Moju: The Blind Beast

In Edogawa Rampo's Moju: The Blind Beast, a deranged, scarred and sightless sculptor kidnaps a model and imprisons her in a psychedelic labyrinth of giant sculpted eyes and other outlandish body parts, before dismembering her in a fearful blood-orgy. Her limbs, head and torso are later found scattered throughout Tokyo. The blind killer continues his sexually-charged spree of amputation and decapitation, claiming several more victims before finally presenting his work at an acclaimed art exhibition in which the sculptures are a little too life-like for comfort... The most disturbing of Rampo's novels, Moju: The Blind Beast is a classic of grinding horror and weird sex, tainted with a virulent black humour. It represents one of the earliest literary examples of the Japanese "erotic-grotesque" genre, in which such subjects as dismemberment, mutilation, coprophilia and cannibalism are presented in a perverse sexual context. This first-ever English translation of Rampo's classic is illustrated throughout and also includes an introduction by Jack Hunter, author of Eros In Hell. Moju: The Blind Beast is a significant precursor to the prevalent Japanese horror fiction of today (such as The Ring), and as such will be of great interest to all fans of that genre in both literature and cinema.

About the Author

Edogawa Rampo (1894 1965) was born Taro Hirai; his pen-name is a Japanese version of Edgar Allan Poe, his literary hero. Films based on his works include: Horrors Of Malformed Men (directed by Teruo Ishii); The Human Chair; and The Black Lizard, featuring Yukio Mishima. Moju: The Blind Beast was filmed in 1969 by Yasuzo Masumura, and remains a masterpiece of "erotic-grotesque" Japanese cinema.

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