Man arrested after killing mother with wooden sword in Tokyo

Monday 28th September, 08:26 AM JST

TOKYO —

A 45-year-old man was arrested for attempted murder on Sunday, after he allegedly hit his 84-year-old mother with a wooden sword several times, causing her death.

The man, whose occupation has not been confirmed, is accused of hitting his mother, Toyoko Onuki, in her head several times with a wooden sword, at around 12.30 a.m. while she was sleeping. The man later called emergency services and told them that his mother’s body had become cold, and emergency personnel rushed to the home in Hachioji City. The woman was found bleeding from her head and was taken to hospital, but she was pronounced dead about an hour later.

Police arrested the man at the home for attempted murder after he told them he had attacked his mother. Police said they said they will pursue a charge of murder after taking into account whether he is competent enough to be held criminally responsible.

News reports

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Latest 15 of 35 Total Comments Show All

Jbizzle at 07:55 PM JST - 28th September

^^^^ maybe one of those swords they use for Kendo? Those things hurt! A couple of my jpn friends have them lying around their houses.
animallover at 08:43 PM JST - 28th September

What a coward loser!! A 45 having nothing to do with his life but killing his old mother in her sleep. How sad!! I really cannot stop crying reading the story.RIP Obaachan!!!
S7ro9kGm3aQ at 08:58 PM JST - 28th September

A 'wooden sword'? A stick then.

It's called a bokuto in Japanese, like the one Hiroyuki Sanada used to beat Tom Cruise over the head with in Last Samurai. Most are made from oak or bamboo. Anyway, like you said: a stick. In a fashion.
MeanRingo at 09:08 PM JST - 28th September

I think this kind of thing happens because the mother at some point in the distant past fell in love with her son because she couldn't find love from her husband who treated her as a mother ever since she had the child. The young man is then coddled like a newborn well into his late thirties and realizes that he doesn't have the social skills to attract a member of the opposite sex. Over years of manga reading and hentai pornography something in the brain just snaps and voila. Dead 84-year-old mother. I'm sure he will repent and wonder who will take care of him from now on. Luckily he is in line for a suspended sentence, otherwise he would have found respite in the bosom of the penal system. This way, he will have no one. Watch your panties ladies. That is probably where this guy is going next.
flammenwerfer at 09:17 PM JST - 28th September

I would guess it's a Aikido bokken. A bokken is a heavy solid piece of wood crafted to replicate a katana (samurai sword) to simulate sword attacks. They are quite heavy about 2 pounds (800g) which is more than a baseball bat and made of very hard wood. Because its shaped like a sword with a tapered edge and considering it hardwood and heavier than a baseball bat, it doesn't take much imagination to figure that you can do a lot of damage with one if you really wanted too. Kendo shinai are made a slats of bamboo that absorb shock, pro wrestlers often whack the heck out of eachother with Shinai. A Shinai will sting, a bokken will crack your skull.
DerekJ at 12:22 AM JST - 29th September

scoobydoo: In Japan, I think that where you stand in relation to the rest of society is one of the biggest defining factors of who you are, and is as relevant to ppl watching the news as say age or gender in other cultures.

Excellent point, hannari. To get a little perspective on this, I suggest a comparative law book I'm reading called "Secrets, Sex, and Spectacle: The Rules of Scandal in Japan and the United States" by Mark D. West. It throws some light on how these things are viewed in Japan and why they are approached in the ways that they are.
mnemosyne23 at 12:26 AM JST - 29th September

The fact that the article mentions the police investigating the man's mental competency to ascertain criminal culpability leads me to believe this is more than a 40-something NEET who got sick of eating his mother's omurice every morning, and more that he has some kind of genuine mental deficit. That said, even if he DOES have a psychological or developmental disorder, this crime is heinous. I echo the hope that the poor woman didn't feel any pain, though I doubt she had such luck.

If he's found to be in possession of his full faculties and therefore criminally responsible, then I hope they throw the book at him. If he has some kind of mental disorder, though, I'd have to hold this up as yet ANOTHER example of tragedy resulting from Japan's paltry social services.
grafton at 02:20 AM JST - 29th September

I have read the article and all the posts and I can’t see anything that says this old lady was a sweetheart and her son a retard who had either never left home or did so and came back because he couldn’t hack it in the real world. How do we know if this man is a very successful business man who because he is the only child of the family has been stuck looking after a seriously nasty old onibaba who has been making his life hell for years? The police are worried about him being a crazy because he seems such a respectable looking man yet he has smacked his mum in the head with a bokken. See! You could all be getting hold of the totally wrong end of the stick, or bokken, or whatever it might have been. Me, I don’t know, but this woudn’t be the first nasty old lady that had work hard for many years to earn a cracked skull.
womanforwomen at 02:38 AM JST - 29th September

Why is it that the men reported in the crime section and particularly murder and sex crime are men in the age group of 40- 50?
kp123 at 06:04 AM JST - 29th September

This incident immediately reminded me of the movie, "Seppuku" back in 1964 when the protagonist samurai learned that his son inlaw was forced to commit suicide for disgracing the code of honor by selling his steel blade and replacing it with a wooden one. He therefore excrusiatingly committed suicide using that wooden sword.
dasyhard at 08:45 AM JST - 29th September

This could be a case of continous nagging the offspring to be all they can be or always addressing the negatives (and not the positives) about their offspring's character. The Japanese culture of parents nagging their sons/daughters goes way back in time. They can be high profile doctors or lawyers and yet the parents (especially the mother) would still nag them on their faults. I think Japan should implement a law to have all sons aged 30 and over living with their parents be registered as a potential unstabled person and have him enrolled in some kind of domestic violence program. It seems that this government is not taking appropriate steps in trying to reduce these atrocious tragedies.
fishy at 09:15 AM JST - 29th September

i want to know the reason why he killed the mother... i see some incidents where a middle aged son/daughter taking care of his/her sick or disabled parent and get no help, being isolated, exhausted, kill the parent and etc etc... but in this case, we just don't know why he did it. i hope it is not one of those things that the mother hid the man's remote control and stuff like that...i want to know the reason.
smithinjapan at 07:00 PM JST - 30th September

grafton: "Me, I don’t know, but this woudn’t be the first nasty old lady that had work hard for many years to earn a cracked skull."

Hey, dude... the guy killed his mother, who was 84, by basically fustigating her while she was SLEEPING! The guy's nuts, any way you slice it. Maybe she was a crotchety old lady... or maybe this is yet another incident of 'she wouldn't pass me the remote' or, 'she nagged me over my cell phone bill'; you know, the kind of meaningless things that the Japanese snap over on a daily basis.
smithinjapan at 07:04 PM JST - 30th September

dasyhard: "The Japanese culture of parents nagging their sons/daughters goes way back in time."

I don't think that's limited to the Japanese, and I don't think they necessarily nag their kids more than anyone else (except when the 'kid' is in his 30s + and won't leave work.... or during 'exam hell').

Nonetheless, if you're still living at home with you 84 year old mom (or you've let her move in) and she's nagging you, you tell her off. You don't wait until the frail old woman is asleep to beat her with a woman sword.

It'll be interesting to learn more about the case. Until then I'll reserve my 'poor old woman' or other condolences except to say that I hope she didn't wake up at all.
dasyhard at 08:29 AM JST - 1st October

smithinjapan: You may be right but based on their culture and my heritage which is also Japanese/Okinawan, I'm almost certain that this incident happened because of what his mother said to him. Their tradition of pride is unmeasurable which in most cases the parents want control if their adult offspring is headed nowhere and doesn't have a good outlook on the future.