The Crime Book

225

After Hirasawa’s death, his adopted

son, Takehiko (right), fought to secure a

posthumous retrial. Takehiko died in

2013, but his father’s lawyers urged

other relatives to continue the battle.

See also: The Dreyfus Affair 310–11

MURDER CASES

“Jiro Yamaguchi”, while in the

second he had produced a genuine

card – that of Shigeru Matsui of the

Ministry of Health and Welfare,

Department of Disease Prevention.

Cleared by alibi, Matsui told police

that he had exchanged 92 of his

cards. Fortunately, he made a note

of the time and location of the

exchange on the back of the cards

he received. Using this data, police

tracked down and cleared 62 of the

card recipients. A further 22 were

investigated and excluded from

the investigation.

One recipient, an acclaimed

artist named Sadamichi Hirasawa,

stood out as suspicious. He was

unable to provide the investigators

with the card Matsui had given

him as he said he had been pick-

pocketed. Nor could his alibi be

confirmed. Also, two surviving

witnesses identified Hirasawa as

the poisoner, and more than

¥100,000 – the origins of which

Hirasawa would not disclose –

was discovered in his possession.

Arrested on 21 August 1948,

Hirasawa protested his innocence.

Soon after, however, he offered a

confession in which he admitted to

committing four prior bank frauds.

He later retracted his statement.

By the time of his trial in 1950,

Hirasawa had attributed his entire

confession to coercion and mental

illness. He was sentenced to die,

but instead spent 32 years on death

row until he died of pneumonia at

age 95. It is thought that no

Japanese politician would order

his execution because there was

widespread doubt about his guilt. ■

Sadamichi Hirasawa Sadamichi Hirasawa was a

Japanese painter distinguished by

his use of tempera – a fast-drying

egg-based mixture that had been

the most common form of paint

until the advent of oils during

the Renaissance. He was born in

Tokyo in 1892, but when he was

five, the family moved to Otaru on

Hokkaido. Determined to become

a painter, Hirasawa joined the art

club at Otaru junior high school.

Even at this young age, many

claimed he was already better

than his teacher. When he was 22,

his painting Ainyu Woman Drying

Kelp won a prize at a prestigious

national exhibition, providing

a solid start to his career as a

professional artist. His works

were selected to appear in the

Imperial Art Exhibition on 16

consecutive occasions.

However, after World War II,

his work became less popular.

Following his murder conviction,

his work was largely dismissed

in Japan as being that of a

degenerate criminal. During his

decades in prison, Hirasawa

passed the time working on a

legal quest to exonerate himself,

making hundreds of drawings

and writing his autobiography.

224-225_Telgin_Incident.indd 225 02/12/2016 15:04