Dogra Magra (21/47)

by Hisashi Yumeno

Go Ichiro was born on November 20, Meiji 40 (1907). On October 19, Taisho 15 (1926), he was photographed at the asylum attached to the Department of Psychiatry at Kyushu Imperial University. He, the protagonist of this incident, was a strikingly handsome boy among the ten psychiatric patients. The reason his face was photographed in a close-up was that his physiognomy was deeply connected to the psychological heredity fundamental to this incident.

While phrenology cannot yet be called a pure science, it has been found to have some actual correspondences. Each time Dr. Masaki sees a new psychiatric patient, he meticulously studies their physiognomy and investigates what racial characteristics are mixed in their blood. Human psychological heredity reflects the characteristics of ancestors and also expresses the psychological traits of ancient races. The physiognomy and character of Japanese people are intertwined with influences from various ethnic groups such as Mongolian, Indian, Malay, Jewish, Ladin, Ainu, and Slavic.

According to Dr. Masaki's diagnostic notes, several characteristics are observable in Go Ichiro's physiognomy. First, his complexion is too pale for a Japanese person. The faint redness on his cheeks is evidence that he is still a virgin. It is clearly presumed that the blood of a fair-skinned race flows beneath his skin. This is thought to be related to the blood of the Hu people who crossed the Tianshan Mountains and entered China thousands of years ago.

Next, the only features in his physiognomy that indicate a pure Mongolian racial lineage are his black hairline and the shape of his nose. The nostrils are slightly curved, but appear straight when viewed with an instrument. This is also an important genetic investigation. Caucasian noses are often convoluted.

A detailed observation of Go Ichiro's physiognomy reveals characteristics from various heterogeneous racial lineages. His face shape is the ovoid type of the Ladin lineage, his eyebrows and eyelashes are thick and long, and a blue shadow is visible around his eyes, which is an Ainu characteristic. Furthermore, his nose shape is purely Grecian, and the line from his cheeks to his chin is reminiscent of the Aryan lineage seen in ancient Buddhist statues. Additionally, there is a depression in the center of his chin, characteristic of Nordic races, and its beauty is accentuated when he smiles.

Thus, by examining Wu Ichiro's physiognomy, his personality, hobbies, and talents become clear. He possesses the adaptability of the Japanese, the reverence of the Ainu, and the intelligence of the Ladin people, but to this is added the reclusive and elegant temperament of the Nordic race, which does not manifest much on the surface. He is considered to have a calm and quiet personality for his age.

The boy, outwardly calm and composed, one day suddenly had that serenity shattered by the influence of psychological heredity. The deep obsession, like that of a continental people, and the fierce and brutal blood that lay dormant within him, suddenly surfaced, leading to astonishing actions. The truth behind this unprecedented bizarre incident was, in short, that the Mongoloid psychological heredity hidden within this boy suddenly erupted.

Furthermore, there was an important and unmissable characteristic in this boy's physiognomy. It was a thin jaw, symbolizing a French-like personality: seemingly very optimistic and carefree, yet easily agitated by slight stimuli or changes in environment, laughing, crying, or getting angry without regard for his surroundings—in other words, very moody. However, this characteristic did not seem to manifest much in his usual personality. Rather, it seemed to be suppressed by his very clear intellect and shy, reclusive nature, as mentioned earlier.

Nevertheless, this characteristic was very prominent, and Dr. Masaki had hopes that, during the long psychological genetic seizures after the boy began attending the liberation therapy center, or during his recovery period, his emotional or passionate temperament would surely emerge at some point.

Now, I believe you have a general understanding of the bone structure of this boy, Ichiro Kure. It is truly eerie to consider how the characteristics of various races have been combined so beautifully and purely by the hand of God. Even we, who make a living by upholding the authority of science and the progress of human intellect, can only be astonished, speechless, and bow our heads when confronted with such a living masterpiece of art.

Next, I will explain how the progression of the incident, centered on this boy's psychological heredity, appeared to Dr. Masaki with such a strange plot. I will describe the sequence of events as they were projected onto the "natural color, embossed, sound film camera's dark box" that the doctor had attached to his own skull, following the order of the film.

