Japan

ŌKUBO
Kiyoshi

Active in 1971 in Gunma, Kyoto & Fukushima Prefectures

DID YOU KNOW...

Legal Fact

Ōkubo was released multiple times from jail and continued to rape and eventually kill

Metal Fact

To avoid police finding bodies using metal detectors, Ōkubo removed all metal items such as jewelry from his victims

Family Fact

When police couldn't find him, Ōkubo was tracked down by one victim's brother

THE DISPATCH

The Beginning

Kiyoshi Ōkubo was a Japanese serial killer who murdered women throughout 1971. He had an extensive history of sexual assaults, starting from a young age.

Like many serial killers, Ōkubo’s crimes were illogical. He killed women, he said, because he hated the way police had treated him when he was arrested for rape. Ōkubo used many ruses, including being a high school teacher, an artist and a modelling agent, to get to know his victims. He brought props for his car, including paintbrushes and high school books. He had met each of his victims at least once before murdering them.

Early Crimes

Ōkubo was born in Takasaki City in the Gunma Prefecture (a prefecture is like a state, province or department), in Japan. At age 11, Ōkubo sexually assaulted a neighbourhood girl, and shoved rocks into her vagina. As a youngster he was called “Son of Kodaira” (an earlier serial killer).

Between July 1955 and March 1971, Ōkubo spent much of his time sexually assaulting women and being arrested. On July 12, 1955, Ōkubo raped a woman. On December 6, 1955, Ōkubo attempted to rape a woman. He was arrested and jailed. On December 15, 1959, Ōkubo was released from jail, and over the next seven years, Ōkubo sexually assaulted numerous women. On June 7, 1967, Ōkubo is sent to jail for sexual assault. On March 3, 1971, Ōkubo is released from jail on parole.

He said later the police treated him poorly because he was often in trouble with the law. That, he said, was the reason he began killing. Of the estimated 35 women he had in his white Mazda Rotary between March and May, 1971, he had sex with 10. He killed 8 of those 10. He would sometimes pre-dig holes or find existing ones he could use to bury his victims. Often, they were at construction sites to further hide the evidence.

The Murders

Miyako Tsuda

Miyako Tsuda, 17, was a third-year high-school student who loved the arts. She had met “Yaichi Watanabe”, the name Ōkubo used when trolling for young women, in late March, 1971. Ōkubo was stalking victims at the railway station when he saw her again on March 31. Recognizing her, he spoke to her about Matisse and Van Gogh, and about his art studio at Lake Haruna.

They travelled to Lake Haruna, where Ōkubo made sexual advances. Miyako became concerned, and asked to see Ōkubo’s driver’s licence. He showed her the license, but realized he had lied about his name. Miyako realized she was being lied to, and became angry. She threatened Ōkubo with arrest. Her brother was a prosecutor. Fearing a beating by police, Ōkubo attacked Miyako, punching her in the face. Miyako tried to escape, but failed. She was raped and strangled. Ōkubo dug a shallow grave and buried her at Lake Haruna.

Mieko Oikawa

Mieko Oikawa was his next victim. She was a waitress at the Kita-Takasaki Station, a passenger railway station in the city of Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture. On April 6, 1971, Ōkubo convinced Mieko to go to the Motel Wakahara with him. She had met him once before, and fell under his charms. The pair had sex at the motel. Mieko became cold and distant, and told Ōkubo she was not 22 years old, but 17, and married. She said her husband was a cop.

Offering to take her home, Ōkubo instead drove her to an industrial park in Yawata. He asked her again if her husband was a police officer, and she said yes, teasing him that he was afraid. Ōkubo beat and strangled her. He threw her body into an existing gutter at a construction. She was 17 years old.

Chieko Ida

The next victim killed was Chieko Ida, 19, who he wooed with poetry and lies. Ōkubo said he was Yaichi Watanabe, 29-year-old a junior high school teacher. They had met four times previously. On April 11, 1971, Ida makes a terrible mistake. It was on their 5th date that Ida revealed she knew Ōkubo’s real name, having asked around the neighborhood. She knew his past, and his criminal record and his prison record. Chieko also told him she knew about his wife and child, that he wasn’t a teacher and he was much older than he said.

