Inspired a series of volcanic lesbian romances

Mihara Mountain is an active volcano located on Oshima Island east of the Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka Prefecture. It is said to erupt once every 100 to 150 years, and in 1986, it was spreading lava everywhere, leaving 16 kilometers of smoke plumes, forcing everyone on the island to evacuate. Since it is in recent decades, we don’t have to worry about another outbreak.

But if Oshima’s century-long cycle was applicable to various bombings, we might have problems over the years, because in the 1930s, another thing exploded on the island: the number of people who killed themselves by throwing themselves into the volcano. Obviously, it all started with a lesbian suicide. Anyway, this is the short version. It’s long.

Aerial view of Mikhara Mountain

From “Same-sex lover” to “A Guide to Death”

On February 12, 1933, Kiyoko Matsumoto was a 21-year-old sophomore at Tokyo Women’s University who allegedly threw herself into the Mihara volcano because of her taboo love for her classmate Masako Tomita. It is said to be a lover’s suicide, but Tomita is stopped by the guard at the last minute and survives.

When the paper captures the wind and discovers Matsumoto is obsessed with poetry and literature, it feels like Christmas in newsrooms across Japan. The headlines basically write about themselves and focus on homosexual romance from every possible perspective.

Some papers say their love is “very miserable.” “Lesbians are killing our children,” lamented others. Some publications, not wanting to waste a very crazy publication, also blame Matsumoto’s suicide, her obsession with poetry and books.

Then what comes out is that Tomita miraculously rescued actually has a return ferry ticket with her and she accompanied another student who committed suicide to Mihara a month ago. The narrative changes subsequently.

Suddenly, Tomita is played as a villain. There are evil psychotic “guides for death” that promote the death of two young women. Of course, the newspaper continues to stick to the entire “lesbian” perspective, because click bait existed long before the internet.

On February 15, 1933, Asahi Shimbun’s newspaper cuts the last sentence of Kiyoko Matsumoto.

Fuzzy records

Tomita was never accused of anything, but intentionally or without anything, and her role in Matsumoto’s suicide did indirectly result in hundreds of deaths. This story swept through Japan, and in 1933, there were 129 imitation suicides of volcanoes and more than 600 attempts on Okushima Island.

Barriers and more guards were erected, but this didn’t seem to help. Pennsylvania paper Reading Eagle Reports said there were 619 Mihara suicides in 1936, with a total of 2,000 people over a six-year period, although the numbers are suspicious.

The exact record is vague, but the suicide of the Matsumoto-style is real. And it’s very strange. Matsumoto left a poem that fits in an emotional narrative that is intoxicated by love that will never be.

But those who followed her came from all walks of life: straightforward couples, blue-collar workers and seniors. They did not leave any poem behind. Many imitation suicides were carried out in broad daylight as the audience was quickly deprived of. They reportedly did hammer it at the last moment, some jumping acrobatics and some jumping into lava.

The last sentence of Kiyoko Matsumoto

Not everyone has the chance to leave the last word. Matsumoto stayed a few, but most people didn’t really help us understand why she ended her life. The day she headed to Ojima Island, her last words to her father were “like clouds.” According to Tomita, Matsuki only said that she died while climbing Mihara Mountain.

She did leave two notes. The man who spoke to his close friends only included a poem by Courtier Ariwara No Narihira in the 9th century, which seemed to hint at Forbidden Love. perhaps. But this is the last sentence of Matsumoto, the most useful content.

This is what I said to my friend’s mother: “I’m going to kill the person I hate the most, I’m mine because it seems to be the best thing I’ve done for me on the other end.”

Content is not as important as the recipient of the comment. Kirsten Cather, an associate professor in the Department of Asian Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, raises the fact that Matsumoto’s own mother died when she was young and that her explanation for the other mother she was close to might mean it could be possible.

Matsumoto also lost a sister in 1932. Therefore, her suicide may be driven by feelings of loss and loneliness. Does this mean she isn’t gay? We don’t know. Maybe she is, maybe not. This is all speculation. So let’s talk about the facts.

Understand Japanese suicide

In Japan or similar situations, suicide is discouraged, but historically, there is no complete taboo. If anything, for centuries death on one’s own condition was seen as a means of maintaining honor, and that’s how Halakiri and Seppuku Come out.

Double suicide between interstellar lovers – called new moon – It was particularly romantic during the Edo era. So much so that Hiraga gennai, Leonardo da Vinci of Japan in the 18th centurytired of the metaphor of Zhen Zhu, wrote down an imitation of the name Bad love journey Two of the lice committed suicide along a carcass, stopped along the temple of St. Anus and finally arrived at the hotel’s testicles.

However, teasing this trend has not stopped it, and suicide (single and double) is still common in Japan. Before Matsumoto, there was the 16-year-old poet Misao Fujimura who committed suicide in 1903 at the famous Kegon Falls in Nikko, which also attracted imitators.

The novel “After Mihara”. kuroi jukai (Black Tree), it is considered a good place to commit suicide due to the popularity of the Aokigahara forest at the foot of Mount Fuji.

People are still committing suicide in Aokigahara, and authorities often find hanging bodies to carry out regular sweeps of the forest. It’s still the most popular Jisatsu Meisho (Suicide location) is in Japan. The fact that the country has a special word for them tells us a lot about the situation of the problem.

In the end, Matsumoto’s death is still a tragedy that cannot be explained by one thing, such as taboo love, poetry and even depression. Suicide is complicated. Her death may be a combination of many factors, some of which we may never know. The best thing we can do is to acknowledge this and stop guessing. Because that’s a game without a winner.

If you have been having suicidal thoughts or know someone, please go through Tell the lifeline.

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