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    Moju: The Blind Beast
    Moju: The Blind Beast
    Moju: The Blind Beast
    Ebook116 pages2 hours

    Moju: The Blind Beast

    By Edogawa Rampo

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    In Edogawa Rampo's "Moju: The Blind Beast", a deranged, scarred and sightless sculptor kidnaps a model and imprisons her in a psychedelic labyrinth of giant sculpted eyes and other outlandish body parts, before dismembering her in a fearful blood-orgy. Her limbs, head and torso are later found scattered throughout Tokyo. The blind killer continues his sexually-charged spree of amputation and decapitation, claiming several more victims before finally presenting his work at an acclaimed art exhibition in which the sculptures are a little too life-like for comfort... The most disturbing of Rampo's novels, "Moju: The Blind Beast" is a classic of grinding horror and weird sex, tainted with a virulent black humour. It represents one of the earliest literary examples of the Japanese erotic-grotesque-genre, in which such subjects as dismemberment, mutilation, coprophilia and cannibalism are presented in a perverse sexual context. This is a special ebook presentation of the first-ever English translation of Rampo's classic.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherElektron Ebooks
    Release dateMar 4, 2015
    ISBN9781909923119
    Moju: The Blind Beast

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    • 3/5
      Another erotic grotesque short novel by Edogawa Rampo, master of this genre. What do we find in this one? Beautiful women, ugly blind man, dismembering, masturbation, gruesome crime scenes... Not necessarily in that order. Not the best Edogawa I've read... but keep in mind these were mass published in some sort of pulp magazines at the time, they're not made to be more than popular adult entertainment.The introduction to the Shinbaku edition/translation deals with the different movie adaptation of this book and is pretty entertaining. There are a few illustrations from the original magazines in which the novel was published, which makes this read particularly interesting for scholars studying pulp from Japan's 1920s-1930s.

    Book preview

    Moju - Edogawa Rampo

    Credits

    MOJU: THE BLIND BEAST

    BY EDOGAWA RAMPO

    TRANSLATION BY ANTHONY GEORGES WHYTE

    AN EBOOK

    ISBN 978-1-909923-11-9

    PUBLISHED BY ELEKTRON EBOOKS

    COPYRIGHT 2013 ELEKTRON EBOOKS

    www.elektron-ebooks.com

    No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a database or retrieval system, posted on any internet site, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright holders. Any such copyright infringement of this publication may result in civil prosecution

    Foreword

    Edogawa Rampo (1894–1965) was born Taro Hirai; his pen-name is a Japanese version of Edgar Allan Poe, his literary hero. As well as writing mystery / detective stories such as Beast Of The Shadows and Black Lizard, Rampo specialized in the Japanese literary genre of the erotic-grotesque, producing stories and novellas with sexually-fetishized themes of deformity, disfigurement and mutilation. These include The Caterpillar, The Dwarf, and The Ogre Of The Secluded Island. But none are as firmly planted in the underbelly of perverse sexual violence as Moju: The Blind Beast (1932).

    Moju represents the pinnacle of Rampo’s work in the realm of ero-guro, and the vicious black humour of the novella cannot disguise its ferocity and underlying theme of gross erotic perversion. The Blind Beast himself is a remarkable creation; a sightless sculptor who endlessly seeks to entrap, dominate, and ultimately slaughter beautiful women, often luring them to his subterranean lair which, as described by Rampo, resembles some obscene, biomorphic butchershop.

    Dismemberment, blood-drinking, necrophilia and rubber doll abuse are just some of the black delights which Rampo presents in Moju’s sickly pages, making it an enduring classic of twisted misogynistic horror and one of the key prototype slasher stories.

    1. MIZUKI RANKO

    Mizuki Ranko, the young singer famous ten years earlier in Asakusa’s flourishing theatres, was making a comeback at the Teito-Za. It was the most renowned music-hall in town and she had just been crowned Queen of the variety shows.

    Mizuki Ranko got up earlier than usual that morning, and it was ten when she asked for her car to stop in front of the Ueno park museum. She was past thirty and looked like a flower that had lost some of its glow. She was with her student Sawa Kimiko, then aged sixteen, the most beautiful girl of the theatre and jealously supervised by her lesbian mistress.

    The autumn exhibition had just opened its doors. It is somehow moving to see two ordinary music-hall dancers visiting a museum, but you must know that if Ranko was there so early that morning it was for a reason. She had braved the rain to gaze at her own body. It was sculpted in marble and exhibited under the name: The Music-Hall Dancer.

    When the sculptor Satomi Unzan asked if she would pose for him she accepted straight away, seeing a good opportunity to get herself known. Being just at the end of a contract she attended the sculptor’s studio for two continuous weeks.

