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List of massacres in Japan

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This is a list of domestic massacres mostly committed by civilians or the military within Japan itself. Hence, numerous Japanese war crimes often committed overseas during wartime that have also been classified as massacres may not be present in this list, such as the Nanjing massacre, Sook Ching massacre, Changjiao massacre, Kalagon massacre, Palawan massacre, among others.

The following is a list of massacres that have occurred in Japan and its predecessor entities ranging back to the Tokugawa shogunate (Some historical numbers may be approximate). The massacres are grouped into different time periods. Massacres have become a growing problem in contemporary Japan in recent years, with at least 110+ deaths during the 2010s.

Most notably, the 2019 Kyoto Animation arson attack claimed at least 36 lives and injured an additional 34. It is one of the deadliest massacres in Japan since the end of World War II and the deadliest building fire in Japan since the 2001 Myojo 56 building fire. It was considered "suicidal terrorism" by one criminology professor at Rissho University, as the attack was reportedly intended to be a suicide mission by the suspect.[1] In December 2021, another arson attack occurred, this time at a building in Osaka, specifically at a psychiatric clinic located on the fourth floor. It killed 25 and injured an additional 3. The suspect, who died in hospital two weeks later, is believed to have been inspired by the 2019 attack in Kyoto.[2]

Massacres


Sengoku period (1467–1603)

Date Name Location Perpetrator Deaths Notes
30 September 1571 Siege of Mount Hiei Inside the Enryaku-ji temple complex on Mount Hiei Oda Nobunaga's army 1,500-4,000 Massacre of the Buddhist warrior monks who refused to submit to the warlord Oda Nobunaga.[3]
1579 Siege of Itami Itami Castle, Settsu Province Oda Nobunaga's army 670[4] Defenders from the Itami clan and their families were killed after the capture of Itami Castle.
5 September 1595 The massacre of Toyotomi Hidetsugu's entire family Kyoto Toyotomi Hideyoshi 39 Hideyoshi ordered the execution of Hidetsugu's entire family, including children, wives and concubines.

Tokugawa shogunate (1603–1868)

Date Name Location Perpetrator Deaths Notes
12–15 April 1638 Mass beheadings at the final days of the Shimabara revolt Inside and around Hara Castle, Minamishimabara Shogunate army 37,000 Rebels and sympathizers were beheaded by military forces. Afterwards, the Hara Castle was also burned to the ground.
December 1696 Yoshiwara spree killing Yoshiwara Sano Jirōzaemon ? Sano Jirōzaemon murdered dozens of prostitutes with a katana in Yoshiwara[5]

Empire of Japan (1868–1947)

Date Name Location Perpetrator Deaths Notes
25 May 1893 Kawachi Jūningiri Chihayaakasaka, Minamikawachi District, Osaka[6][7] Kumatarō Kido and Yagorō Tani 13 (including the perpetrators) Kumatarō Kido and Yagorō Tani killed eleven people before committing suicide.
1 March 1919 March 1st demonstrations Korea under Japanese rule Imperial Japanese Army 7,509 15,849 Koreans wounded[8]
15 April 1919 Jeamni massacre Hwaseong, Chōsen Imperial Japanese Army 29 Killing of Korean civilians inside a church in Hwaseong
October 1920 Gando massacre Jiandao Imperial Japanese Army 5,000+[9]
July 1922 Shinano River incident Shinano River Okura zaibatsu 100+[10] Massacre of up to 100 Korean laborers who tried to escape the construction site by the Plant foremen[11][12]
September 1923 Kantō Massacre Kantō region Imperial Japanese Army, police and vigilantes 6,000+ Multiple incidents, including the Fukuda Village Incident
May 1928 Kobe shooting Kobe Chinese man 7[13]-12[14] (including the perpetrator) 11 or 7 Japanese were shot to death by a Chinese man in Kobe in revenge for the Jinan incident and then he committed suicide[14][13]
5 June 1931 1931 Empress of Canada stabbings aboard RMS Empress of Canada, off Japan Graciano Bilas 2 42-year-old Filipino passenger Graciano Bilas killed two people and wounded 29 others with a knife
21 May 1938 Tsuyama massacre Tsuyama Mutsuo Toi 31 (including the perpetrator) After cutting off electricity to his village, 21-year-old Mutsuo Toi proceeded to go on a late-night killing spree with a shotgun, a katana, and an axe before killing himself, 3 injured
2 September 1944 Chichijima incident Chichijima, Ogasawara Islands Imperial Japanese Army 8 Japanese soldiers killed eight American airmen on Chichi Jima, in the Bonin Islands, and cannibalized four of them. The ninth, and only one to evade capture, was future U.S. President George H. W. Bush
July 1945 Hanaoka incident Ōdate Imperial Japanese Army 418 113 prisoners of war executed; 307 also died

