Episode #13: Abe Sada, Part 2

Some considered her living proof of the hazards of female sexuality; others esteemed her for revolting against the patriarchy. Tune in for Part II as Brittany and guest-host Farron unravel the legend and legacy of Abe Sada.

Episode #13: Abe Sada, Part 2 (Show Notes)

A newspaper piece regarding Abe’s crime;
Kichizo is pictured, too

Before Abe connived to murder her lover, Kichizo Ishida theirs was just your run of the mill “married supervisor embarks on love affair with comely employee” story. Roughly two months after meeting, the couple absconded for a prolonged tryst. The money ran out two weeks later. Kichizo returned home; Abe stayed with friends. During the separation, Abe became noticeably agitated. After seeing a play during which a geisha attacks her lover using a knife, she hatched a plan.

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Episode #12: Abe Sada, Part 1

She perpetrated the crime of the century; after cutting her name into her murdered lover’s thigh, Abe Sada left her brand on Japanese history, too. Tune-in to discover how our latest subject transformed from impetuous school-girl to love-struck killer.

Episode #12: Abe Sada, Part 1 (Show Notes)

She perpetrated the crime of the century; cutting her name into her murdered lover’s thigh, Abe Sada left her brand on Japanese history, too. Born during a period when girls and women were compelled to obey patriarchal social customs, she revolted against the archetype.

Born in Tokyo’s Kanda neighborhood to a bourgeois family of tatami mat makers, Abe flouted conventions early. Throughout her youth and teenage years, she was infatuated by the glamorous, yet mysterious world of geishas. It was a scandalous preoccupation for a genteel, upper-middle class girl. Unsurprisingly, after her matrimonial prospects were seemingly doomed she utterly embraced the part of misfit.

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