[Subtitle] Strange occurrences in the autopsy room of the Forensic Medicine Department, Kyushu Imperial University... Filmed on the night of April 26, Taisho 15 (1926)—

The film that was projected showed a pitch-black scene where it was impossible to tell what was what or where was where. Therefore, there is no way to describe it, but please look closely. In the upper left corner, a cluster of almost imperceptibly faint, pale blue lights drifts in an irregular ring shape. ...That is the contents of the stomach of a geisha who committed suicide with the recently popular cat poison, glowing from inside a glass dish.

Having seen that, you, my discerning audience, would have fully realized that this darkness is not ordinary darkness. ...In other words, this darkness is the view of the dark state of the autopsy room, located in a corner of the Forensic Medicine Department of Kyushu Imperial University, as seen from the storage room under the side stairs, having crept into the attic.

This peephole in the attic seems to be an old one, used by curious janitors or newspaper reporters to secretly peek at autopsies. The inside of the hole has been scraped and widened into a Y-shape with nails or knives. By slightly changing the angle of one's face, one can see every corner of the lower half of the room. Moreover, if one stretches their legs onto the shelves of the storage room, one can sleep much more comfortably than on a third-class train, making it truly useful.

That glowing dish is actually placed on the desk opposite, but because it is being photographed from directly above, it appears in the upper part of the film.

There isn't just that one dish in this room. However, because the shutters on both windows and the entrance door are tightly locked, the darkness in this room is extremely deep, and nothing can be found except for the barely perceptible glow of that filth. In a deathly silence, like water quietly boiling somewhere, the "natural color, embossed, talking film" filmed by Dr. Masaki is merely flowing silently like the passage of time, black as lacquer... fifty feet... one hundred feet... two hundred feet... three hundred feet...

Why did Dr. Masaki carry that binaural, binocular, natural color, embossed, talking film camera box all the way up to the attic of this dissection room in the first place? For what purpose did he patiently continue to stare at such a meaningless dark scene for so long? For a dignified university professor to stoop to such rat-like behavior, what an ugly sight! You will surely find this suspicious, but this explanation will naturally become clear later, so I will omit it here.

Approximately twenty hours had passed since the bizarre incident surrounding Ichiro Kure's psychological heredity occurred, around ten o'clock in the evening of April 26, Taisho 15. The film remained completely black, silently continuing to glide. Five hundred feet, eight hundred feet, one thousand feet, one thousand five hundred feet... the stillness and darkness of the screen remained unchanged, only that phosphorescence, like filth, gradually became paler and more distinct.

At that moment, the sound of a clock echoed from the janitor's room at the back of the classroom. "One, two, three... bong, bong, bong..." The sound of time ticking continued, breaking the silence.

As the chimes announcing eleven o'clock finished, the sound of a large wooden box closing echoed in the darkness. The next moment, a bright light suddenly streamed in, and a dazzling brilliance enveloped the room. This was because the switches for the two-hundred-candlepower light bulbs hanging in the center of the room were turned on one after another by someone who had been holding their breath.

When I strained my eyes, the scene inside the room was astonishing. What first caught my attention was the dissecting table in the center of the room. Emitting an eerie, wild-white light, the table was originally made of beautiful white marble, but it had absorbed the blood and fat of countless corpses, changing to a gloomy hue.

On the dissecting table was a black, concave, U-shaped wooden pillow, and to its left, a tall, cylindrical, nickel-plated kettle gleamed. It was an unearthly sight, like a model of a gigantic medieval temple or prison, with countless windows from which thread-like wisps of steam leaked out.

Furthermore, beneath the window on the right, a large rectangular box covered with a white cloth lay. It was clearly a coffin containing a deceased person. While a coffin in a dissecting room was to be expected, the white cloth draped over it appeared to be high-quality silk, emitting an elegant glow. Such a splendid coffin being brought into a forensic dissecting room was highly unusual, making it feel peculiar.

