| Shimanaka incident | |
|---|---|
| Location | Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan |
| Date | February 1, 1961 Approximately 9:15 p.m. (JST) |
| Target | Hōji Shimanaka, president of Chūō Kōron magazine |
Attack type | Assassination attempt by stabbing |
| Weapon | Knife |
| Deaths | 1 (Shimanaka's housekeeper) |
| Injured | 1 (Shimanaka's wife) |
| Perpetrator | Kazutaka Komori |
| Motive | Punishment of Shimanaka because his magazine had published a short story depicting the beheading of the Emperor |
| Convictions | Murder |
| Sentence | 15 years in prison |
The Shimanaka incident (嶋中事件, Shimanaka jiken), also known as the Furyū mutan incident (風流夢譚事件, Furyū mutan jiken), was a right-wing terrorist attack which took place in Japan on 1 February 1961, as well as the resulting nationwide debate that surrounded it. After Japanese author Shichirō Fukazawa published a short story in the magazine Chūō Kōron which featured a dream sequence depicting the beheading of the Emperor and his family with a guillotine, a 17-year-old rightist named Kazutaka Komori broke into the home of Chūō Kōron president Hōji Shimanaka, murdering his maid and severely wounding his wife.
The Shimanaka Incident played an important role in establishing so-called "Chrysanthemum taboo" in postwar Japan, whereby writers and the mass media would practice self-censorship and refrain from literary or artistic depictions of the Emperor or Imperial Family members.[1][2]
- ^ Kapur, Nick (2018). Japan at the Crossroads: Conflict and Compromise after Anpo. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 261. ISBN 978-0-674-98848-4.
- ^ Yoshida, Reiji; Nagata, Kazuaki (22 January 2015). "Self-censorship is biggest threat to free speech in Japan". The Japan Times. Archived from the original on 24 January 2015. Retrieved 16 October 2021.