Miyuki Ishikawa, (1897 – 196?), A Japanese Mass - Murderess
who was a hospital director in the Kotobuki maternity hospital, murder by
abuse, and neglect, her infant victims from 103 to 368, the murders took place
between April 1944 - January 1948, She was arrested on January 15, 1948, in
Tokyo, Japan. She was sentenced to 8
years in prison. Then re - sentenced to 4 years in prison in 1952
Miyuki Ishikawa (石川 ミユキ
Ishikawa Miyuki, born 1897, date of death unknown) was a Japanese midwife and
serial killer who is believed to have murdered many infants with the aid of
several accomplices throughout the 1940s. It is estimated that her victims
numbered between 85 to 169, however the general estimate is 368. When she was
finally apprehended, the Tokyo High Court's four-year sentence she received was
remarkably light considering that Miyuki's actions resulted in a death toll so
high that it remains unrivaled by any other serial killer in Japan. According
to a report of Children's Rainbow Center, writer Kenji Yamamoto (山本健治 Yamamoto Kenji) referred to the
incident as "unbelievable and unbearable."
Her early life:
Ishikawa was born in
Kunitomi, Miyazaki Prefecture and graduated from the University of Tokyo. She
later married Takeshi Ishikawa. The relationship did not produce any children.
She worked as a hospital director in the Kotobuki maternity hospital (寿産院 Kotobuki San-in) and was an
experienced midwife.
Infanticide of at
least 368 newborns:
In the 1940s, there
were many babies in her maternity hospital, and Miyuki Ishikawa found herself
facing what she perceived to be something of a quandary. The parents of many of
these infants were poor and unable to raise their children properly without
financial struggle, and she herself was unable to help the infants because of a
lack of social and charitable services. In order to solve this dilemma,
Ishikawa chose to neglect numerous infants, many of whom died as a direct
result of this abuse. The exact number of victims is unknown, but it is
estimated that she killed at least 103 babies. Almost all of the other midwives
employed by the Kotobuki maternity hospital were disgusted by this practice and
resigned from their positions. Later she also attempted to garner payment for
these murders. She and her husband Takeshi solicited large sums of money from
the parents, claiming that it would be less than the actual expense of raising
these unwanted children. A doctor, Shiro Nakayama, was also complicit in this
scheme and aided the couple by falsifying death certificates. The Shinjuku ward
office ignored their actions.
Many prior incidents:
Similar cases had
occurred in Japan before this incident. The people of Itabashi were accused in
1930 of murdering 41 foster children. Hatsutarō Kawamata was arrested in 1933
for murdering at least 25 foster children. The Japanese government was aware of
this crisis, but did nothing. Japanese
tradition also disputed the rights of infants. Cases of infanticide by a parent
had been typically regarded as bodily injury resulting in death under the
Criminal Code of Japan until 1907.
Her Arrest and Trial:
Two police officers
from the Waseda police station accidentally found the remains of five of
Ishikawa's victims on January 12, 1948. Autopsies performed on the bodies of
the five babies proved that they had not died of natural causes. She and
Takeshi were arrested on January 15, 1948. The victims were deserted children,
and so she insisted that parents were responsible for their deaths. The public
supported the assertion, but Yuriko Miyamoto criticized them, saying it was an
example of discrimination. Upon further investigation the police found over 40
dead bodies in the house of a mortician. Thirty corpses were later discovered
in a temple. The sheer number of dead bodies recovered and the length of time
over which the murders took place made it difficult for the authorities to
determine the exact number of victims. Consequently, the exact death toll
remains unknown. The authorities viewed her homicides as a crime of omission.
In the Tokyo District Court, Ishikawa was sentenced to eight years in prison,
Takeshi and Dr. Shiro Nakayama were each sentenced to four years imprisonment.
The couple appealed their sentences and in 1952 the Tokyo High Court revoked
the original sentence and sentenced Ishikawa to four years in prison and
Takeshi to two years.
The Aftermath:
This incident is
regarded as the principal reason the Japanese Government began to consider the
legalisation of abortion in Japan. One of the reasons this incident was thought
to have occurred was as the result of an increase in the number of unwanted
infants born in Japan. On July 13, 1948, the Eugenic Protection Law (now the
Mother's Body Protection Law) and a national examination system for midwives
was established. On June 24, 1949, abortion for economic reasons was legalised
under the Eugenic Protection Law in Japan.
