Miyuki Ishikawa

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Miyuki Ishikawa
Miyuki Ishikawa Kotobuki-Sanin Incident.jpg
Miyuki Ishikawa was surrounded by police officers at the Waseda police station
Born(1897-02-05)5 February 1897[1]
Miyazaki, Japan Empire
Died30 May 1987(1987-05-30) (aged 90)[2]
Other namesOni-Sanba (Demon Midwife)
Criminal penalty4 years in prison
Details
Victimsuncertain
5 (final judgment)
27 (prosecutors)
84 (police)
Span of crimes
April 1946–January 1948
CountryJapan
State(s)Tokyo
Date apprehended
January 15, 1948

Miyuki Ishikawa (石川 ミユキ, Ishikawa Miyuki, 5 February 1897 – 30 May 1987) was a Japanese midwife, real estate agent and serial killer who is believed to have murdered many infants with the aid of several accomplices during Occupation of Japan.

Early life[]

Ishikawa was born in Honjō village, Miyazaki Prefecture and graduated from the midwife course of Tōkyō Imperial University. In 1919, She married Takeshi Ishikawa, former Kenpeitai sergeant and a police officer from 1919 to 1926[3]. The relationship did not produce any children.[4]

She was an experienced midwife, and managed a maternity hospital named Kotobuki San'in (寿産院).

Infanticide[]

In the 1940s, there were many babies in Kotobuki San'in. The parents of many of these infants were poor and unable to raise their children properly without financial struggle, and she herself was unable to help the infants because of a lack of social and charitable services.

In order to solve this dilemma, Ishikawa chose to neglect numerous infants, many of whom died as a direct result. The exact number of victims is unknown, but it is estimated that she killed at least 84 babies. Almost all of the other midwives employed by Kotobuki San'in were disgusted by this practice and resigned from their positions.

Later she also attempted to garner payment for these murders. She and her husband Takeshi solicited large sums of money from the parents, claiming that it would be less than the actual expense of raising these unwanted children. A doctor, Shirō Nakayama, was also complicit in this scheme and aided the couple by falsifying death certificates.

Arrest and trial[]

Asahi Shimbun on January 17, 1948, describing their suspicion for 169 murders and her admitting "malice aforethought".

Two police officers from the Waseda police station accidentally found the remains of five of Ishikawa's victims on January 12, 1948. Autopsies performed on the bodies of the five babies proved that they had not died of natural causes. She and Takeshi were arrested on January 15, 1948.[4]

The victims were deserted children, and so she insisted that parents were responsible for their deaths. Some people supported the assertion, but Yuriko Miyamoto criticized them, saying it was an example of discrimination against children from nowhere.[5]

Upon further investigation the police found over 40 dead bodies in the house of a mortician. Thirty corpses were later discovered in a temple. The sheer number of dead bodies recovered and the length of time over which the murders took place made it difficult for the authorities to determine the exact number of victims. Consequently, the exact death toll remains unknown. At the court, the prosecutors asserted that they murdered 27 infants at least between April 1946 and January 1948, while 84 burial authorization certificates had been issued.[6]

The authorities viewed her homicides as a crime of omission.[7] In the Tokyo District Court, Ishikawa was sentenced to eight years in prison, while Takeshi was sentenced to four years imprisonment, finding the fact of murdering five victims. The couple appealed their sentences, and Tokyo High Court revoked the original sentence, and sentenced Ishikawa to four years in prison and Takeshi to two years on 28 April 1952. The Supreme Court of Japan rejected their second appeal on 15 September 1953.[8]

Social impact[]

This incident is regarded as the principal reason the Japanese Government began to consider the legalisation of abortion in Japan.[9][10] One of the reasons this incident was thought to have occurred was as the result of an increase in the number of unwanted infants born in Japan. On July 13, 1948, the Eugenic Protection Law (now the Mother's Body Protection Law) and a national examination system for midwives was established. On June 24, 1949, abortion for economic reasons was legalised under the Eugenic Protection Law in Japan.

Aftermath[]

In 1969, Ishikawa got interviewed by Shūkan Shinchō, claiming her innocence of the crime. After the release from jail, she began to work as a peddler of soap, cream and fish. And then, she was operating a real estate office in Tōkyō, while her husband Takeshi was already dead. Her former lawyer estimated that she had earned about 100 million yen.[11]

Her name and address (same as Kotobuki San'in) were listed in the telephone directories between 1954 and 1987.[12][13] As well, her name has been on the industry's lists as a representative of a real-estate agent, whose address is also same as Kotobuki San'in, until the end of 1986.[14][15]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "東京都告示第二十五號" [Notice No.25]. 東京都警視廳公報 (Tōkyō-to Keishichō Kōhō) (in Japanese) (273). Tōkyō Metropolis. 1948-01-27. p. 34.
  2. ^ Building registration No.59344 in 1987 at Shinjuku Branch Office, Tōkyō Legal Affairs Bureau (Wikimedia Commons)
  3. ^ "地獄の貰い子殺し 壽產院事件" [Hell-like murder of left infants]. Shūkan Asahi on 8 February (in Japanese). The Asahi Shimbun Company: 16–17. 1948.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b Ide, Isamu (1948). "―搜査斷片―壽產院事件の眞相" [Truth of Kotobuki San'in incident]. Jikei (in Japanese). Jikeikai. 30 (3): 21–25.
  5. ^ Yuriko Miyamoto (1948-01-23). "生れた権利"をうばうな (in Japanese). Aozora Bunko. Archived from the original on 2011-07-22. Retrieved 2008-02-25.
  6. ^ 警視庁史 [第4] (昭和中編 上) [Histrory of Metropolitan Police Department vol.4] (in Japanese). Metropolitan Police Department. 1978. pp. 552–557.
  7. ^ Takahashi, Katsuyoshi (1950). "壽產院事件その後" [Aftermath]. Hoken to Josan (in Japanese). Japanese Midwives Association. 4 (2): 20–22.
  8. ^ 東京地方検察庁沿革誌 [History of Tōkyō District Public Prosecutors Office] (in Japanese). Tōkyō District Public Prosecutors Office. 1974. pp. 166–167.
  9. ^ "Archived copy" 第1章 少子化社会に至るまでの経緯と少子化問題への対応 (PDF) (in Japanese). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-05-24. Retrieved 2007-12-29.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) (103 KiB)
  10. ^ "Archived copy" 第147回国会 国民福祉委員会 第10号 (in Japanese). National Diet Library. 2000-03-15. Archived from the original on 2008-10-22. Retrieved 2008-03-11.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  11. ^ "億万長者になっていた「寿産院事件の鬼婆」" ["Demon Hag" became a millionaire]. Shūkan Shinchō on 21 June (in Japanese). Shinchōsha. 14 (25): 44–46. 1969.
  12. ^ 人名別電話番号簿 昭和29年4月現在 [Telephone Directory as of April 1954] (in Japanese). Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation. 1954-06-01. p. 34.
  13. ^ 東京都電話帳 (ハローページ:50音別) 昭和62年10月1日現在 [Tōkyō Telephone Directory as of 1 October 1987] (in Japanese). Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation. 1988. p. 300.
  14. ^ 宅地建物取引業者名鑑 東日本版 昭和63年版 [List of Real Estate Transaction Brokers, East Japan, 1988] (in Japanese). Jutaku-Shimpō-sha. 1987-08-12. p. 96.
  15. ^ 会員名簿 昭和62年度版 [List of Members, 1987] (in Japanese). The Tokyo Real Estate Public Interest Incorporated Association. 1987-02-10. p. 233.

External links[]

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