Chapter 1: Reading about the Senrigan Experiment

Fukurai Tomokichi and mesmerism

Fukurai Tomokichi, who worked on the study of clairvoyance, was a psychologist at Tokyo Imperial University. In 1869, he was born in Takayama City, Gifu Prefecture, and after working his way through Daini High School, he proceeded to the Department of Philosophy at Tokyo Imperial University's College of Letters. On the recommendation of psychology professor Motora Yujiro, he entered graduate school to major in abnormal psychology. This was an area of study of abnormal behavior and special mental states, and Fukurai conducted a psychological study of hypnotic states. In 1906, he received a Ph.D. in Letters for “催眠術ノ心理的研究 (Saiminjutsu No Shinriteki Kenkyu)” (The psychological study of mesmerism), and became a lecturer at the College of Letters, Tokyo Imperial University, and an assistant professor in 1908.

A mesmeric state is a special state of mind that occurs in the subject by giving a series of suggestions through a procedure called saimin-hou or saimin-jutsu, and is known to cause different reactions to various mental and physical activities such as consciousness, movement, memory, and perception than occur in a normal state of mind. The phenomenon of hypnosis itself has long been known to peoples around the world, but from the late 18th century, scientific hypnosis was first attempted by an Austrian, Franz Mesmer (1733-1815), and was introduced to Japan in the early Meiji era.

It was thought that mesmerism would improve memory and make it easier to acquire special abilities, which led to a boom in people's expectations. It became a social problem because a number of practitioners appeared and performed secular hypnotherapy on patients. Article 2.19 of the Police Criminal Punishment Order of 1908 stipulates that “those who practice mesmerism without reason” shall be “detained for less than 30 days or fined less than 20 yen.”

Now, it was Fukurai who tried to shed light on mesmerism academically as a psychologist. In 1905, he published the first systematic study of mesmerism in Japan, Saimin Shinrigaku Gairon (An introduction to mesmeric psychology) [99-70]. Motora Yujiro, Fukurai’s teacher, was a professor at Tokyo Imperial University and regarded as the founder of psychological research in Japan, and he emphasized experimental methods in psychology. Experimental methods were also used in Fukurai’s research in mesmerism.

The appearance of Mifune Chizuko

In August of 1909, an article appeared in a newspaper about how LL. D. Kinoshita Hiroji, the former president of Kyoto Imperial University who had been recuperating from an illness for some time, had received a mysterious treatment from a woman named Mifune (Kawai) Chizuko, who had invented a technique called tokenho (clairvoyance). (“Mysterious clairvoyance”, Asahi Shimbun (Tokyo), August 14, 1909, Morning Edition, p.5). Tokenho meant that one could see not only through the contents of a tightly sealed bag, but also through minerals and the body to find out what was inside. It was a form of clairvoyance. In a mesmeric state, perceptions are often more acute than normal. Chizuko is said to have been mesmerized by her brother-in-law Kiyohara Takeo and given the suggestion that she could see through objects, and so she acquired this ability. Kinoshita encouraged Dr. Imamura Shinkichi, a professor and psychiatrist at Kyoto Imperial University’s College of Medicine, to study Chizuko's abilities. Fukurai was also invited to experiment by another route. Mifune Chizuko was the first of “senrigan” that attracted the world's attention.

In the following, we would like to follow the course of the incident through Fukurai's book, Toshi to Nensha (Clairvoyance and thoughtography).

