Boy in Formalin Murder Case

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Warning:

This article contains content that some may find disturbing. If you are a kid, watch THIS instead.

<Summary>

A twelve-year-old boy got kidnapped and murdered, and his remains were found stored in formalin. 

The case gained nationwide attention because both the victim and perpetrator had a famous parent.

<Ransom Note>

On 4th April 1957 (Showa 32), just after 14.00, a housewife living in Nakano-ku, Tokyo, received a postcard.

The postcard stated:

“If you want your son back, bring 150,000 yen to Tsurugashima station on Tojo Line by 4 this afternoon.”

She discovered then that her twelve-year-old son, Kazutoshi Suyama (巣山和利), who had gone to a sento (public bathhouse) near their home on the evening of 2nd April, and had never returned, had been kidnapped.

At this point, she had not yet alerted to the police, for fear of causing scandal to her former husband Kiyomigawa 1️⃣ , the father of her son and also a famous pro-wrestler at the time.

The mother prepared the money as instructed by the ransom note, and went to Tsurugashima station. Detectives were posted at the area, but no one ever turned up. 

Shortly after that, the missing boy’s classmate reported that he saw the boy walk out of the sento “Wakamastu Yu” 2️⃣with a man around the age of 25, but there was not enough information to identify the man.

<Discovery>

Kunitaro Hayashi (林邦太郎, age 26), the son of the famous Go player Yutaro Hayashi3️⃣, had been hospitalised for five years because of mental health issues, but had been convalescing at home. 

However, his mental state became unstable from around 4th April, and he was admitted to the hospital again on 6th. 

While the psychiatrist was examining him, Hayashi kept on exhibiting alarmingly strange behaviours. 

The psychiatrist, suspicious, paid a visit to Hayashi’s home at around 10am on 9th April. He set foot in Hayashi’s room accompanied by the family.

They lifted up the tatami mats and examined the space under the floor —- and found a boy’s dismembered body stored in two large goldfish bowls and two fish tanks. 

More precisely, the goldfish bowls contained the boy’s head and legs, while the fish tanks contained the torso and arms, all preserved in formalin. 

Each container was sealed up with putty. 

It soon became clear that the dismembered body belonged to the missing boy Kazutoshi, and Hayashi was arrested immediately. 

Hayashi (middle) under arrest

<Before the Murder>

Hayashi’s motive for the murder was sexual in nature. 

Even before the murder, Hayashi used to molest young boys. 

He also used to have twelve cats at home whom he cherished, but one day he killed them all and even ate some of their body parts.

Because of those highly disturbing behaviours, he had been institutionalised in a psychiatric hospital for 5 years. 

(His older sister also suffered from some mental disorders. )

Hayashi first came into contact with the victim Kazutoshi a few days before the murder. 

When Kazutoshi’s classmate saw him in the sento, a man around the age of 30 was washing the boy’s back (Note: a form of socialising in a sento, usually done between close people.)4️⃣

Later on, Kazutoshi told the classmate, smiling:

“You know that man who was washing my back? I might get killed by him one day.”

<Murder>

On the fatal day of 2nd April, Hayashi approached Kazutoshi in the sento and repeatedly asked the boy to come to his house.

It is not known why the boy went with him, but he might have coerced into going to the house. 

Hayashi arrived home at around 9.00 pm with the boy, and ordered his parents to “leave the house for a sento,” in order to be alone with the boy. 

 

Once alone, Hayashi tried to take off the boy’s clothes to molest him, but the boy resisted, so he first beat him into unconsciousness, and then strangled him to death.

 

After murdering the boy, Hayashi spent two days dismembering the body, using a saw, a machete, a kitchen knife, and a short sword. 

Then he purchased the goldfish bowls and fish tanks to store the boy’s body in them with formalin.

The ransom note sent to the boy’s mother was only a prank, and he never intended to take the money. 

<Ideal Boy>

Hayashi has kept a diary, entitled “Wakamatsu Yu,” since 1st April. 

 

The first entry read as follows: 

“At last, I found my ideal boy that I had been looking for. I asked for his name and address. I will definitely take him with me. Without fail.”

The entry on 2nd April (the day of the murder):

“I waited for K (Kazutoshi) in the bath. 

As I washed his back, I said to him, “let’s go play somewhere fun,” and he nodded willingly.”

 

And here are some entries after the murder:

“I beat the child. Blood came out. I cut him with a machete. I cut him with a saw. Soaked in formalin. So cute. So cute.”

“I can never get bored looking at the child in the goldfish bowl, no matter how long I spent doing it.

Now soaked in the formalin, the child looks even cuter than he looked when he was alive.”

“Because my parents are at home, I hide him under the floor during the day, although it’s such a shame to keep him hidden. 

But I always tell him “sayonara,” before hiding him. 

But I feel such deep sadness every time we have to part from each other…”

The intense excitement Hayashi derived from having his ideal boy preserved in formalin aggravated his mental condition, and led him to being hospitalised again and ended up in the discovery of the body. 

 

<Hayashi’s Fate>

Hayashi was declared legally sane after a psychiatric evaluation was conducted on him.

In 1958, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

It is unclear as to why his sentence was so short.

He was 26 at the time of his arrest, so he was released from prison at the age of 36 or 37. 

One time there was a rumour that he eventually became the president of a pharmaceutical company but with no further information to back it up on the internet, it is most likely just a rumour.

It is speculated that he spent the rest of his life in a psychiatric hospital, or is still in there if he is alive (He was born in 1931, so he would be 92 now). 

 

 

<The body in formalin>

At the time of the murder, the photograph of the boy’s body in formalin was publicised on newspapers. 

The photo is available for viewing on the internet.

I have put only a censored version of the photo below.

 

If you must see the original photo, you are supposed to be able to find it by searching for “Forensic Gore Collection” online.

But please view it at your own risk, because it will obviously be an extremely shocking photo.

(Note: one person reported that he saw two photos, one which showed some boxes containing the body parts, and the other one that showed an attempt to put the body parts back together, like puzzle pieces.) 

The original photo shows that not all the body parts are preserved in formalin. Some of them are missing.

Hayashi had a history of devouring his own cats, whom he loved and cherished, in the past.

It is possible that he also devoured some of the body parts of the boy, whom he adored so much.

 

——————

Notes:

1️⃣ Umeyuki Kiyomigawa (清美川梅之 ) was a sumo wrestler, known for his great talent and handsome face, before he switched his career to pro-wrestling.

https://sumowrestling.fandom.com/wiki/Kiyomigawa_Umeyuki

Kiyomigawa 

2️⃣ Wakamatsu Yu — Wakamatsu 若松 means young pine tree, and Yu 湯 means Bath. It closed business in 2008.

3️⃣Hayashi’s father, Yutaro Hayashi (林有太郎) was known to be a serious and honest man, and respected by the people around him for his professional integrity.

Yutaro Hayashi

You can still view some videos of him playing Go on YouTube (but only his hands are visible): 

Hayashi, playing at the top, in 1967.

https://youtu.be/h8ecxwOA2Vk?si=jwPfwy4VXP85_zAg

4️⃣Washing each other’s backs as a form of socialising:

(The above article is taken from here: 

https://wattention.com/local-japanese-sento/)

In the past, sento workers used to wash their customers’ backs as part of the service:

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20180210/p2a/00m/0na/004000c

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Avoid getting depressed by watching these beautiful sceneries! 😆✨ (I myself did a little research on kidnapping and psychopath for this article and I got depressed 😱🌼LOL)

Lesser known places in Japan:

Nikko in Autumn: