Black Gospel

Author: Tatsuya Mukami / Yasuichi Hatano
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-05-01
Features: Black Gospel depicts Japan's humiliation at the hands of the West after its defeat in the war, vividly portraying the dual lives of priests in religious groups and the lives of students at a religious school, while skillfully depicting the admiration of believers for the priests and their devotion to religion. Black Gospel is one of the masterpieces in the author's career, excelling in social significance, ideology, literary quality, artistry, and readability. Its story structure is extremely tight, and it has been printed thirty-eight times in Japan, earning countless readers' favor and high praise from critics and peers. The work narrates that in the northern suburbs of Tokyo, there is a church called Gurelumo, which is the headquarters of the Japanese branch of the European multinational church, the Bacciliao Church. Due to its extremely strict rules: priests are forbidden from going out alone, from holding small amounts of money, from wearing clothes other than black sacred attire, and from practicing abstinence, etc. In fact, the cross on the church tower did not deter these clergy members. The chief priest of the church and the handsome priest Torupekku, who was assigned to the church, are both such dual priests. The priests violated the rule of abstinence, had affairs with Japanese women, and recklessly harassed female believers, taking advantage of their piety. An innocent and naive Japanese girl, knowing that priests cannot marry, still persistently satisfied his sexual desires, leading her down the path to death. Given that the murderer was an American and a priest in a religious group, the police special task force faced great difficulties during the investigation, spending a lot of human, financial, and material resources. At the same time, the media also mobilized more human and material resources than in other cases. Although the murderer was captured with irrefutable evidence, the case was ultimately shelved due to the black political interference from believers of the church, who had infiltrated high-ranking government officials and the Japanese Prime Minister, leaving an indelible stain in the history of Japanese police investigations and in the memory of the Japanese people.