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.
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.
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.
Abe began work as a prostitute in Osaka's famous Tobita brothel district, but soon gained a reputation as a troublemaker. She stole money from clients and attempted to leave the brothel several times, but was soon tracked down by the well-organized legal prostitution system. After two years, Abe eventually succeeded in escaping and took a job as a waitress. However, not satisfied with the wages, she returned to prostitution, though now unlicensed, and began working in the unlicensed brothels of Osaka in 1932. After the death of her mother in January 1933, Abe traveled to Tokyo to visit her father, and her mother's grave. She entered into the prostitution market in Tokyo and while there became a mistress for the first time. When her father became gravely ill in January 1934, Abe nursed him for ten days until his death.
In October 1934, Abe was arrested in a police raid on the unlicensed brothel at which she was working at the time. Kinnosuke Kasahara, a well-connected friend of the brothel owner, arranged for her release. Kasahara was attracted to Abe, finding that she had no debts, and with Abe's agreement made her his mistress. He set up a house for Abe on December 20, 1934, and also provided her with an income. In his deposition to police, he remembered, "She was really strong, a real powerful one. Even though I am pretty jaded, she was enough to astound me. She wasn't satisfied unless we did it two, three, or four times a night. To her, it was unacceptable unless I had my hand on her private parts all night long… At first it was great, but after a couple of weeks I got a little exhausted." When Abe suggested that Kasahara leave his wife to marry her, he refused. She then asked Kasahara to allow her to take another lover, which he also refused. Their relationship ended and, to escape him, Abe left for Nagoya. Kasahara ended his testimony with an angry remark about Abe: "She is a slut and a whore. And as what she has done makes clear, she is a woman whom men should fear." Likewise, Abe remembered Kasahara in less than flattering terms, saying, "He didn't love me and treated me like an animal. He was the kind of scum who would then plead with me when I said that we should break up."
In Nagoya, again intending to leave the sex industry, Abe began working as a maid at a restaurant. She soon became romantically involved with a customer at the restaurant, Gorō Ōmiya, a professor and banker who aspired to become a member of the Diet of Japan. Knowing that the restaurant would not tolerate a maid having sexual relations with clients, and having become bored with Nagoya, Abe returned to Tokyo in June 1935. Ōmiya met her there and, finding that she had previously contracted syphilis, paid for her stay at a hot springs resort in Kusatsu from November 1935 until January 1936. In January, Ōmiya suggested that Abe could become financially independent by opening a small restaurant and recommended that she should start working as an apprentice in the restaurant business.
Acquaintance with Kichizō Ishida
Back in Tokyo, Abe began work as an apprentice at the Yoshidaya restaurant on February 1, 1936. The owner of this establishment, 42-year-old Kichizō Ishida, had worked his way up in the business, starting as an apprentice at a restaurant specializing in eel dishes. He had opened Yoshidaya in Tokyo's Nakano ward in 1920. By the time Abe joined his restaurant, Ishida had become known as a womanizer who did little in the way of running the restaurant, which in actuality was managed by his wife.
Not long after Abe began work at Yoshidaya, Ishida began making amorous advances towards her. Ōmiya had never satisfied Abe sexually, and she was responsive to Ishida's approaches. In mid-April, Abe and Ishida initiated their sexual relationship in the restaurant to the accompaniment of a romantic ballad sung by one of the restaurant's geisha. On April 23, they met for a pre-arranged sexual encounter at a teahouse, or machiai—the contemporary equivalent of a love hotel—in the Shibuya ward. Planning only for a short fling, the couple instead remained in bed for four days. On the night of April 27, they moved to another teahouse in the distant neighborhood of Futako Tamagawa, where they continued to drink and have sex, occasionally with the accompaniment of a geisha's singing, and would continue even as maids entered the room to serve sake. They next moved to the Ogu neighborhood. Ishida did not return to his restaurant until the morning of May 8, after an absence of about two weeks. Of Ishida, Abe later said, "It is hard to say exactly what was so good about Ishida. But it was impossible to say anything bad about his looks, his attitude, his skill as a lover, the way he expressed his feelings. I had never met such a sexy man."