Eiji Yoshikawa
The cause of the defendants was taken up by author Hirotsu Kazuo, who wrote an essay in the literary journal "Chuokoron", which led to an upsurge in support by leading intellectuals and literary figures, including Yasunari Kawabata, Naoya Shiga, Saneatsu Mushanokoji, Seicho Matsumoto, Eiji Yoshikawa and others. On August 10, 1959, the issue reached the Supreme Court of Japan, which referred it back to the Sendai High Court for a retrial. In the interim, it became public that a document confirming the alibi of the accused had been hidden by the prosecution during the previous trials. Forensic testing—showing that the spanner found near the accident site was the wrong size and could not have been used to cause the accident—had also been suppressed.