Honkaku Detective Fiction

The **Honkaku School** (本格派(ほんかくは), *Honkaku-ha, "Orthodox School"*) of detective fiction is a Japanese genre of mystery. The term is roughly analogous to the Western usage of terms like *whodunit* and *puzzler*. Within that context, the word *honkaku* invokes the connotation of "conventional" or "classical" whodunits. While the period where *honkaku* style stories first broke into the Japanese consciousness, which could be called the honkaku era, is generally understood to have encompassed the time between 1889 and 1957, the genre has remained an extremely popular staple right up to the modern era.

## Style

A mystery story which is described as being *honkaku* will typically follow the traditional rules of detective fiction as codified by Western whodunits from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. They have a strict sense of "fair-play" and see the puzzle box element of mystery fiction as a game that the audience can play along with, rather than just an in-universe challenge. They are the kind of stories likely to concern themselves with subjects such as alibis, locked-rooms, floor plans, and other such staples of the whodunit.

Although the word *honkaku* connotes the image of a "classic" mystery novel in an older style, its conventions have continued into the modern day. In fact, while there is a rivalry on the surface between the honkaku school and the more realistic shakai school of detective fiction, it has become commonplace to mix and match elements of both schools in order to create stories that are both satisfying as puzzles and grounded crime stories. Keigo Higashino is a famous master of this synthesized style.

## History

### Introduction of the genre

Although Ranpo Edogawa is generally cited as the "father of Japanese detective fiction", the beginnings of the genre were chiefly the work of an earlier writer named Ruikou Kuroiwa. Kuroiwa was most famous as a prolific translator, however he also wrote the two earliest examples of Japanese *honkaku* detective fiction — namely his novels *Miserable* and *The Six Corpses*. Although it would take the sensational success of Ranpo Edogawa to push the genre into the mainstream spotlight, Kuroiwa's work both as a translator and author would serve as an important starting point in bringing about a synthesis of the Western style of detective fiction and Japanese literary conventions.

### 1920s-1940s

*Main article: Ranpo Edogawa*
From the year 1923 onwards, Ranpo Edogawa became an essential name in the canon of Japanese detective fiction. Edogawa's early short stories were hailed as the perfect unification of the logical style of Western whodunits with the particular interests of Japanese literary culture. Over time, Edogawa became the undisputed king of Japanese detective fiction. Not only did he acclimatise mainstream Japanese culture to the genre, but as he grew more confident, his individual style came to leave a more individualized mark on literary history.

Edogawa's style was strongly influenced by the conventions of grotesque Japanese horror, and he was one of the first pioneers of the "inverted" detective story, where the audience is shown the crime while its particulars remain unknown to the in-universe detective. This style was later made most famous by the Western television program *Columbo*. Due to his interest in innovation and gradual evolution, Edogawa not only served as the father of *honkaku* style detective fiction in Japan, but also as the originator of the inauthentic or unorthodox school detective novel.

### Beyond Ranpo Edogawa

Although Ranpo Edogawa's reign was largely undisputed in his two decades of activity as a detective fiction author, a steady stream of *honkaku* style writers developed their craft and readied themselves to take on his mantle. However, it wasn't until the end of the Second World War that the movement took off beyond the shadow of Edogawa. Once the war was over, the post-war period saw the rise of major authors such as Seishi Yokomizo. Yokomizo's own *Kousuke Kindaichi Series*, starting with 1946's *The Honjin Murders*, was an immediate success.

In 1947, Ranpo Edogawa himself founded the organization that would become known as the Mystery Writers of Japan. Based on the fusion of Western whodunit conventions and the Japanese sense of horror aesthetics, a steady stream of uniquely Japanese *honkaku* novels were written and then promoted by this organization, which has been offering an annual prize for the best Japanese mystery novel since 1948 (see Mystery Writers of Japan Award).

