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Paper short abstract

This paper examines prewar Japanese detective fiction through the coexistence of honkaku (orthodox), logic-centered mystery and henkaku (unorthodox) narratives centered on mysterious phenomena. It highlights the genre’s links to Western detective fiction, especially the influence of Edgar Allan Poe.

Paper long abstract

The genre of modern Japanese detective fiction, following a transient boom driven by adaptations of Western detective fiction and original works by Kuroiwa Ruikō in the late Meiji period (particularly around 1890), entered a period of maturity from the late Taishō to the early Shōwa era (the 1920s–1930s). This mature phase centered on the magazine Shinseinen (New Youth, 1920–1950) and Edogawa Ranpo. During this period, a fandom of detective fiction readers emerged, and lively debates about the genre took place, involving both readers and writers. The central question was what detective fiction actually is. This debate arose because so-called henkaku (unorthodox) detective fiction—emphasizing fantasy and the grotesque—was more prevalent than honkaku (orthodox) detective fiction, which focused on puzzles and rational deduction.

This paper first traces discussions on the definition of detective fiction, beginning with Hirabayashi Hatsunosuke’s Tantei shōsetsu dan no shokeikō (Various Trends in Detective Fiction Circles, 1926), which laid the groundwork for later debates. It then examines the arguments of writers such as Kōga Saburō, who in the 1930s strongly asserted that detective fiction should be defined exclusively as novels centered on logical puzzle-solving, thereby provoking major controversy. The paper also considers Ranpo’s position within these debates. While Ranpo showed a degree of sympathy toward Kōga’s emphasis on logic, he identified artistic potential in the fantastical and grotesque detective fiction that Kōga sought to exclude, arguing that an ideal detective novel must combine logical structure with artistic quality.

Finally, the paper examines the influence of Edgar Allan Poe on modern Japanese detective fiction as revealed through these debates. Ranpo frequently invoked Poe, from whom his pen name was derived. After outlining the reception of Poe in Japan from the Taishō period onward, the paper focuses on Hisao Jūran’s detective story Kohan (By the Lake, 1937), in which logic and fantasy coexist in an apparently self-contradictory manner. By analyzing its relationship to Poe’s “A Tale of the Ragged Mountains” (1844), the paper offers a concrete examination of Poe’s influence on modern Japanese detective fiction.