The Human Chair

"The Human Chair" (人間椅子^?, Ningen-isu) is a short story by Japanese author and critic Edogawa Ranpo. It was published in the October 1925 edition of the literature magazine Kuraku (苦楽^?).

Toshiyuki Mizutani adapted the story as a movie in 1997.

It was also adapted into a manga by Junji Ito.

After seeing her husband off to work, the young author identified only as Yoshiko sets off to read the large collection of letters she received from other young authors. These are often letters containing samples of their work for critique. One large envelope contains a letter.

The letter-writer does not provide his name. The letter is a confession of crimes. The letter-writer has no family or friends, and claims to be "ugly beyond description". He is a chair maker and loves his work and all the chairs he creates, even going so far as to claim some sort of intangible connection to his work.

One day, after the completion of a luxurious sofa commissioned for the lobby of a new hotel, he realized that it was his masterpiece. Reluctant to part with it, he reshaped the inner structure of the sofa to allow one human being to sit inside of it. Inside the sofa he packed enough food and water for a few days. After instructing his assistant to organize the pickup of the sofa, he climbs inside. The sofa is then transported to the lobby of the hotel.

Over the next few days, he stayed in the sofa during the mornings and afternoons. It is during these times that he had his only interactions with the people who chose to sit on the sofa. They are often affluent visitors. He becomes very familiar with those people who stay there regularly. He even claims to be able to recognize people simply from the weight and shape of their bodies, as well as their smell. He confesses that often he has found himself falling in love with some of the women who sit on him. He repositions his body beneath them to make them comfortable, reveling in the comments people make on the extraordinary comfort and luxury of the sofa.

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Wikipedia