He offered to take her home. Instead, he took her to the Yawata industrial park in Takasaki city and started to attack her. Ōkubo tried to kill Chieko by strangling her, but she fled the car. Ōkubo caught her and beat her. Chieko was stripped and assaulted. Ōkubo strangled her to death with pantyhose (or a towel). He threw her body into a construction pit. Before leaving, he wrote a poem and left it with the body.

(rough English translation):

Alps valley
When rhododendron blooms
Remember
Our words
If you look at the valley
To your Cologne
Kozue’s singing voice, sad Dabi
(Former Iku Tanigawa)

[Iku was his pen name]

Naruko Kawabata

On April 18, just one day after murdering Chieko, Ōkubo met up with Naruko Kawabata, 17, at the Isesaki railway station. As with most of his victims, Ōkubo had met her once before. He told her he was Yaichi Watanabe, a high school teacher. He asked Naruko out for coffee and then took her for a drive. They talked about Western and Japanese music as they drove. During the conversation, Naruko said her father worked at a police station.

After driving to a gravel pit, the pair began to argue. Ōkubo had earlier given Naruko some pantyhose, and in anger, she took them off and threw them in his face. Ōkubo became enraged and hit her. She fled, but Ōkubo caught and beat her. He then strangled her with pantyhose. She was buried in a shallow grave in the pit.

Akemi Sato

Akemi Sato, a 16-year-old, had met Ōkubo a few days before her murder. He told her he was a high school teacher, and had already used his charms to seduce her. On April 27, 1971, the pair went to a motel. Akemi mentioned to Ōkubo her father was a cop, and he became enraged. They drove to the Ōkubo’s favorite industrial park. He told her he hated cops and was going to kill her. He beat and strangled her, and dumped her in a ditch at the side of a new road.

Kazuyo Kawaho

Ōkubo found his next victim, 18-year-old Kazuyo Kawaho, at the Isesaki railway station. It was their second meeting. They headed to a motel and, on the way home, Kazuyo said she knew who Okubo was. She knew there was no high school teacher named Watanabe in Kiryu Junior High. She had even found a photo of Chieko Ida, an earlier victim, in his car. Afraid of getting caught, Ōkubo drove to the Takasaki construction site, beat and strangled her. On May 3, 1971, he buried Kazuyo’s body in the same industrial park as the others.

Fujiko Reiko Takemura

Fujiko Reiko Takemura was the next victim. On May 9th, they met for the second time. He had hoped to take her to a coffee shop, but could not find a place to park. Instead, they drove around and chatted about art, mountain climbing, music and sports. When Ōkubo parked near a mulberry field, he made a pass at Reiko, and she slapped him. She said her father was a criminal who would do terrible things to him for making a pass. She then tried to flee the car, but Ōkubo caught her and beat her. He strangled her with her own underwear, and buried her in the field near the road.

Naoko Takazuki

Naoko Takazuki, 21, had met Ōkubo seven times. They met on May 10, and had sex in Ōkubo’s car. She asked if Ōkubo had been in prison, and the killer became nervous. He drove away, with Naoko named in the seat next to him. The pair drove to a vacant lot in Shimonita where he stopped. Naoko said people had seen her in the car and would know she had been with him. This enraged Ōkubo and he beat then strangled Naoko with pantyhose and buried her in a field.

Note on the last name: Naoko is sometimes referred to as Naoko Takashi or Naoko Takaba. The name “Takahashi” is common, but the name Takashi is not “readable”. Instead, I am using Takazuki, the alternative spelling of her name.

She was murdered on the same day Reiko’s brother contacted police.

Reiko’s brother, Mitsuo Takemura, called police and said his sister was missing. He began searching the area for his sister. He eventually found her bicycle. While he was in the area, he saw a man put on gloves and wipe the bike down. It was Ōkubo, and he was removing his fingerprints. Mitsuo talked to the man, asking if the bike was his, but the killer, afraid of being caught, fled the area. Mitsuo reported the license plate number to the police, who then traced it to Ōkubo.

