired by Doyle's Sherlock Holmes
.
Like Holmes, Akechi is a brilliant but eccentric detective who consults with the police
on especially difficult cases. He is a master of disguise
and an expert at judo
whose genius
lets him solve seemingly impossible cases. Also like Holmes, Akechi makes use of a group of young boys to gather information. His version of the Baker Street Irregulars
is known as the Boy Detective Club. Akechi smokes Egyptian cigarettes when he is thinking about a case.
Kogoro Akechi is a tall, handsome man with heavy eyebrows who dresses well. He is married to a woman named Fumiyo and has an adopted son, Yoshio Kobayashi, the leader of the boy detectives club. Kobayashi often plays an important part in solving cases. Like his mentor, he is an expert at disguise and is especially adept at posing as a young woman. Aside from these relationships little is known of the detective's personal life, which always takes a back seat to the mystery in his adventures.
Detective Akechi's most frequent foe is the infamous Kaijin Nijū Mensō (the 'Fiend with Twenty Faces'). The fiend is a master criminal whose infallible gift for disguise may have been inspired by Hamilton Cleek, Thomas W. Hanshew
's heroic but amoral "Man of Forty Faces." The Fiend is a non-violent criminal who steals to demonstrate his brilliance rather than out of need for money. He and Akechi have a mutual respect in the stories.
The Akechi stories are based mainly in the detective's home city of Tokyo
, though some move the action to the Japanese countryside. The stories often feature supernatural
and erotic overtones, though not so much as Rampo's other fiction.
Akechi has become a fixture in Japanese pop-culture. There have been a number of movies made based on his adventures, some of which pit him against other fictional characters such as Arsène Lupin
. The actor best known for playing the detective is Eiji Okada
. Akechi has been featured as a character in the anime
series Lupin III
and references to him are common in Japanese fiction. He is probably best known in the west through the 1994 movie, The Mystery of Rampo.
Another notable movie featuring Akechi is the 1968 film Black Lizard
(aka Kurotokage). The movie was adapted from Rampo's novel by noted author Yukio Mishima
, who also appears briefly in the film. The story pits the detective against a female mastermind, known as the Black Lizard, who is played by transvestite
actor
Akihiro Miwa
. The film is considered high camp
with its bizarre conventions and over-the-top performances but has a loyal following among fans and critics alike.
Modern references to him can also be found in Japan's popular and extremely long running television anime
series, Detective Conan, known in the U.S. as Case Closed
. One of the characters, Detective Richard Moore (Kogoro Mouri in the Japanese version) is a persistent and courageous yet highly flawed and lecherous private detective—almost a parody of Kogoro Akechi. He has his cases solved for him by the youthful main character, Conan Edogawa. Further Akechi references can be seen in the TV series' inclusion of a non-violent antagonist, the Phantom Thief (Kaitou Kid), a brilliant disguise-master thief who steals high profile items for recognition. It is worth noting that the Phantom Thief (Kaitou Kid) character is actually an earlier creation of Gosho Aoyama
, prior to his Detective Conan series. The name of young Conan's elementary school detective club is the "Junior Detective League" ("Detective Boys" in the Japanese version). Akechi himself is highlighted in volume 2 of the manga, in "Gosho Aoyoma's Mystery Library, a section of the graphic novels (usually the last page) where the author introduces a different detective (or occasionally, a villain) from literature.
Both Akechi and the Black Lizard are referenced in the Sakura Taisen series of video games and anime. One of the musicals performed by the Teikoku Kagekidan is Benitokage ("Crimson Lizard") and features the title character, a criminal femme fatale, along with a handsome young detective named Akechi Kojiro.
The manga and anime Nijū Mensō no Musume
, or the Daughter of Twenty Faces, focuses heavily on Akechi's arch-rival. Akechi himself is featured as well, but as a much more minor character.
Akechi is also referenced in the character of Police Superintendent Akechi Kengo in Kindaichi Case Files
, a popular detective manga series.
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese mystery
Mystery fiction
Mystery fiction is a loosely-defined term.1.It is often used as a synonym for detective fiction or crime fiction— in other words a novel or short story in which a detective investigates and solves a crime mystery. Sometimes mystery books are nonfiction...
writer Edogawa Rampo
Edogawa Rampo
, better known by the pseudonym , was a Japanese author and critic who played a major role in the development of Japanese mystery fiction. Many of his novels involve the detective hero Kogorō Akechi, who in later books was the leader of a group of boy detectives known as the .Rampo was an admirer...
