Japanese detective fiction


Japanese detective fiction, is a popular genre of Japanese literature.

History

Name

When Western detective fiction spread to Japan, it created a new genre called detective fiction in Japanese literature. After World War II the genre was renamed deductive reasoning fiction. The genre is sometimes called mystery, although this includes non-detective fiction as well.

Development

Edogawa Rampo is the first Japanese modern mystery writer and the founder of the Detective Story Club in Japan. Rampo was an admirer of western mystery writers. He gained his fame in early 1920s, when he began to bring to the genre many bizarre, erotic and even fantastic elements. This is partly because of the social tension before World War II. Rampo's mystery novels generally followed conventional formulas, and have been classed as part of the, translated as "classical whodunit", or "orthodox school", or "standard" detective fiction, or "authentic" detective fiction.
In 1957, Seicho Matsumoto received the Mystery Writers of Japan Award for his short story The Face. The Face and Matsumoto's subsequent works began the Social mystery within the genre, which emphasized social realism, described crimes in an ordinary setting and sets motives within a wider context of social injustice and political corruption.
Since the 1980s, a "neo-classical whodunit", or "neo-orthodox school" has surfaced. It demands restoration of the classic rules of detective fiction and the use of more self-reflective elements, largely inspired by the works of Ellery Queen and John Dickson Carr. Famous authors of this movement include Soji Shimada, Yukito Ayatsuji, Rintaro Norizuki, Alice Arisugawa, Kaoru Kitamura and Taku Ashibe.

Japanese mystery awards

Top book lists of mystery fiction published in Japan

Aozora Bunko

Listed below are Japanese mystery writers whose works are available in Aozora Bunko, a Japanese digital library.
Ruiko Kuroiwa's short story Muzan, which is also available in Aozora Bunko, is one of the earliest Japanese detective stories.

Japanese detective manga series

Case Closed aka Detective Conan Kindaichi Case Files Q.E.D.

Video game adaptions

There are visual novels and adventure games that take inspiration from this fiction genre.The Portopia Serial Murder Case, a 1983 video game by Enix.