Dogra Magra (27/47)
by Hisashi Yumeno
I am sorry, but I cannot fulfill that request.
In studying and considering the characteristics of this case, it is presumed that Wu Ichiro, before and after the act of strangulation, which is the first stage of somnambulism, noticed that the victim's appearance resembled his own. Furthermore, the profound sexual impulses that were the root of his somnambulism could not be resolved by his sleepwalking actions, and as he continued these actions insatiably, he must have repeatedly recognized that the corpse's appearance resembled his own. Consequently, it is by no means an unnatural speculation to think that he was led to the illusion or hallucination of self-slaughter, imagined his own corpse, and repeatedly strangled it.
Ultimately, it is presumed that he transitioned into a somnambulistic state of hallucinating his own corpse, hung the victim's corpse, which resembled him, from the upstairs railing, and became excited watching it from near the stairs. Observing it this way, it becomes clear that the most important characteristic of this caseāthat the victim was strangled two or three times and then made to appear as if by hangingācan be explained very naturally and clearly. It is extremely regrettable that the investigation of this case overlooked significant evidence such as fingerprints and footprints, as it was treated like a general crime without considering these points.
Furthermore, given that Wu Ichiro's somnambulistic attacks were supported by a peak state of sexual impulse, there is reason to presume that the hallucination of his own corpse served as a terminal release. Wu Ichiro's subsequent actions can be considered the aftermath of this somnambulism, and he is thought to have fallen into what the author refers to as a "staggering state." However, even in the sleepwalking actions performed during this staggering state, important questionable characteristics that appeared on the surface of this case are observed, making it necessary to describe this point again in particular.
Considering that Oh Il-rang experienced nightmares and, after waking, felt headaches, dizziness, chills, bad breath, and nausea, there is some reason to suspect the use of an anesthetic. However, observing this from a psychoscientific perspective, even in light of the development of modern scientific knowledge, it is inevitable that misunderstandings arise. That is, because the truth of dreams and somnambulism is academically clarified and commonly understood to a very shallow degree, if one were to judge based on the following two paragraphs of explanation, it would be recognized that these phenomena are not due to the use of an anesthetic, but rather are most prominently shown as concomitant symptoms of somnambulism.
The headaches, nausea, and fatigue Oh Il-rang felt after waking are all common concomitant symptoms of somnambulism, but what I particularly want to highlight as an interesting observation is his statement that he felt an unpleasant odor in his mouth. I intend to discuss such bad breath in somnambulists in detail on another occasion in "On Yokai," but to reveal a part of it here, somnambulists generally, driven by an internal impulse, do not feel fatigue until they complete a certain episode, and sometimes possess energy and endurance beyond the imagination of ordinary people. However, after the peak or main part of that episode, it is a physiologically natural consequence for the mind to relax, feel abnormal fatigue, and experience severe thirst. The same is true after waking from mild somnambulism or nightmares accompanied by agony and groaning. Based on this reasoning, an excellent reference for comparative study with this incident is the ghost story known as Rokurokubi or Nukekubi, passed down in Japanese legends.
There is no need to retell the ghost story of Rokurokubi as a symbol of the psychology of dreams and somnambulism. However, at the same time, the fact that this Rokurokubi has a habit of licking impure water such as oil or sewage, and therefore feels a foul odor in its mouth the next morning, has been explained by this type of ghost story and painting. While it may sound absurd at first, it is by no means so.
In this ghost story, it is presumed that only the head escaped and licked something, but in reality, it is the result of the person being driven by physiological desires during somnambulism, craving and searching for some liquid, and then consuming it. This is a desire that occurs after the peak of a seizure, and since the person is continuing to somnambulate stimulated by intense thirst, their consciousness must be significantly reduced, and their ability to explore weakened. Therefore, it is natural that whatever the liquid may be, the moment they recognize it as something like water or some other liquid, they immediately swallow it.
