Sayama Incident

The Sayama Incident (狭山事件, Sayama Jiken^?) is a murder case named after the Japanese city of Sayama, Saitama, where it took place. The incident, in which a man was imprisoned for 31 years, highlighted official discrimination against Japan's burakumin caste.

On May 1, 1963, 16-year-old Yoshie Nakata (中田 善枝, Nakata Yoshie^?, born May 1, 1947) went missing on her way home from school. Later that night, a ransom note was delivered to her house. The note asked to bring ¥200,000 (approximately US$556 at the time) to a place close to her house at 12:00 am on May 2. Her sister, who later committed suicide, brought fake money to the designated place, with many policemen surrounding the site. Although a man came to her and exchanged words, he became suspicious and escaped into the night before the police could catch him.

In the morning on May 4, the dead body of the victim was found buried in an alley on a farm. Police determined that she was raped, then murdered. The media criticized the police for failing to catch the possible suspect, the same mistake made during the kidnapping case of Yoshinobu Murakoshi, which had occurred only one month earlier. On May 6, the day before his wedding, a man from the same neighborhood committed suicide. He had the same blood type as the suspect, but he suffered from erectile dysfunction, so the police thought he could not be the rapist.

Near the victim's home was the Ishida Pig Farm (石田養豚場, Ishida Yōtonjō^?). The owner's family and most of the employees of Ishida Pig Farm were burakumin. Even among the buraku, these employees were regarded as dangerous for their history of theft and violence. The police investigated the Ishida Pig Farm employees and arrested 24-year-old Kazuo Ishikawa (石川 一雄, Ishikawa Kazuo^?, born on January 14, 1939) on an unrelated charge. Although he denied the charge at first, he confessed to the kidnapping and killing on June 20.

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