The general conditions of Chizuko

The history of acquisition of clairvoyance

According to the second chapter of the second part of the book, “The history of acquisition of clairvoyance”, Kiyohara Takeo, Chizuko’s brother-in-law, who was a warden at “済々黌 (Seiseiko)”, Kumamoto Prefectural Junior High School, had been experimenting with mesmerism, which was in vogue at the time, since around 1903, and eventually began practicing it on his sister-in-law, Chizuko. Chizuko seemed to have responded well to the mesmeric suggestions. In 1904, during the Russo-Japanese War, Kiyohara implied to a mesmerized Chizuko that she was capable of clairvoyance, and made her look for the safety of the soldiers of the Sixth Division who were initially believed to be on board the transport ship, the Hitachi Maru, which was attacked and sunk by the Russian fleet in the Genkai Sea on June 15. She replied that the division had sailed out of Nagasaki, but had turned back because of a breakdown on the way. Three days later, a further report confirmed that Chizuko’s clairvoyance fitted the facts.

In July 1908, Kiyohara told Chizuko that she could see through everything without being mesmerized, through deep breathing and clearing her mind, and ordered her to practice every morning. After that, Chizuko began to diligently take deep breaths every hour at a time, and after about ten days, she was able to see through the small insects in the trunk of the plum tree in the garden. She showed her outstanding clairvoyant abilities, such as finding a ring lost when swimming in the sea by using clairvoyance during low tide. These abilities of Chizuko were experimented on in a variety of ways by Kiyohara and his boss Iseri Tsunehira, who was the president of Seiseiko Kumamoto Prefectural Junior High School. In addition, Chizuko seems to have used clairvoyance to examine the sick at her parents' house.

The experiments with Chizuko

Correspondence experiment

Now, in May 1909, Iseri went to Tokyo from Kumamoto to visit Fukurai and encourage him to study Chizuko's abilities. In February of the following year, a clairvoyance experiment was conducted by mail as a preliminary experiment. In the third chapter of the second part, "First Correspondence Experiment," this experiment is described. Nineteen name cards were arbitrarily selected from among those Fukurai had, all or part of the letters on the front or back of each card were covered with tinfoil, white cards were stacked on both sides, the cards were placed in an envelope, which was sealed with a small piece of paper affixed to the seal and stamped with a seal of approval, and then these envelopes were mailed to Iseri, who had Chizuko perform clairvoyance. The results Iseri informed Fukurai of were that seven of these envelopes had been viewed through in two days, three completely accurately and four partially accurately with some letters misspelled. When she was mentally focused for clairvoyance, she fell into a sleep state and three of the letters were dropped into the brazier and burned, while the rest of the letters were not completed due to extreme mental and physical exhaustion. The presence or absence of tin foil did not affect the results. Seeing the results as favorable, Fukurai decided to travel to Kumamoto to conduct experiments.

Joint experiment in Kumamoto

On April 8, 1910, Fukurai made a business trip to Kumamoto to test Chizuko's abilities. The experiment in Kumamoto was conducted in collaboration with Imamura Shinkichi of Kyoto Imperial University. Imamura had also traveled to Kumamoto in February of the same year to conduct direct experiments on Chizuko before Fukurai.

Chizuko performed clairvoyance by holding an envelope or box with the target object on her knees in a seated position, taking deep breaths and unifying her mind. Her head naturally tilted forward, and when mental unity was achieved, a visual image of the target object was obtained, which she then described either in writing or orally. The experiment was conducted at the Kiyohara's residence in Kumamoto a total of 17 times over a period of five days, and the experiment was also conducted twice by mail after Fukurai returned to Tokyo.

Joint experiment in Kyoto

The results of the above experiments led Fukurai to “have sufficient faith in Chizuko's clairvoyance.” At a special psychology conference held on April 25, 1910, Fukurai gave a report on his Kumamoto trip experiment. On that day, professors Osawa Kenji, Katayama Kunika, Miyake Hiizu, Kure Shuzo and other professors from the medical school, as well as physicist Nagaoka Hantaro, philosopher Inoue Tetsujiro, and psychologist Motora Yujiro, participated in the event.