From then on, the *honkaku* style of mystery novel was considered a stable staple of Japanese literature, with new authors entering the fray yearly. *Honkaku* mysteries famously became one of the go-to genre fiction choices for reading during commutes in Japan's public transport reliant urban lifestyle. As a result, from the end of Ranpo Edogawa's career right through to the modern day, a steady stream of new honkaku mysteries broke into the public consciousness. Famous examples include Akimitsu Takagi's various entries in the *Kyousuke Kouzu Series*, Etsuko Niki's 1957 hit *The Cat Knew*, and Tetsuya Ayukawa's novels in the *Detective Onitsura Series*.

However, from his 1983 debut onwards, a new king came to rule the *honkaku* style mystery novel. Keigo Higashino is arguably the only Japanese mystery writer in history who has ascended into the public consciousness on the level of Ranpo Edogawa. His style is well suited to public consumption, combining the rigorous logic of classical *honkaku* mysteries with the realism and weight of popular genres such as true crime and police procedurals. Like Edogawa, he is known for a willingness to experiment and write within any school of mystery fiction.

## The Honkaku Renaissance

*Main article: Shinhonkaku Detective Fiction*
By the 1980s, both *honkaku* and *shakai* style mysteries had matured into varied and well worn genres in Japanese literature. They were regularly combined into highly commercial crime dramas fit for popular consumption. However, some younger mystery authors rejected this impulse to water down *honkaku* stories with any compulsory realism. Instead, they sought to create a new, modernised form of *honkaku* that was even more puzzling and metatextually rich than classic *honkaku*. This led to the creation of the *shinhonkaku* school of detective fiction.

This movement sought to integrate a nostalgic love for the puzzle book style of *honkaku* mysteries with a new understanding of realism inspired by Western postmodernism. The early experiments in the genre are typically dated to the *Kiyoshi Mitarai Series*, which Souji Shimada started in 1981 with *The Tokyo Zodiac Murders*. However, *The Decagon House Murders*, a 1987 novel by Yukito Ayatsuji, is conventionally awarded the honor of launching the *shinhonkaku* movement. This movement has continued in parallel to the more classical *honkaku* school ever since.

## Henkaku Detective Fiction

The **Henkaku School** (変格派(へんかくは), *Henkaku-ha, "Unorthodox School"*) of detective fiction is a Japanese genre of mystery. The term is the exact contrary of the *honkaku* school. To be precise, a *henkaku* story is one which does not follow the rules and convention of classical whodunit detective fiction. The notion of *henkaku* as a coherent genre became necessary in order to describe the abundance of unconventional Japanese mystery fiction which deliberately chose to ignore the strict tropes of *honkaku* fiction. This trend is as old as *honkaku* itself, as Ranpo Edogawa was an originator of many styles of mystery that were explicitly inspired by fantasy and supernatural horror, and in so doing went against the example set by the Western authors he was most inspired by.

*Honkaku* and *henkaku* form a dichotomous relationship by the very nature of their respective definitions. As a general rule, any mystery that is not *honkaku* is automatically a *henkaku* mystery. This means that *henkaku* is an incredibly broad genre and encompasses everything from hardboiled, psychological crime dramas to experimental supernatural plots. In other words, there are *henkaku* fiction stories within every other genre of mystery that is not strictly *honkaku*. There are realistic *henkaku* within the *shakai* school, as well as *henkaku* within various subgenres of fantasy mystery, supernatural mysteries, science-fiction mysteries, and others. The *shindenki* movement is a salient example of the prominence of *henkaku* style mysteries in Japan.

## References

1. ↑ Cheesman, Tara. *A Brief Introduction To Honkaku And Shin Honkaku Mysteries*: Crime Reads. Retrieved 2021-01-14.
2. ↑ Ellery Queen (1978). *Ellery Queen's Japanese Golden Dozen: The Detective Story World in Japan*: Charles E. Tuttle Company. ISBN 9780804812542.
3. ↑ Wong, Ho-Ling. *Chaotic Steps in Japanese Crime Fiction: A Brief History From the 1920s-1940s*: Criminal Element. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
4. ↑ Wong, Ho-Ling. *Ellery Queen is Alive and Well and Living in Japan*: Criminal Element. Retrieved 2021-01-14.
5. ↑ *What is a henkaku detective novel? (In Japanese)*: Kuran's Mystery Library. Retrieved 2021-01-18.