Sada Abe

Sada Abe (阿部 定, Abe Sada; May 28, 1905 – after 1970) was a Japanese geisha and prostitute who murdered her lover, Kichizō Ishida (石田 吉蔵), via strangulation on May 18, 1936, before cutting off his penis and testicles and carrying them around with her in her kimono. The story became a national sensation in Japan, acquiring mythic overtones; it has also been interpreted by artists, philosophers, novelists and filmmakers. Abe was released after serving five years in prison and went on to write an autobiography.

Family background Sada Abe was the seventh of eight children of Shigeyoshi and Katsu Abe, an upper middle-class family of tatami mat makers in Tokyo's Kanda area. Only four of the Abe children survived to adulthood, of whom Sada was the youngest. Her father, originally from Chiba Prefecture, had been adopted into the Abe family to help with the business, which he eventually inherited. Aged 52 at the time of Sada's birth, he was described by police as "an honest and upright man" who had neither conspicuous vices nor any brushes with the law; some acquaintances reported him to be somewhat self-centered, with a taste for extravagance. Likewise, Sada's mother had no known legal or moral blemishes on her record. Sada's brother Shintarō was known as a womanizer and, after his marriage, ran away with his parents' money. Her sister Teruko was also known to have had several lovers. Sada's father sent Teruko to work in a brothel, then not an uncommon way to punish female sexual promiscuity in Japan, although he soon bought her back. Teruko's past was not considered a hindrance to marriage for those of the Abes' class at the time, and she soon married.

Early life Abe was born on May 28, 1905. She was doted on by her mother, being the family's youngest surviving child, and was allowed to do as she wished. Abe was encouraged to take lessons in singing and in playing the shamisen, both activities which, at the time, were more closely associated with geisha – an occasionally low-class profession – and prostitutes than with classical artistic endeavor. Geisha were considered glamorous celebrities at the time, and Abe herself pursued this image by skipping school for her music lessons and wearing stylish make-up. As family problems over her siblings Shintarō and Teruko became more pressing, Abe was often sent out of the house alone. She soon fell in with a group of similarly independent teenagers. At the age of 14, during one of her outings with this group, Abe was raped by one of her acquaintances, a Keio University student. Abe's parents initially appeared to support her but soon changed their response and, claiming that Abe had become irresponsible and uncontrollable, sold her to a geisha house in Yokohama in 1922. Abe's oldest sister, Toku, testified that she wished to become a geisha. Abe herself, however, claimed that her father made her a geisha as punishment for her promiscuity. Abe's encounter with the geisha world proved to be a frustrating and disappointing one. To become a true star among geisha required apprenticeship from childhood, with years spent training and studying arts and music. Abe never progressed beyond a low rank, and one of her main duties was to provide sex for clients. She worked for five years in this capacity and eventually contracted syphilis. Since this meant she would be required to undergo regular physical examinations, just as a legally licensed prostitute would, Abe decided to enter a better-paying profession.

Early 1930s

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