Sada Abe

Sada Abe (阿部 定, Abe Sada, May 28, 1905 – after 1971) was a Japanese woman who is remembered for erotically asphyxiating her lover, Kichizo Ishida (石田 吉蔵, Ishida Kichizō), on May 18, 1936, and then cutting off his penis and testicles and carrying them around with her in her kimono. The story became a national sensation in Japan, acquiring mythic overtones, and has since been interpreted by artists, philosophers, novelists and filmmakers.

Family background

Sada Abe was the seventh of eight children of Shigeyoshi and Katsu Abe, an upper middle-class family of tatami mat makers in Tokyo's Kanda neighborhood. Only four of the Abe children survived to adulthood, and of those, Sada was the youngest. Abe's father, Shigeyoshi Abe, was originally from Chiba Prefecture. He had been adopted into the Abe family to help with the business, which he eventually inherited. Aged 52 at the time of Sada's birth, Shigeyoshi Abe was described by police as "an honest and upright man" who had neither conspicuous vices nor any brushes with the law, although some acquaintances reported him to be somewhat self-centered, with a taste for extravagance. Sada's mother, Katsu Abe, likewise had no known legal or moral blemishes on her record.