Chizuko's clairvoyance had a major drawback when it came to conducting experiments. She could not unify her mind in front of the experimenter or witnesses, so she would be alone in a separate room while performing clairvoyance, which would leave doubts about the results of the experiment. Fukurai tried to train Chizuko's abilities so that she could perform clairvoyance in front of others, but this was difficult, and he tried to ensure the objects used in her experiments were sealed tightly so as not to raise doubts. In the previous experiments, paper was glued and sealed, but he decided to prepare an experiment in which an experimental object was placed in a lead tube and both ends were soldered. To avoid interfering with mental unity, he also used the previous experiment.

In August of the same year, a clairvoyance lecture was held by the Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry Education, in which Fukurai gave a lecture and Chizuko attended. Later, Fukurai and Imamura conducted Chizuko's experiments in Kyoto. The first experiment on September 5 (the fourth day of the experiments) was carried out by experimenters at Kyoto Imperial University, who fabricated and used an experimental object in a soldered lead tube. From the time she was watching this experimental object being made, Chizuko was in a state of “anxiety, finally she sat down on a chair by the veranda and covered her face with her hands.” She stayed in the laboratory a long time but could not perform clairvoyance, so she “lay face down on the tatami mat and wept shamefully.”

The public experiment

In September 1910, a public experiment with scholars and newspaper reporters was planned to coincide with Chizuko's arrival in Tokyo. Dr. Yamakawa Kenjiro, former president of Tokyo Imperial University and a physicist, and many other physicists, medical scientists, and philosophers participated in the event. Three open experiments were held on September 14, 15, and 17, the first and third of which invited scholars, while the second one was for newspaper reporters.

At that time, shortly after the discovery of X-rays (1895) by Wilhelm Röntgen (1845-1923) and the discovery of radium (1898) by Mr. and Mrs. Curie (Pierre: 1859-1906, Marie: 1867-1934), an explanation was also attempted based on the assumption of the existence of unknown radiation.

In the first experiment, Yamakawa prepared a piece of paper with three letters enclosed in a lead tube. Chizuko performed clairvoyance and said “盗丸射,” but there was no such combination of letters on the paper Yamakawa prepared. However, when he opened the experimental object Chizuko saw through and looked at it, he found a piece of paper labeled “盗丸射.” When she was asked what happened, she told that she couldn't see through Yamakawa's experimental object, so she used a lead tube that Fukurai had given her for practice in advance. The scholars asked for another experiment to ensure rigor, but her fatigue prevented mental unification, and the experiment was abandoned that day. The misplacement of the experimental object at this time led to the suspicion of critics. The second experiment in front of the reporters the next day was a success.

In the third public experiment on September 17, scholars placed a randomly selected card from a number of cards that the participating scholars wrote three letters on in a small tin urn, placed it in a box, tied it with string, and tied it with a piece of twisted paper with a seal of approval on the knot. The result of Chizuko's clairvoyant vision was the three letters “道徳天,” which was completely accurate. On that day, Chizuko wasn't feeling well and couldn't respond to the additional experiments Yamakawa had prepared for her. The participating scholars discussed the results of the experiment in a lively manner. At the time of this experiment, there were no scholars who denied clairvoyance altogether. They considered it from a variety of perspectives, including unknown rays and mental actions.

Defending Chizuko from misunderstanding

The twelfth chapter of the second part, entitled “Defending Chizuko from misunderstanding,” attempts to refute the criticism of the physicist Nakamura Seiji and others that “sometimes there are signs of the experimental objects being opened or replaced.” In order to respond to such suspicions, it was necessary to conduct the experiment in a way that the experimental object can be seen in her hands, so Fukurai devised a way for Chizuko to be mentally unified even in front of witnesses. In November of the same year, after the public experiment, Fukurai again traveled to Kumamoto. In the afternoon of November 18, when an experiment was conducted at Iseri's house, Fukurai was finally able to see Chizuko's hand while she performed clairvoyance. This experiment was carried out by rolling two dice in a cigarette case and having her perform clairvoyance to see the pips that appeared on the top of the dice, but Fukurai draped a blanket to hide Chizuko's face so that only her hand could be seen from the next room. The result was a success three times out of five, which Fukurai considered satisfactory. In April of the following year, Fukurai left Kumamoto for Tokyo with a promise to Chizuko to conduct another public experiment, but due to Chizuko's mysterious suicide in January of the following year, it was not possible to verify her abilities through a public experiment.