Occupied Japan (1947–1952)

Date Name Location Perpetrator Deaths Notes
26 January 1948 Teigin case Tokyo Sadamichi Hirasawa 12 False verdict suspected
15 July 1949 Mitaka incident Tokyo Keisuke Takeuchi 8 20 injured. False verdict suspected

State of Japan (1952–present)

Date Name Location Perpetrator Deaths Notes
30 June 1966 Hakamada Incident Shimizu, Shizuoka Iwao Hakamada 4 False verdict suspected
30 August 1974 Mitsubishi bombing Tokyo East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front 8 Powerful bomb explodes at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries headquarters in Marunouchi. Eight killed, 378 injured. Eight left-wing activists are arrested May 19, 1975, by Japanese authorities.
6 November 1975 1975 Aki shooting Aki, Kōchi Prefecture Ikuya Hatakeyama 6 31-year-old Ikuya Hatakeyama shoots eight of his neighbours with a 12-gauge shotgun, killing six and critically injuring two
26 - 28 January 1979 Mitsubishi Bank hostage incident Mitsubishi Bank, Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka Akiyoshi Umekawa 5 (including the perpetrator) Akiyoshi Umekawa shot dead four people in a Mitsubishi Bank
31 January 1980 Nigishima murders Nigishima, Kumano, Mie Prefecture Kazumichi Ikeda 8 (including the perpetrator) Farmer Kazumichi Ikeda kills seven members of his family and injures 3 with an ax and a shotgun before killing himself[15][16][17]
19 August 1980 Shinjuku bus attack Shinjuku, Tokyo Maruyama Hirobumi 6 A mentally disturbed man Maruyama Hirobumi throws a bucket of petrol and a lit newspaper into a bus. The ensuing fire killed 6 and injured 14.[18][19]
9 February 1982 Japan Air Lines Flight 350 Haneda Airport, Tokyo Seiji Katagiri 24 Flight 350 was on approach to Haneda Airport when the pilot Seiji Katagiri deliberately nose-dived the plane to crash it. The pilot was then subdued by other flight crews, yet the plane remained descending. It then crashed into Tokyo Bay. The pilot who deliberately nose-dived the plane was suffering from mental illness before the incident
9 August 1989 Taneichi murders Taneich, Iwate Hidetake Kakuchiyama[20] 5 Hidetake Kakuchiyama, a former fishing crew member, murders his wife and 4 children over a divorce dispute in Taneich, Iwate[21]
27–28 June 1994 Matsumoto incident Matsumoto Aum Shinrikyo 8 Members of the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult released sarin gas near the homes of several judges who presiding over legal cases involving the cult. 500+ injured[22]
20 March 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attack Tokyo Aum Shinrikyo 13 6,252 injured
25 July 1998 Wakayama arsenic poison case Sonobe district of Wakayama, Wakayama Masumi Hayashi 4 Four people are killed and 63 injured after eating curry laced with arsenic at a community festival in Wakayama. Masumi Hayashi, the chief suspect, has been sentenced to death and is currently appealing.[23]
8 September 1999 Ikebukuro massacre Tokyo Hiroshi Zota 2 6 injured[24][25][26]
29 September 1999 Shimonoseki Station massacre Shimonoseki Yasuaki Uwabe 5 Yasuaki Uwabe, a former architect, drove a rented car into Shimonoseki Station and hit at least 7 people, two of whom died before the car got stuck. He then proceeded to stab pedestrians at random with a kitchen knife, injuring 4 and killing a further 3. Uwabe was eventually apprehended by a station worker and was arrested shortly after. Uwabe was executed in 2012.
30 December 2000 Setagaya family murder Setagaya Unknown 4 A Family of four are murdered at their home in suburban Tokyo by an unknown intruder, the case remains unsolved.
8 May 2001 Takefuji Hirosaki branch arson murder case Hirosaki, Aomori prefecture Mitsuhiro Kobayashi[27] 5 A Former taxi driver Mitsuhiro Kobayash kills 5 employees and hurts 4 during a robbery followed by arson at a Takefuji Corp branch in Hirosaki.[28][29]
