Mushitarō Oguri

Mushitaro Oguri (小栗 虫太郎, Oguri Mushitarō, March 14, 1901 – February 10, 1946) was a Japanese author, an important mystery novelist in pre-war Japan.

Biography

Oguri was born in Kanda, Tokyo and died when he was 45.

Major works

Oguri's major works include:

• Black Death Hall Murders (Kokushikan Satsujinjiken, 黒死館殺人事件)
• Perfect Crime (Kanzen Hanzai, 完全犯罪)

According to researcher Sari Kawana, he was one of the writers 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.

See also

• Japanese literature,
• List of Japanese authors