    When the statue was finished the artist invited her to view it for as long as she liked, but that wasn’t enough for her. She wanted at all cost to see the effect it caused when exhibited officially.

    Look, it’s not very cheerful, said a disappointed Kimiko as she turned towards her mistress at the entrance to the museum.

    I thought it would be quiet with this bad weather, that’s why I chose to come today.

    Ranko hurried towards the sculpture hall without as much of a glance at the Japanese and Western paintings on display.

    The hall was dark due to the fine rain outside, and the wardens looked sad and shivery. One or two visitors stood in front of each painting taking care not to disturb the quietness as they moved around.

    The sculpture hall, located in the middle of the museum, was particularly gloomy. The statues standing there, mute, were somewhat imposing and it felt like being lost amidst ruins in a far away country.

    Naked men were blocking the way looking like savage beasts with their tense muscles.

    The women, thighs drawn together, adopted frightened expressions, arched their backs with no restrain, adopted lascivious poses, their splendidly shaped bodies forming quite a magnificent group.

    The visitors disappeared and reappeared here and there from behind the statues as if under a spell. An unsettling silence reigned.

    Kimiko suddenly pulled on her mistress’s dress to whisper in her ear:

    Have you seen this? How distasteful!

    Her glance was pointing at the statue in question. An immaculate life-size Ranko totally naked and frozen in one of the poses she struck in the theatre, her body unnaturally flexed. A single glance caused one to stop unwittingly, stunned by the astonishing result of such boldness. The jury had specifically chosen this statue as the exhibition’s centre piece.

    Almost perched on its plinth a strange character was observing it with passion, though the term observing is inappropriate. He was not observing. Hands drawn apart he was caressing the smooth marble surface as he would a cat or a dog.

    What on earth is he doing? whispered Ranko, suddenly blushing.

    It must be one of your admirers. It can’t be very pleasant to be caressed like this, don’t you think? Kimiko seemed as uneasy as if it had been her.

    The man was thirty-four or thirty-five years old. He was wearing a black winter overcoat and a cap; his eyes and eyebrows were completely concealed by large dark glasses.

    Every now and then a high quality kimono made of Oshima pongee could be glimpsed beneath the coat. He was a gentleman. Even though unaware he was being watched, what was all this about?

    Hidden behind a statue the two women observed him for a while, and soon realized he was not normal.

    The gentleman was blind. To see him thus, his head slightly tilted to one side, his gaze as if falling on his chest, both hands caressing the statue, there was no doubt he couldn’t see.

    He is blind!

    It does seem so.

    Indeed a blind man could not have acted otherwise.

    For one thing was it not odd he should be visiting a museum, and were not his caresses a little excessive? As Kimiko had just said, he was probably an overzealous admirer.

    There was something disturbing and almost creepy watching a man with only the sense of touch admiring the statue of the woman he loves. His five fingers, as menacing as spiders’ legs, were crawling along the polished marble.

    The eyes… the nose… the mouth… The man lingered on the lips which were similar to petals. The palm of his hand then caressed the rest of the body, the chest… the belly… the thighs…

    It was a portrayal of her own body which was being skimmed over in this way. The statue remained true to every bulge and the smallest hollow of her flesh.

    In no time Ranko had the strangest of vision. The marble statue and her own body were so inextricably intertwined she felt as if the man’s hideous hands were touching her. It was an indescribable itching sensation similar to an insect crawling on the skin. She reacted involuntarily and leaned forward, her hands folding on her chest in a reflex reaction. The man’s hands had just reached the statue’s breasts. The young woman’s nerves were all on edge.

    The itch slowly became a piercing pain. Soon the young woman felt a burning sensation all over her body. She turned pale and was sweating profusely. She pulled a wry face and looked as if she was about to cry.

    She turned her head away, but found herself imagining even more unpleasant things.

    Let’s go and tell the warden. Honestly, this is going too far. We can’t stay and say nothing! whispered a very indignant Kimiko.

    Ranko, on her part, was just about at breaking point.

    Yes, let’s go. We can’t let him get away with this!

    They left the room discreetly and found a uniformed man who was pacing up and down the corridor.

    That’s disgraceful! Just wait, I’ll drive him off.

    The man, who had recognized Ranko, proved to be very helpful. He immediately hurried towards the sculpture hall. It wasn’t long before he came back.

    There’s no one there. But describe him to me. Perhaps he is hanging about not far from here. Don’t you want to try and find him? he asked them in a low voice.

    Ordered by her mistress, Kimiko timidly went to have a look, but out of the two or three people in the hall the blind man was gone.

    How swift of him! He disappeared without anyone noticing! she cried out, stunned.

    The corridor leading to the exit was visible to the end, and no living soul could be seen there either. They questioned the other visitors but nobody had noticed anything and their answers were vague.

    The two women, not really feeling like looking at

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