Arrest & Trial

Ōkubo Arrested, Charged

Police could not locate the suspect at home, so Mitsuo Takemura set up a private search party looking for his sister. Friends, family and employees of Mitsuo’s company formed a search party. They split up and began searching. On May 10, one party spotted Ōkubo’s car and gave chase, but he got away. On May 13, they found Ōkubo and notified police. By May 12, 150 people had joined the search and were split into 70 cars searching 18 targeted areas.

Ōkubo was caught by one search party on May 13. Ōkubo was found with a young woman in his car. He gave her money and told her to take a taxi home. The search party handed him over to police. The Fujioka police obtained an arrest warrant for kidnapping, and formally arrested on Ōkubo May 14, 1971.

Takemura's Body Found

Ōkubo confessed to Takemura’s murder. He led them to her grave in a mulberry field on May 26, 1971.

More Women Found

Through a series of confessions in June and July, 1971, Ōkubo admits to killing the women. He made site visits with police to locate their bodies. Police, however, became concerned that local residents would lynch him. They asked him to draw maps instead of accompanying them. Forensic hair analysis matched the women to Ōkubo’s car. He was charged with 8 counts of abduction, murder and abandonment of corpses.

Ōkubo Pleads Guilty

The trial for 36-year-old Ōkubo started with a bang: he pled guilty on October 25, 1971.

Ōkubo Sentenced to Death

Ōkubo was convicted and sentenced to death on February 22, 1973.

Ōkubo’s Execution

On January 22, 1976, at the Tokyo Detention Center in Katsushika, Tokyo, Ōkubo was hanged for his crimes.

SIMILAR SERIAL KILLERS

Wayne Clifford Boden

Boden, a Canadian serial killer, was also arrested in May 1971

Erzsebet Holhos

Holhos, the Nicotine Killer, was, like Ōkubo, born in January, 1935

Herman Webster Mudgett

Like Ōkubo, Mudgett, AKA HH Holmes, was the 3rd born child in his family

WHERE IT HAPPENED

A non-interactive map of where things happened

BOOKS

Books about or including Kiyoshi Ōkubo (all in Japanese)

Complete Confession-Murderer Kiyoshi Okubo vs. Investigator by Kun Iizuka

Publisher: ‎ Kodansha
Publication date: ‎ March 1, 2003
Language: ‎ Japanese
Tankobon Hardcover: ‎ 254 pages
ISBN-13: ‎ 978-4062117777

The author of the best-selling “Crash Body” interviewed the investigator who was in charge of the Kiyoshi Okubo case, which he himself participated in the investigation. How did the investigators talk to a rare murderer in the murder of eight young women!

In an instant, the moist eyes dry like the eyes of a hungry beast, and the white face is crazy. The mouth begins to quiver and the outer corners of the eyes rise. “It’s the last stand of a small human being. I’ll let people in the world know that a human being betrayed by a relative and scorned as a criminal record will be so bad. I don’t need a situation for capital punishment. So I’m prepared to fight to the end and show rebellion. I’m sorry for the interrogator, but think it’s my last flyer. From now on, I’ll find out that it’s worse. Okubo screamed. And again, I went into silence. –Excerpt from the text

昭和四十六年、群馬の春―大久保清の犯罪 Spring in Gunma, Showa 46-Kiyoshi Okubo’s Crime by Tsukuba Akira

Publisher: ‎ Soshisha
Publication date: ‎ November 1, 1982
Language: ‎ Japanese
Tankobon Hardcover: ‎ 235 pages
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-4794201614

Why were young women easily put on the sweet words of a middle-aged man and killed? Based on many undisclosed materials, the whole picture of the most vicious sex crimes after the war is reproduced in detail and realistically.