Other points made by critics are also refuted in this chapter. If you are interested in the truth or falsehood of clairvoyance, please read it.

The thoughtography of Nagao Ikuko

The general conditions of Mrs. Nagao

The clairvoyant experiment was widely reported in newspapers and other media, causing a social boom. People with clairvoyant abilities appeared one after another in various places, and local teachers and reporters tested them with experiments, which were introduced in newspapers and other media. One person who came to be regarded as a person of great ability was Ikuko Nagao, a woman living in Marugame City, Kagawa Prefecture. Ikuko was born in 1871, the daughter of a Tokuyama Han retainer. Her mother had come from a family of kendo instructors, and Ikuko also had some knowledge of martial arts. In contrast to Chizuko, who was unsophisticated and introverted, Ikuko is said to have been healthy and active. Her husband, Nagao Yokichi, was a judge at the Marugame District Court at the time.

Ikuko was a religious person, and had done strange things before, such as predicting a major fire in Utsunomiya, her husband's former post. Around June 1910, it is said that she learned of Chizuko's clairvoyant powers and tried it when playing with a child, achieving mental unification and gaining clairvoyant powers. Her abilities were reported in the Tokyo Asahi Shimbun on October 23 of the same year, and she became known to Fukurai.

The experiment of clairvoyance

Fukurai performed the same preliminary experiments as he had done with Chizuko, but all of the returned experimental objects had been opened after clairvoyance. Ikuko was uncomfortable with the fact that there was a seal on the experimental objects to seal them, feeling that her abilities were being questioned, and she wanted to open it after the experiment. For this reason, Fukurai and Imamura decided to travel to Marugame to conduct the experiment.

Ikuko cleansed her mouth, breathed deeply, and rubbed her whole body to prepare for clairvoyance, and then sat down in front of the desk where the experimental object was placed in front of the witnesses. Eventually, she got a visual impression of the experimental object by joining her hands together near her forehead for mental unification, and then took a forward leaning posture with her hands by her knees and her fingers interlocked. Although the success rate of the results was lower than in Chizuko's case, Fukurai and the others were confident in Ikuko's abilities.

The experiment of thoughtography

Now, as Fukurai and his colleagues repeated their clairvoyance experiments, they attempted clairvoyance on the photographed letters on an undeveloped photographic dry plate. The clairvoyant results were unsuccessful, but when the dry plate was checked after the experiment, it was found to be photosensitive. Fukurai thought that this phenomenon was caused by the subject's mental action that sensitized the dry plate, and he named this phenomenon “Nensha” and began his research. Fukurai asked Ikuko to unify her mind while focusing the word “心” on the dry plate. After the experiment, the dry plates were left at the home of Yokose, a neighbor of the Nagao family, and later brought back to a hotel to be developed, where they were found to have been sensitized. Around this time, 三浦恒助 (Miura Tsunesuke? Pronunciation of his name is unknown), a student at Kyoto Imperial University's College of Letters, was visiting the Nagao residence for Ikuko's experiments. Miura explained clairvoyance as the result of the action of unknown rays of light and named them “京大光線 (Kyodai Kosen)” (Kyodai Ray) (“Toshi Jikken No Kakutei”, Asahi Shimbun (Tokyo), December 26, 1910, Morning Edition, p. 5). The phenomenon of thoughtography was also thought to support the ray theory.

