Yoshie Shiratori

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (May 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Yoshie Shiratori
Born	(1907-07-31)31 July 1907 Aomori Prefecture, Empire of Japan
Died	24 February 1979(1979-02-24) (aged 71) Aomori Prefecture, Japan
Nationality	Japanese
Known for	escaping from four different prisons

Replica of Shiratori's escape from Abashiri Prison at the Abashiri Prison Museum.

Yoshie Shiratori (白鳥 由栄, Shiratori Yoshie, July 31, 1907 – February 24, 1979)^[1] was a Japanese national born in Aomori Prefecture. Shiratori is famous for having escaped from several different prisons four times, which made him an anti-hero in Japanese culture.^[2] There is a memorial to Shiratori in the Abashiri Prison Museum.

There are numerous tales describing his escapes, and some of the details may be folkloric rather than factual.^[3][4]

Prison breaks[]

Shiratori worked in a tofu shop initially and later worked as a fisherman to catch crabs for Russia. After changing jobs several times and finding little success, he turned to gambling and stealing to make a living.

Aomori prison break[]

Shiratori was first prisoned at Aomori prison in 1936. However, after studying the guards' routine for months, he escaped by picking the lock of his cell with the metal wire that was wrapped around the bucket provided for bathing.^[5][6]

Akita prison break[]

Police recaptured Shiratori after three days while he was stealing supplies from a hospital. He was sentenced to life in prison for escaping and theft, and he was transferred to Akita prison in 1942.^[6]

At Akita prison, Shiratori escaped by climbing the tall smooth copper walls of his cell and exiting through the skylight. It is said that he climbed up every night to loosen the vent leading outside. He finally managed to open the skylight and climbed to the roof without the guards hearing his footsteps as it was a stormy night. He was captured after going to guard Kobayashi's house, to ask for help in a case against injustice in the Japanese prison system, as he was one of the only people who had shown kindness and respect to Shiratori during his stay in the Akita prison. However, while Shiratori was in the bathroom, the guard called out for the police, and Shiratori was promptly arrested and put back in prison.^[5][7]

Abashiri prison break[]

Shiratori was transferred to Abashiri prison in Northern Hokkaido. He was placed in handcuffs that were specially made from iron and took nearly two hours to get off by a specialist, though by pouring miso soup on them and the food slot in the cell door, they were corroded, allowing Shiratori to break them. Then on August 26, 1944, he dislocated both of his shoulders, making him able to fit out of the narrow food slot in his cell door and escaped the prison, using a wartime blackout as cover.^[2] However, he was captured yet again when he killed a farmer who attacked him after he was caught stealing a tomato from his farm.^{[5][6][8] [7][4]}

Sapporo prison break[]

For the previous prison escapes and the farmer's murder, Shiratori was sentenced to death by the Sapporo District Court. At the Sapporo prison, he was put in a specially made cell. Nevertheless, in 1947 he dug his way out of the prison by making a tunnel in the floor with miso soup bowls, placing the dirt in a small pocket underneath the floorboards.^[5][6][9][8]

Final years[]

After a year of freedom, it is said that Shiratori was offered a cigarette by a police officer in a park. Moved by the kindness, Shiratori admitted that he was an escaped convict and offered to be turned in by the officer. He was tried once again, and the High Court of Sapporo, having reviewed his case, decided that the farmer's death was a result of Shiratori acting in self-defense, and they revoked his death sentence and instead sentenced him to 20 years in prison for his 4 prison escapes. Shiratori's request to be imprisoned in Tokyo was also granted. He spent 14 years in Fuchu Prison until 1961, when he was released for good behavior.^[10][6]

Later, he returned to Aomori to reunite with his daughter; his wife had died while he was still in prison. Shiratori lived for another decade working odd jobs to survive. He eventually died of a heart attack in 1979, aged 71.^[5][6]

In media[]

Akira Yoshimura's novel Hagoku is based on Shiratori's life.

The character Yoshitake Shiraishi in the manga Golden Kamuy by Satoru Noda was revealed in an interview with the author to have been based on and named after Shiratori.

The movie, Prison Break (2017), is a documentary about Yoshie Shiratori.

References[]

External links[]

• Hagoku from Charm of Hokkaido
• (in Japanese) Yoshie Shiratori from MONSTERS