041 The Tsuyama Massacre: A Detailed Account of Japan's Most Gruesome Pre-War Mass Killing. Driven by Resentment, 21-Year-Old Mutsuo Toi Murdered Thirty Villagers.

The Tsuyama Massacre, also known as the Tsuyama Incident or the Mutsuo Toi Incident, was a horrific mass murder that occurred in the early hours of May 21, 1938, in the rural village of Kamo Town, Okayama Prefecture, Japan. Twenty-one-year-old Mutsuo Toi (都井 睦雄) killed thirty villagers and injured three others using a Browning Auto-5 shotgun, a Japanese sword, and an axe. The incident took place in eleven different households within the Kai'o and Sakamoto hamlets of Nishikamo Village (now part of Tsuyama City).

Mutsuo Toi was born on March 5, 1917. His early life was marked by tragedy, as he lost his parents and grandfather to tuberculosis between 1918 and 1919. He was subsequently raised by his grandmother. Due to the prevalence of tuberculosis in his family, they were stigmatized in the community. Although Toi inherited some land and a house, he was not chosen to succeed the head of the extended family. Despite being barred from strenuous farm work due to pleurisy after graduating elementary school, his academic records indicated he was a diligent and well-behaved student.

In 1937, Toi failed his conscription exam due to tuberculosis. Around this time, he experienced rejection from women he had relationships with, citing his health condition as a reason. This, coupled with negative rumors, fueled his resentment towards the community. Toi obtained a hunting license and purchased a shotgun, later upgrading to a more powerful Browning Auto-5. He practiced shooting frequently and became a source of unease for his neighbors. He was temporarily disarmed after his grandmother accused him of poisoning her, but he managed to reacquire weapons through acquaintances and a sword collector.

In the days leading up to the massacre, Toi prepared meticulously. He wrote long suicide notes addressed to his sister and others. He even cycled to a neighboring town's police station to gauge the time it would take for help to arrive. On the evening of May 20, Toi cut the power lines, plunging the Kai'o hamlet into darkness. At around 1:40 AM on May 21, dressed in a student uniform with leggings and Japanese tabi socks, a headband, two small flashlights attached to his head, a national lamp around his neck, a Japanese sword and two daggers at his waist, and a modified Browning Auto-5 in his hands, he began his rampage.

Over the next hour and a half, Toi systematically attacked his neighbors. He started by killing his sleeping grandmother with an axe. He then moved through the hamlets, breaking into eleven homes and shooting or stabbing the residents. The victims included men, women, and children, with the youngest being only five years old. In some cases, entire families were wiped out. Some villagers survived by hiding or being absent that night. Notably, Toi spared one man who pleaded for his life and another elderly man who he claimed had never spoken ill of him.

After the killings, Toi walked 3.5 kilometers to a mountain pass called Sennonojo (仙の城), where he wrote more suicide notes and then shot himself in the heart with his shotgun. His body was discovered the following morning during a manhunt.

In his suicide notes, Toi expressed remorse for killing his grandmother but stated he did it out of consideration for her future hardships. He also lamented his suffering from illness and social ostracism. He mentioned that his decision to commit the massacre on that particular day was triggered by the return of a woman he had a past relationship with to her family home in the village, as well as the presence of another woman named Nishiyama Yoshiko. However, the woman he mentioned managed to escape, and a neighbor who sought refuge in her house was killed instead.

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