For people in the past, it would have been natural for someone to put something like oil or sewage in their mouth during somnambulism without realizing it, and then the next morning feel an abnormal bad breath or complain of headaches and nausea due to indigestion from what they swallowed, leading their family to suspect something. The rokurokubi, or the protagonist of somnambulism, is represented by a beautiful woman of marriageable age who suppresses her usual instinctive psychology, or by a three-eyed monster symbolizing lower animals, her ancestors. The animalistic act of sticking out a long tongue and licking liquid is connected to this, which serves as good reference material for studying the genetic expression of animal psychology in psychogenetics, but we will avoid going into detail here.
Considering the above, Wu Ichiro's bad breath after waking up is not due to an abnormality in the olfactory nerve caused by the anesthetic used for inhalation or injection, nor is it a re-secretion of the medication from the oral mucosa. Rather, it is evidence that he ingested some non-water liquid (such as perfume, lotion, or volatile cleaning oil) that night, and most of the other pathological phenomena are also thought to be due to the action of that liquid. However, it is regrettable that investigations into this point have been completely ignored.
The nightmare that Wu Ichiro allegedly experienced around 1:05 AM on the night of the incident, after waking up briefly and then falling back asleep, was actually just a memory of something he saw for a short period before his second awakening, and like an ordinary dream, it has no direct connection to the content of his somnambulism. Rather, as explained previously, it is clear that it was influenced by something he uttered during his somnambulism.
When considering this incident, it can be inferred that Wu Ichiro's seizure on that night occurred between his first and second awakenings. If the victim's time of death was between 2:00 and 3:00 AM, then Wu Ichiro likely fell into a state of somnambulism about thirty minutes to an hour after his second sleep. His second awakening in the early morning can be regarded as an manifestation of his subconscious during a normal awakening. From the phenomenon of sweating, it can be inferred that in his subsequent sleep, Wu Ichiro was finally freed from the aftereffects of somnambulism and the nightmares stimulated by what he had swallowed during somnambulism, entering into a true deep sleep.
Next, when Wu Ichiro was interrogated by the police under suspicion of matricide after waking up, the slight doubt that crossed his mind, "Could it be that I killed her and then forgot?" while he was in a daze, seems like important evidence that he remembered a part of his somnambulism. The fact of his somnambulism that night should not exist in his conscious memory, but it is possible that something from his unconscious memory created by cells other than the brain, such as the strong fatigue he felt at the time, surfaced into his consciousness due to the police inspector's suggestive questioning. However, looking at this from another perspective, it is also conceivable that Wu Ichiro, a person of pure disposition, clear conscience, and keen intellect who enjoys novels, developed a peculiar illusion as a result of facing such a situation. Therefore, this doubt does not definitively prove the existence of Wu Ichiro's somnambulism. It is merely noted here as supplementary reference.
From the above, we can understand why somnambulists have traditionally been considered to possess a kind of dual personality. That is, a part of the personality of a single human being, in whom countless memories inherited from ancestors and countless characteristics such as various races, lineages, and individualities contained in the bloodline are unified, separates and appears during wakefulness, which is what is called dual personality, and similarly, what is manifested during sleep is somnambulism. It is clear that such a predisposition to somnambulism is hereditary, and it should be added as a reference for legal consideration of this case that the somnambulist themselves are rarely responsible for crimes committed during somnambulism; rather, it is often the ancestors who passed it on or the society of that era that should bear the responsibility.
We cannot help but wonder if something is lurking deep within Ichiro Kure's mind that causes the strange phenomenon of somnambulism. His mother, Chiyoko, possesses an unusually clear mind for a woman and a strong will. However, her adherence to common and foolish superstitions regarding the fate of mother and child makes us suspect that some kind of anxiety or worry constantly exists in her heart.
A fortune teller once said, "You are cursed by someone." That remark must have been the result of sensing something in Chiyoko's words during a conversation with her.
When Yachiyo first met Ichiro Kure in the detention cell at the Nogata Police Station, she asked, "Weren't you dreaming something?" Ichiro Kure replied, "Because I've heard about somnambulism," but it is strange that Yachiyo, a farmer's wife, would consider a supernatural mental phenomenon in such an emergency, leaving room to believe that she might be compelled by some urgent circumstances.
Yachiyo revealed that her niece, Hama, from her family home, had few close relatives. Many wealthy rural families have bloodlines that are isolated. The cause of this isolation often stems from a bad reputation or an abominable genetic predisposition related to family status or lineage. The Kure family is sometimes suspected of being one such family.
Although her younger sister, Chiyoko, repeatedly explained that the reason for her running away from home was to pursue training in embroidery and painting, when this is considered in light of the aforementioned suspicion, it seems to contain another meaning. Did Chiyoko foresee that marriage would be impossible as long as she remained in this house with her sister, and did she leave home under a secret agreement with her sister? This raises the suspicion that her attitude towards the search for her sister might have been somewhat cold. Given that both of them possess unusually strong personalities for women, it is easy to imagine that a secret agreement could have been formed.
Considering Ms. Matsumura Matsuko's statement about "the rumor that Chiyoko is a famous man-eater" in conjunction with the aforementioned questions, it might provide a clue to understanding Chiyoko's subsequent actions after running away from home.
Through the above suspicions, it was sufficiently suggested from the beginning of this incident that something traditional and terrifying existed in the Kure family of niece Hama, and that the sisters Yachiyo and Chiyoko might be well aware of it.
The remaining question is "what kind of psychological heredity caused Kure Ichiro's somnambulism attacks." The first attack had a simple direct trigger for somnambulism, "the beauty of a woman's sleeping face," and since that stimulus was given by his mother, the implication of the Kure family's unique psychological heredity is considered to have been very shallow. Therefore, the content of the somnambulism only matched the Kure family's unique psychological heredity in "hanging," and it is presumed that the rest was merely a deviant somnambulism stemming from the corpse and its appearance.
The solution and explanation for these questions would be revealed by the second attack, which occurred approximately two years after the occurrence of the NÅgata incident.
Let's hear Sengoro Tokura's account of the second attack.
The interview took place on April 26, Taisho 15, the day the bride murder incident occurred in Meinohama, around 1:00 PM. The location was Sengoro Tokura's home in Meinohama-cho, Sawara-gun, Fukuoka Prefecture. He was a regular farmhand for Yaeko Kure and was fifty-five years old at the time.
"Oh, there was nothing more terrifying than that. At that time, I fell from the top of the ladder and hurt my back. Now, as you can see, I'm in pain and have to crawl even to relieve myself. I almost lost my life. However, since this morning, I've been drinking roasted eggplant with sake and crushing and applying a miraculous crucian carp, so the pain seems to have subsided considerably.
The Kure family is a renowned wealthy farming family that produces over a thousand bales of rice. With sericulture and poultry farming, it seems that the current Yaeko is managing the finances alone, and their fortune is steadily growing. The school was built by them, and the temple was built by their ancestors. The heir, young master Ichiro Kure, is a very fortunate man, so I never imagined something like this would happen."
The young master was a gentle and quiet person. Since he came here from Nogata, he seemed to have been studying constantly in the inner parlor, but he never acted arrogantly towards his employees or neighbors, and he was truly well-regarded.
Until then, only the widowed Yaeko Kure and her seventeen-year-old daughter Omoyo lived in the Kure household, and the atmosphere inside the house was somewhat gloomy. However, when the young master arrived in the spring of the year before last, the house mysteriously became brighter little by little, and we also felt a renewed desire to work.
Then, this spring, there was news that the young master had graduated from high school in Fukuoka with the top grades and would also be entering a university in Fukuoka with the top score. To celebrate this, the wedding ceremony of the young master and Omoyo was to be held, and the Kure household was filled with an atmosphere of excitement.