I’m reading El clan de los Inugami in Spanish. I understand that the English version is out of print. However the following information from Pushkin Press and Amazon might be of interest to some readers:
Seishi Yokomizo (1902-81) was one of Japan’s most famous and best-loved mystery writers. He was born in Kobe and spent his childhood reading detective stories, before beginning to write stories of his own, the first of which was published in 1921. He went on to become an extremely prolific and popular author, best known for his Kosuke Kindaichi series, which ran to 77 books, many of which were adapted for stage and television in Japan. The Honjin Murders is the first Kosuke Kindaichi story, and regarded as one of Japan’s great mystery novels. It won the first Mystery Writers of Japan Award in 1948 but has never been translated into English, until now.
The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo (release date 5 December, 2019)
In the winter of 1937, the village of Okamura is abuzz with excitement over the forthcoming wedding of a son of the grand Ichiyanagi family. But amid the gossip over the approaching festivities, there is also a worrying rumour – it seems a sinister masked man has been asking questions about the Ichiyanagis around the village.
Then, on the night of the wedding, the Ichiyanagi family are woken by a terrible scream, followed by the sound of eerie music – death has come to Okamura, leaving no trace but a bloody samurai sword, thrust into the pristine snow outside the house. The murder seems impossible, but amateur detective Kosuke Kindaichi is determined to get to the bottom of it.
The Inugami Curse by Seishi Yokomizo (release date 6 February, 2020) aka The Inugami Clan
In 1940s Japan, the wealthy head of the Inugami Clan dies, and his family eagerly await the reading of the will. But no sooner are its strange details revealed than a series of bizarre, gruesome murders begins. Detective Kindaichi must unravel the clan’s terrible secrets of forbidden liaisons, monstrous cruelty, and hidden identities to find the murderer, and lift the curse wreaking its bloody revenge on the Inugamis. The Inugami Curse is a fiendish, intricately plotted classic mystery from a giant of Japanese crime writing, starring the legendary detective Kosuke Kindaichi.
There is a French-language version too (“La Hache et le Chrysanthème”) which interestingly appeared in a non-mystery imprint, Gallimard’s “L’Imaginaire” series, also home to Borges and Chesterton. I bought it years ago and it is still waiting to be read somewhere in the mess that is my library.
Are there other Yokomizo books available in Spanish?
Thanks, Xavier.
There’re in fact three other books in Spanish: GOKUMON-TO. La isla de las puertas del infierno (Quaterni, 2015), ASESINATO EN EL HONJIN y otros relatos (Quaterni, 2017) and YATSUHAKA-MURA. El pueblo de las ocho tumbas (Quaterni, 2018), that I didn’t know it existed. http://www.quaterni.es/?s=+Seishi+Yokomizo&post_type=product
The third book you mention has also been translated into French (“Le Village aux huit tombes”)
Which more or less confirms my idea that most literary works arrive in Spain vía France.
I’ve been eagerly looking forward to The Hojin Murders for the better part of a year now. And have been looking forward to a second translation ever since reading The Inugami Clan in the mid-2000s. Hopefully, the Spanish translation is as good as the English edition, because it’s a genuine classic. If you’re interested, I reread the book last year to see if it stood up and you read my review here
There’s another Japanese (short) detective you have to track down: Edogawa Rampo’s “The Stalker in the Attic,” which is inverted impossible crime story and the first genuine Japanese locked room mystery. It was preceded by “The Case of the Murder on D. Hill,” but story only showed it was possible to set a locked room in the traditionally open, wood-and-paper houses of Japan. You can find the story in The Edogawa Rampo Reader along with several of Rampo’s essays.
Thanks for your suggestions TomCat. Afraid I’m not at all confortable with the Spanish version of The Inugami Clan I’ll like to read the new English version to compare.
Thanks Jose.
As so often you provide an irresistible introduction!
Regards Thom
Very kind of you, Thom, glad you find them of interest. Best Regards José Ignacio