Mushitarō Oguri


Mushitarō Oguri, born Eijirō Oguri, was a Japanese author and an important mystery novelist in pre-war Japan.

Biography

Oguri was born in Kanda, Tokyo. His father died in 1911, and the family managed to support themselves financially thanks to the support of the main family branch and the income from renting a house.
In September 1922, Oguri began working at a printer. During this period, he took interest in literature, and during the four years he worked there, he wrote a series of detective novels and stories: Aru Kenji no Isho, Gen'naiyaki Mujutsu Osho, Benigara Rakuda no Himitsu and Madōji. These last three works would later be published in 1936.

Major works

Oguri's major works include:
According to researcher Sari Kawana, he was one of the authors involved in writing "mad scientist murders," a subgenre within the larger stream of Japanese detective fiction during the 1920s and 1930s. He used the motif of the "mad scientist" and his uncompromising attitude toward his work to criticize the widespread overconfidence in the possibilities of science and to highlight the potential incompatibility between science and ethics. Other writers involved in that genre were Kozakai Fuboku, Yumeno Kyusaku, and Unno Juza.