The experiment of Dr. Yamakawa

Dr. Yamakawa Kenjiro, one of the leading physicists in the world of physics, started to verify the data after the publication of thoughtography. Yamakawa had also participated in Chizuko's public experiments, and had been interested in senrigan before. In Marugame, he conducted an experiment with the help of Fuji Kyotoku, a lecturer at the College of Science, and Fujiwara Sakuhei, a graduate student, as assistants. There were several difficulties with Ikuko's experiment. She was extremely nervous about not being believed, and would lose mental unity when she noticed the gluing and sealing of experimental objects. The fact that the room in which the experimental objects were to be prepared (Room E in the left figure) was designated, and the fact that when she performed mental unification she had to leave the room in which the experiment was to be performed (Room A) to go cleanse her mouth, aroused suspicion.

On January 8, 1911, when Yamakawa was storing his experiments in Room E, a photographic dry plate in his bag went missing. Later, it turns out that it was due to the fact that Fuji forgot to put in the dry plate when he made the experimental object, but the Nagao family grew distrustful, and thereafter refused experiments by physicists. The followers of clairvoyance considered this dry plate incident as an attempt at discrediting by a physicist, and threatening letters were sent to the persons concerned. It also became the cause for conspiracy theories that remain to this day. The experiment of Yamakawa and his colleagues in Marugame was published the following month in Senrigan Jikkenroku, co-authored by Fuji and Fujiwara.

The deaths of the psychics and Fukurai after their deaths

Around January 1911, when the missing dry plate incident occurred, the direction of newspaper reports began to change. The newspapers, which had been covering senrigan in a favorable light, began to take on a scandalous angle. The headlines of major articles related to the Senrigan Affair from the Tokyo Asahi Shimbun in the same month included “Whose scheme: the obstacle to Ikuko's experiment, the failure of the University of Tokyo Association” (January 11), “A hideous scientist, the obstacle to the Mrs. Ikuko experiment. She sees through even despicable means. Explanation by Dr. Yamakawa. The experiment is not yet certain. Wonders other than clairvoyance” (January 12), “The great disgrace of academia. The mystery of Ikuko's cancellation of the experiment is due to the nastiness of scholars.” (January 13), “It's complicated and mysterious. The location of the film is known. Dr. Fukurai's indignation. About the theft of film. Eight of the same kind. The culprit behind the film theft.” (January 15), and “Confusion in the academia. A dark struggle concerning clairvoyance. In Marugame” (serialized in 8 installments from January 21 to 30). There were a mixture of articles that focused on conspiracies by physicists and those that questioned those with abilities, but the scandalous headlines stood out.

Moreover, on the 18th of the same month, Mifune Chizuko mysteriously committed suicide by poison at her home in Kumamoto, and the following month on February 26, Nagao Ikuko of Marugame died from an apparent flu. One after another, the deaths of the psychics made it difficult to continue clairvoyance research.

In 1913, Fukurai published Toshi to Nensha after waiting for the right moment. But his theory, “Clairvoyance is a fact. Thoughtography is also a fact”, was not accepted in academic circles, and on October 27 of the same year, he was ordered to take a leave of absence from the Tokyo Imperial University based on an order to limit the number of civil servants. Although the reason for the decision was stated to be “for the convenience of governmental affairs,” it is believed to have been a de facto punishment for the loss of academic authority due to scandalous reports by the mass media.

After that Fukurai retired from Tokyo Imperial University in 1915 without returning to work. After Fukurai's expulsion, it is said that the discipline of abnormal psychology itself was excluded from the academic world, and from then on, the study of psychic abilities was taboo in academic circles. In 1919, Fukurai began training at Koyasan to gain psychic powers himself, and in 1926 he became a professor at Koyasan University. Based on his research on esoteric Buddhism, he tried to construct a system of thought that interprets the results of his experiments, and his results have been summarized in books such as Shinrei to Shimpisekai (Psychic and Mysterious World) [636-1]. He died of pneumonia on March 13, 1952. It is said that on the eve of his death, he suddenly raised his voice and repeated three times, “Fukurai Tomokichi II will be born.”

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Chapter 2