Talking about Japanese detective novels, it’s always inevitable to mention an author called Tarou Hirai(平井太郎). Better known by the pseudonym “Edogawa Ranpo (江户川乱步)”.

Those who ever watched a cartoon named “Detective Conan” must have a familiar feeling about this name. In the first episode of this cartoon, when Mouri Ran asked about Kudou Shinichi’s name(Kudou Shinichi already became an elementary student because of the APTX-4869), Shinichi was lost his tongue at first and moved slowly toward a bookshelf nearby. Then he noticed two books on that bookshelf, one was “Adventure of Sherlock Holmes” written by Arthur Conan Doyle and another was the novels collection of Edogawa Ranpo. There was a flash of thought in Shinichi’s brain, “My name is Edogawa Conan.” he said. That’s the name that accompanies with me in my whole childhood. Of course, it isn’t the only place where mentions “Edogawa Ranpo”, the prototype of “Mouri Kogorou”, who is a half-bucket detective usually targeted by Conan’s anesthetic needles, is a famous character named “Akechi Kogorou”. Akechi Kogorou is created by Ranpo, and also is the first detective role in the history of Japaneses detective literature. In addition, the prototype of “Junior Detective League” and “Kaitou Kiddo” in cartoon “Detective Conan” are all from Ranpo’s novels.

The reason why Tarou Hirai used “Edogawa Ranpo” as his pseudonym is that he loved reading detective novels when he was young, especially the novels written by Edgar Allan Poe, who is an American author and an originator of detective literature, Tarou Hirai picked those letters which similarly pronunciates to “Edgar Allan Poe” in Japanese Gojouon to make his pen name.

After boom and bust in his life, Ranpo entitled his own house as “Geneijou”, which means illusive castle, when he reached his middle age. To Ranpo, this “castle” is a sanctuary in his heart. Before that, Ranpo had awarded many honors, from the maiden work “二銭銅貨” published in 1923 to “続・幻影城” published in 1963, his works in 40 years laid the foundation for Japanese detective literature, either “Honkaku” sect or “Henkaku” sect are all from Ranpo. Ranpo is an originator of Japanese detective literature and a spiritual leader with fully deserved. Feeling lonely and enjoying dreaming, Ranpo found a place from the gloomy world to rest and turned himself to the king of his illusive castle.

Ranpo often write down his motto to his fans, which is “浮世为梦，夜梦方为真实”. Ranpo believed that the night dream is far more warm and soft then the cold and merciless living world. It was the night dream that made Ranpo create more and more classic works which are fulls of ingenious and magical ideas. Ranpo also makes fun of himself to say that he usually thinking about many ways to kill people without detected by police, and designing a slew of plans to make a perfect murder. No doubt that people will be frightend after hearing such an abnormal saying.

May 1951, Ranpo authorized the Iwaya Bookstore (岩谷書店) to publish an autobiographical reviews collection named “幻影城”. This book is divided into several parts which contain self-statements, commentaries, researches and so on. In the section of self-statements, there are meditations and explorations for his own life and detective novels, which clearly describe his detective interests and hobbies. As for the commentaries, there are summaries and reviews of the detective literatures, if you are interested in the detective literatures and the literary history of detective novels, then this part is well worth watching.

November 1961, when Ranpo won the Medal with Purple Ribbon (紫綬褒章), he said: “This is not a honor for me alone.” Yes, it’s not only Ranpo’s honor, it’s the honor of all the readers and writers who love the detective novels. July 1965, Ranpo died due to cerebral hemorrhage. An old man with a penchant for fantasy entered another dream, once again seeking to portray his own illusion.