殺人百科―陰の隣人としての犯罪者たち Murder Encyclopedia-Criminals as Shadow Neighbors by by Ryuzo Saki

Publisher: ‎ Bungeishunju
Publication date: ‎ April 1, 1981
Language: ‎ Japanese
Paperback Bunko: ‎ 300 pages
ISBN-13: ‎ 978-4167215026

An epoch-making documentary about the murders of the 1970s. Fourteen chapters such as “Awakened Friendship,” “Fictional Bride,” “Older Woman,” “Yumenoshima Jyowa,” “Shitamachi Koijou Grief,” and “Miyukiso Room No. 10.”

連続殺人事件 Serial Murder Case – True Crime Japan by Masaki Ikegami

Publisher: ‎ Dohosha Publishing
Publication date: ‎ January 1, 1996
Language: ‎ Japanese
Tankobon Hardcover: ‎ 253 pages
ISBN-13: ‎ 978-4810422610

殺人評論 Homicide Comments by Koshi Shimokawa

Publisher: ‎ Qinggongsha (September 1, 1991)
Publication date: ‎ September 1, 1991
Language: ‎ Japanese
Tankobon Hardcover: ‎ 240 pages
ISBN-13: ‎ 978-4787230454

Why do humans kill humans? Looking at 12 cases such as boy love murder, dismembered murder, swap murder, etc. A keen insight.

VIDEOS & PODCASTS

Japanese Poet Turned Serial Killer | The Case of Ōkubo Kiyoshi by The InvestiGator

Kiyoshi Ōkubo – The Japanese Serial Killer Who Murdered 8 Young Women by
The Weird Scary and Horrible Parts of Humanity

Okubo Kiyoshi, the Killer Disgused as a Poet by Le Coin du Crime

THE STATS

Age Ōkubo arrested

Siblings

Days of killings

Average victim age

Killer in a Historical Timeline

Statistical table for Kiyoshi Ōkubo

Killer Name	Kiyoshi Ōkubo
Killer AKA	Watanabe Kyoshi
Gender	M
Arrest Date	May 14, 1971
Conviction Date	October 25, 1971
Sentence	Death sentence
Birth Location	Takasaki City, Gunma Prefectur, Japan
Birth Date	January 17, 1935
Death Date	January 22, 1976
Deceased	Yes
Executed	Yes
Cause of Death	Hanged
Psychological Abuse	Father would have sex with mistresses in front of the children
Caused Problems in School	harassing girls at young age, bad grades
Teased	Ōkubo entered elementary school on the day Pearl Harbor was attacked. His somewhat Western features made him a target for bullying after that
Fired	Yes for peeping
Job Types	Electrical worker, radio sales and repair company
Labour Type	Blue
Sexual Preference	straight
Marital Status	Divorced/Separated
Number of Children	1 son, 1 daughter
Killer Type	Sexual/Sadistic, Organized, Territorial
Psychology	Was considered troubled and troublesome at a young age (nicknamed "Son of Kodaira", an earlier serial killer).
comment1	Drove a white Mazda Rotary Coupe
comment2	To avoid police finding bodies using metal detectors, all metal items such as jewelry were removed and disposed of elsewhere
Total Dead Victims	8
Victims (Convicted)	8
Victim Gender	F
Victim Race	Asian
Victim Age	16, 17, 17, 17, 18, 19, 21
Victim Type	Women he met/groomed/stalked
Method of Killing	Strangulation
Weapon	towels, pantyhose, underwear
Abduction	Yes
Sex Assault	Yes
Stalking	Yes
Washing/Water	Yes
Body - Left, Hidden	Yes
Body - Moved, Hidden	Yes
Body - Moved, Buried	Yes
Previous Crimes	rape, attempted rape
Previous Prison Time	1.5-3 years at age 20; 3.5 years for sexual assault; 4.5 years for sexual assault in 1966

Killer Rating

 5/5

RESOURCES

A note on resources: The majority of information for this dispatch comes from three undated Japanese language web articles, included below. These are tertiary resources which appear to compliment and not directly copy each other (ie original content based on similar Japanese language resources). They were written well after the murders. I have used online translation software for all translations. Article names given in English. English language contemporary news articles are also included below.

E. Kelly Hemingway | Last updated August 8, 2021