8 June 2001 Ikeda school massacre Ikeda Mamoru Takuma 8 37-year-old former janitor Mamoru Takuma entered an elementary school in Osaka, then used a kitchen knife to kill 8 students. He wounded an additional 13 other students and 2 teachers
1 September 2001 Myojo 56 building fire Shinjuku Unknown 44 Perpetrator never caught.
20 June 2003 Fukuoka family murder case Higashi-ku, Fukuoka Wei Wei, Yang Ning and Wang Liang 4 Businessman Shinjiro Matsumoto, his wife Chika and two children aged 11 and 8 are murdered in a robbery by three Chinese students who broke into their home and dumped their bodies in Hakata Bay. Two of the three - Yang Ning and Wang Liang – fled to China where they were arrested. Yang was executed and Wang sentenced to life imprisonment. The third, Wei Wei, was arrested in Japan and was held on death row until finally executed in December 2019.
18 - 20 September 2004 Ōmuta murders Omuta, Fukuoka Kitamura-gumi 4 Mob wife Mami Kitamura murders four people with her husband and two sons.
19 - 23 March 2008 Tsuchiura massacre Tsuchiura, Ibaraki Masahiro Kanagawa 2 7 injured[30][31]
8 June 2008 Akihabara massacre Chiyoda Tomohiro Katō 7 10 injured
1 October 2008 Osaka movie theater fire[32][33] Osaka Kazuhiro Ogawa[34] 16
12 January 2010 2010 Habikino shooting Iichan bar, Habikino, Osaka Prefecture Yasuhisa Sugiura 4 (including the perpetrator)
14 March 2013 Etajima stabbings Etajima, Hiroshima Chen Shuangxi 2 6 Wounded
21 – 22 July 2013 Yamaguchi arson and murders Mitake Kosei Homi 5
9 March 2015 Sumoto stabbings Sumoto, Awaji Island, Hyōgo Prefecture Tatsuhiko Hirano 5 Tatsuhiko Hirano stabs five neighbors with a knife in two separate homes in Sumoto, Awaji Island[35][36][37]
17 May 2015 Kawasaki building fire Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture Unknown 11 11 people died and 17 were seriously injured in an arson attack on 2 buildings[38]
26 July 2016 Sagamihara stabbings Sagamihara Satoshi Uematsu 19 26 injured
5 - 6 June 2017 Ogori murders Ogori, Fukuoka Mitsuru Nakata 3 A Former police officer Mitsuru Nakata kills his wife and two children[39]
6 October 2017 Komatsu family murder Hitachi, Ibaraki Hirobumi Komatsu 6 Hirobumi Komatsu killed his wife and five children by stabbing, he then set the bodies on fire.[40]
31 March - 1 April 2018 Hioki murders Hioki, Kagoshima Prefecture, Kyushu Tomohiro Iwakura 5 Tomohiro Iwakura Kills Four Members of His Family and a Neighbor by Strangulation[41][42]
25 - 26 November 2018 Takachiho Murders Takachiho, Nishiusuki District, Miyazaki Prefecture Masahiro lihoshi[43][44] 7 (including the perpetrator) Masahiro lihoshi stabs his family and friend to death before committing suicide by jumping from a bridge[45][46]
28 May 2019 Kawasaki stabbings Tama ward of Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture Ryuichi Iwasaki 3 (including the perpetrator) 18 injured
18 July 2019 Kyoto Animation arson attack Kyoto Shinji Aoba 36 33 injured[47]
17 December 2021 Osaka building fire Osaka Morio Tanimoto (suspect) 27 (including the perpetrator) 27 people are killed and 1 are injured during an arson attack at a medical clinic in Osaka
25 May 2023 Nagano Attack Nagano Masanori Aoki 4 Attacker stabbed 2 women dead, then shot 2 responding police officers.[48]

References

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  2. ^ "Osaka clinic fire suspect may have copied Kyoto Animation arson attack". The Japan Times. 21 December 2021. Retrieved 2021-12-21.
  3. ^ "What makes a good priest — good looks or a knack for violence?". The Japan Times. 19 February 2023.
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