.
He first appeared in the story "The D Slope Murder case" in 1925 and continued to appear in stories for a quarter of a century. Edogawa Rampo (a pseudonym for Tarō Hirai) is considered the father of the Japanese detective story
Detective Story
Detective Story is a film noir which tells the story of one day in the lives of the various people who populate a police detective squad. It features Kirk Douglas, Eleanor Parker, William Bendix, Cathy O'Donnell, Lee Grant, among others. The movie was adapted by Robert Wyler and Philip Yordan...
and was a great admirer of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Akechi is the first recurring detective
Detective
A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...
character in Japanese fiction and is clearly inspired by Doyle's Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
.
Like Holmes, Akechi is a brilliant but eccentric detective who consults with the police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
on especially difficult cases. He is a master of disguise
Disguise
A disguise can be anything which conceals or changes a person's physical appearance, including a wig, glasses, makeup, costume or other ways. Camouflage is one type of disguise for people, animals and objects...
and an expert at judo
Judo
is a modern martial art and combat sport created in Japan in 1882 by Jigoro Kano. Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the object is to either throw or takedown one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue one's opponent with a grappling maneuver, or force an...
whose genius
Genius
Genius is something or someone embodying exceptional intellectual ability, creativity, or originality, typically to a degree that is associated with the achievement of unprecedented insight....
lets him solve seemingly impossible cases. Also like Holmes, Akechi makes use of a group of young boys to gather information. His version of the Baker Street Irregulars
Baker Street Irregulars
The Baker Street Irregulars are any of several different groups, all named after the original, from various Sherlock Holmes stories in which they are a gang of young street children whom Holmes often employs to aid his cases.- Original :...
is known as the Boy Detective Club. Akechi smokes Egyptian cigarettes when he is thinking about a case.
Kogoro Akechi is a tall, handsome man with heavy eyebrows who dresses well. He is married to a woman named Fumiyo and has an adopted son, Yoshio Kobayashi, the leader of the boy detectives club. Kobayashi often plays an important part in solving cases. Like his mentor, he is an expert at disguise and is especially adept at posing as a young woman. Aside from these relationships little is known of the detective's personal life, which always takes a back seat to the mystery in his adventures.
Detective Akechi's most frequent foe is the infamous Kaijin Nijū Mensō (the 'Fiend with Twenty Faces'). The fiend is a master criminal whose infallible gift for disguise may have been inspired by Hamilton Cleek, Thomas W. Hanshew
Thomas W. Hanshew
Thomas W. Hanshew was an American actor and writer, born in Brooklyn, N. Y. He went on the stage when only 16 years old, playing minor parts with Ellen Terry's company. Subsequently he played important roles with Clara Morris and Adelaide Neilson. Later he was associated with a publishing house...
's heroic but amoral "Man of Forty Faces." The Fiend is a non-violent criminal who steals to demonstrate his brilliance rather than out of need for money. He and Akechi have a mutual respect in the stories.
The Akechi stories are based mainly in the detective's home city of Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, though some move the action to the Japanese countryside. The stories often feature supernatural
Supernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
and erotic overtones, though not so much as Rampo's other fiction.
Akechi has become a fixture in Japanese pop-culture. There have been a number of movies made based on his adventures, some of which pit him against other fictional characters such as Arsène Lupin
Arsène Lupin
Arsène Lupin is a fictional character who appears in a book series of detective fiction / crime fiction novels written by French writer Maurice Leblanc, as well as a number of non-canonical sequels and numerous film, television such as Night Hood, stage play and comic book adaptations.- Overview :A...
. The actor best known for playing the detective is Eiji Okada
Eiji Okada
Eiji Okada was a Japanese film actor. Okada served in the Japanese army during World War II, and was a miner and traveling salesman before becoming an actor....
. Akechi has been featured as a character in the anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
series Lupin III
Lupin III
, also known as Lupin the 3rd, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kazuhiko Kato under the pen name of Monkey Punch. The story follows the adventures of a gang of thieves led by Arsène Lupin III, the grandson of Arsène Lupin, the gentleman thief of Maurice Leblanc's series of...
and references to him are common in Japanese fiction. He is probably best known in the west through the 1994 movie, The Mystery of Rampo.