Surrounding the reflections of light from the dissection table, the water heater, and the white coffin were numerous instruments such as test tubes, beakers, and blades. Glass bowls of purple, brown, milky white, and colorless hues, along with dark brown ceramic jars, lined the floor, the edge of the desk, and the shelves. Inside them were the gray of human flesh, the cobalt blue of bones, and the sepia of blood. The cold light they emitted and their grotesque shadows created a silence like a symphony.

Near the center, standing between the coffin wrapped in white silk and the white marble dissection table, was a pitch-black monstrous figure. Its head, face, and torso were covered in gray-black rubber cloth, its hands wore black gloves, and its legs were encased in huge rubber boots like those worn by fishermen. Only the eye parts were transparent celluloid, giving off an eerie aura, as if it were a demon that devoured the hearts of the dead.

The mysterious figure was tall enough to easily twist a light bulb switch. This person was none other than Mr. Kyotaro Wakabayashi, the central figure in the psychogenetic incident and a leading authority in forensic medicine. Approximately twenty hours after the incident involving young Ichiro Kure, he had snuck into this autopsy room and was making elaborate preparations.

To someone seeing it for the first time, the situation in this room might not seem strange at all. However, it was clear to anyone that Dr. Wakabayashi was about to begin his work at the autopsy table, and that the corpse, which would be his material, lay in the coffin.

However, if that were the case, what could it mean that not a single person who should be Dr. Wakabayashi's assistant was to be found in this room? Normally, it is a customary principle for one or two people to be present during a corpse dissection. Despite this, it seems Dr. Wakabayashi is in a situation where he must perform an extremely secret task alone tonight. No, the fact that both doors at the front and back of the dissection table are unlocked makes it clear that tonight's work involves a special secret, different from ordinary cases.

As he pondered this, Dr. Wakabayashi went to the washbasin in the corner of the room and meticulously washed his gloved hands. Then, he bent down, removed the white shroud from the coffin, and opened the thick lid of the plain wooden coffin. From inside, the corpse of a young girl in formal attire was retrieved.

Those who remember the previous explanation will likely have a good idea of who this girl is. This girl is none other than Moyoko Kure, who was supposed to be Ichiro Kure's bride. She was a seventeen-year-old girl of unparalleled beauty, and Ichiro Kure is a handsome young actor renowned as the protagonist of the K.C. MASARKEY company's film "Madman's Liberation Therapy." She was an ace actress who portrayed the psychoscientific allure and terror as his co-star, but now she lies quietly in the coffin.

She was dressed in a fashionable new moon-colored hitoe, embroidered with spring mist and five-needled pine. A purple habutae silk kimono with a pattern of a thousand cranes, three layers of furisode kimonos still with their basting stitches, and a maru-obi woven with gold and silver paper patterns cinched her waist. Her unusual beauty and poignant sorrow spoke volumes about the extraordinary nature of this incident, conveying the feelings of those who placed her in the coffin, making one's heart ache.

However, Dr. Wakabayashi, the embodiment of academia, showed not the slightest sign of concern for such matters. As if uninterested in the clothing, he casually grabbed the hitoe, obi, and furisode, pushing them aside next to the coffin. What appeared beneath was her bare face, her pure forearms with wrists bound together in prayer by white cotton, a red yuzen nagajuban, a scarlet kanoko-shibori obi, a fiery scarlet chirimen yumoji, and white ankles clad in white tabi socks. These items, in stark contrast to the cold and cruel instruments and apparatus, highlighted an indescribable pathos and elegance.

Among them, what particularly catches the eye is the thick makeup and lipstick remaining on the face of a girl with long, black hair cascading freshly, her eyes closed in exhaustion. And on her neck, which was adorned with collar makeup, there were vivid marks of strangulation.

Dr. Wakabayashi quietly laid the corpse on the marble dissection table, mercilessly untied the white cotton bindings on her clasped wrists, and removed the scarlet dappled tie-dye obi. Pulling open the chest of her long undergarment, he meticulously examined the girl's entire body with the skilled technique for which he was renowned as an authority in his field. Eventually, he let out a sigh of relief, breathing heavily, and stood with his arms crossed high, looking down at the girl's corpse, becoming as still as a dark iron statue.