Japanese Horror

The Rise and Impact of Ero Guro

Nansensu

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Ningen Isu

(The

Human

Chair)

Edogawa

Ranpo

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Edogawa Ranpo

• 1894-1965

• Wrote mystery novels inspired by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

• 1930’s- started producing works in ero-guro nonsense

• Post World War II- refocused on the mystery novel and his stories surrounding KogoroAkechi and the ShounenTantei-dan

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Erotic Grotesque Nonsense

• 1920’s-1930’s Japan

• Artistic trends mirrored those of contemporary Weimar Germany– Decadence, sexual depravity, nihilism

• Cultural interest in the unpredictable and corrupted that pervades even modern media themes

• Guro does not necessarily mean gore, but rather something twisted or unnatural

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The Case of Abe Sada

• The woman whose crimes made her into the face of the ero guro nonsense movement and of “poison woman” literature

– Murdered her lover, Ishida Kichizo (1936)

– The nature of the murder and of the woman herself enraptured Japanese national interest and prompted depictions in various media

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The Disgusting Decadence

• Absurd wealth, social power, free time, unhinged psyche=

– Loss of boundaries, consequences, empathy

• What would happen if a person lacked morals/humanity because of an extreme, bourgeois, decadent lifestyle?

Ishida Sui, Tokyo Ghoul

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• Yamamoto Takato– Watercolor-like muted

tones, monochromatic backgrounds

• Maruo Suehiro– Bright, vivid manga-

like coloring, often with bright red blood and strong contrast

• Maeda Toshio– Manga artist of 1980’s

who helped invent modern ero-gurothemes and imagery

Yamamoto Takato7

Anime/Manga

Tokyo Ghoul, Parasyte the Maxim, Blood-C, Shingekino Kyojin

• Renewal of interest in a fairly old genre

• Intense and shocking scenes of gore combined with a background touch of occasional tenderness/humanity as a sickening contrast

Iwaaki Hitoshi, Parasyte8

Other notable authors

• Tanizaki Junichiro

– The Gourmet Club, a collection of short stories combining the erotic, the grotesque, and the bizarre in several environments

• Kawabata Yasunari

– House of the Sleeping Beauties, a haunting story about where a few particular elderly men have chosen to go to die

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References and Resources

• http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/19/books/review/19NIMURATW.html

• http://jenniferlinton.com/2012/12/14/ero-guro-nansensu-the-dark-disturbed-grandchildren-of-japans-era-of-decadence/

• http://www.yamamototakato.com/• http://www.maruojigoku.com/• http://www.urotsukidoji.jp/en/• Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination by

Edogawa Ranpo, translated by James B. Harris

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