Another notable movie featuring Akechi is the 1968 film Black Lizard
Black Lizard (film)
Black Lizard is a 1968 Japanese detective film directed by Kinji Fukasaku. The film is based on a 1934 novel by Edogawa Rampo and its theatrical adaptation by Yukio Mishima, who, at the time, was the lover of Akihiro Maruyama, the actor who plays the notorious female criminal "Black Lizard" in...
(aka Kurotokage). The movie was adapted from Rampo's novel by noted author Yukio Mishima
Yukio Mishima
was the pen name of , a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor and film director, also remembered for his ritual suicide by seppuku after a failed coup d'état...
, who also appears briefly in the film. The story pits the detective against a female mastermind, known as the Black Lizard, who is played by transvestite
Transvestism
Transvestism is the practice of cross-dressing, which is wearing clothing traditionally associated with the opposite sex. Transvestite refers to a person who cross-dresses; however, the word often has additional connotations. -History:Although the word transvestism was coined as late as the 1910s,...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
Akihiro Miwa
Akihiro Miwa
, is a Japanese singer, actor, drag queen, director, composer and author from Nagasaki in Nagasaki Prefecture. His real name is . He writes most of his own music and has written over 20 books. An open homosexual, he is also a drag queen who often dyes his shoulder-length hair bright yellow.-Early...
. The film is considered high camp
Camp (style)
Camp is an aesthetic sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its taste and ironic value. The concept is closely related to kitsch, and things with camp appeal may also be described as being "cheesy"...
with its bizarre conventions and over-the-top performances but has a loyal following among fans and critics alike.
Modern references to him can also be found in Japan's popular and extremely long running television anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
series, Detective Conan, known in the U.S. as Case Closed
Case Closed
Case Closed, known as in Japan, is a Japanese detective manga series written and illustrated by Gosho Aoyama. The series is serialized in Shogakukan's Weekly Shōnen Sunday since February 2, 1994, and has been collected in 73 tankōbon volumes as of September 2011...
. One of the characters, Detective Richard Moore (Kogoro Mouri in the Japanese version) is a persistent and courageous yet highly flawed and lecherous private detective—almost a parody of Kogoro Akechi. He has his cases solved for him by the youthful main character, Conan Edogawa. Further Akechi references can be seen in the TV series' inclusion of a non-violent antagonist, the Phantom Thief (Kaitou Kid), a brilliant disguise-master thief who steals high profile items for recognition. It is worth noting that the Phantom Thief (Kaitou Kid) character is actually an earlier creation of Gosho Aoyama
Gosho Aoyama
, born on June 21, 1963 in Hokuei, Tottori Prefecture, Japan is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known as the creator of the manga series Detective Conan .-Educational background:Aoyama was talented in drawing even at an early age...
, prior to his Detective Conan series. The name of young Conan's elementary school detective club is the "Junior Detective League" ("Detective Boys" in the Japanese version). Akechi himself is highlighted in volume 2 of the manga, in "Gosho Aoyoma's Mystery Library, a section of the graphic novels (usually the last page) where the author introduces a different detective (or occasionally, a villain) from literature.
Both Akechi and the Black Lizard are referenced in the Sakura Taisen series of video games and anime. One of the musicals performed by the Teikoku Kagekidan is Benitokage ("Crimson Lizard") and features the title character, a criminal femme fatale, along with a handsome young detective named Akechi Kojiro.
The manga and anime Nijū Mensō no Musume
Niju Menso no Musume
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by manga author Shinji Ohara. The manga was serialized in the seinen manga magazine Comic Flapper between 2002 and 2007, but continued serialization in the same magazine with the title Nijū Mensō no Musume Utsushiyo no Yoru since October 5, 2007...
, or the Daughter of Twenty Faces, focuses heavily on Akechi's arch-rival. Akechi himself is featured as well, but as a much more minor character.
Akechi is also referenced in the character of Police Superintendent Akechi Kengo in Kindaichi Case Files
Kindaichi Case Files
is a serialized Japanese mystery manga series based on the crime solving adventures of a high school student, Hajime Kindaichi, the supposed grandson of the famous private detective Kosuke Kindaichi. They are written by Yōzaburō Kanari or Seimaru Amagi and illustrated by Fumiya Satō...
, a popular detective manga series.