It’s a mystery thriller short story that features a female author named Yoshiko, reading a letter from someone who got an idea to uh, become a “human chair.” And what seems to simply be just a creepy letter soon becomes somewhat personal.
Definitely taking “living in your walls” and “sliding into your DMs” for a wild ride, even before these phrases were even a thing.
In my opinion, this is one of Edogawa’s more notable works, mostly because Junji Ito made a manga version of this story, if I remember correctly, anyway.
Not going to lie, these are a bit of a spoiler, so I’ll try not to say too much, at least until we get to the summary below. Also, the number of characters kind of depends on how you interpret it, so take this how you will.
Yoshiko – A famous author who has a husband who’s a diplomat. A lot of people admire her for her work, and so she gets a lot of either fan letters or amateur manuscripts for her to read.
Unnamed man, “the human chair” – A furniture maker who describes himself as ugly and without talent for the arts (yet he can write such a compelling letter... and make really good chairs) who gets a really cursed idea of becoming a “human chair” and confesses his experience to Yoshiko.
Unnamed letter writer – May or may not be the “human chair” guy, depending on how you interpret this whole thing. Says the “letter” is actually a manuscript, but who knows?
Yoshiko was attending to her fan mail one day, when she notices what seems to be a manuscript. But when reading the first few lines of it, she realizes it’s a letter.
It’s from a man who says that this is a confession of his of some sort and goes on to introduce himself and his profession. Apparently, he’s a furniture maker who got good enough to move on to making luxury chairs.
He relays that one time, when he was working on an order from a foreigner-owned hotel, he got the idea of making a space for himself inside, enough for his own body and a few provisions to last him around 2-3 days at a time. Soon, the chair was taken to the said hotel and placed in the lobby, where various people would sit on the chair.
He originally thought to just steal things when no one was looking, and then go home when he had enough stuff. However, all that changed when he realized that he loved the sensations that came with people sitting on the chair with him inside. How he was pretty much getting into contact with other people’s flesh through the leather. (I guess this would be some sort of touch starvation thing or something, considering he didn’t have opportunities to come into contact with people due to being ugly.)
He stayed at the hotel for so long, that soon, the time came when the hotel changed management, and some of the more luxurious items had to be sold, including the chair. At first he thought he was going to have to leave the chair soon, but he decided to be patient and see who would buy him/the chair.
The chair ended up at the home of a high-ranking Japanese official, whose wife would sit on him often. He describes how he would accommodate the wife, to make her love him/the chair, and then later on he admits that the said wife is Yoshiko, and the chair that she’s using is that chair he’s in.
At the end of the letter, he requests to meet with her, since he didn’t want to just show up without warning or anything. But of course, as you would expect, she freaks out and starts wondering if it was indeed true and all.
Thankfully, the maid comes in with another letter from the same man, and while Yoshiko was hesitant at first (who knows what horror she would encounter, right?) she soon reads it as well. Turns out, the earlier letter was a manuscript for her to review, and would soon be called “The Human Chair.”
This story is a creepily good example of subverting people’s expectations, and can still leave you wondering if the conclusion in the end was all it was. Like Yoshiko, who was reading the manuscript, the reader of the story can be lulled into the thought that, “Oh, this is a letter!”
And when you get to the creepy part, you get this feeling that maybe you’re in too deep, and yet, you couldn’t help but read on to see what happens. And you also can’t help but be scared for Yoshiko, as she might actually be in danger. The whole tale seems to be in the realm of possibility, and it seems a little too personal to simply be dismissed as a story.
I am also wondering if Edogawa had ever submitted a manuscript this way... Either way, I would say it’s a good, solid story.
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