Otoya Yamaguchi

Otoya Yamaguchi
The photo of Otoya Yamaguchi that won the Pulitzer Prize. It shows Yamaguchi in the act that made him famous - murdering Japanese politician Inejiro Asanuma Yasushi Nagao's prize-winning photo of Yamaguchi (center) murdering Inejiro Asanuma.
Native name	山口 二矢
Born	(1943-02-22)February 22, 1943 Tokyo, Japan
Died	Japan
Known for	Assassination of Inejiro Asanuma

Otoya Yamaguchi (山口 二矢, Yamaguchi Otoya, February 22, 1943 – November 2, 1960) was a Japanese ultranationalist who assassinated Inejiro Asanuma, a politician and head of the Japan Socialist Party. Yamaguchi was a member of a right-wing Uyoku dantai group, and assassinated Asanuma by wakizashi on October 12, 1960, at Tokyo's Hibiya Hall during a political debate in advance of parliamentary elections.

Death

Less than three weeks after the assassination, while being held in a juvenile detention facility, Yamaguchi mixed a small amount of toothpaste with water and wrote on his cell wall, "Seven lives for my country. Long live His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor!" Yamaguchi then knotted strips of his bedsheet into a makeshift rope and used it to hang himself from a light fixture. The phrase "seven lives for my country" was a reference to the last words of 14th century samurai Kusunoki Masashige.

Legacy

A photograph taken by Yasushi Nagao immediately after Otoya withdrew his sword from Asanuma would later go on to win the 1961 Pulitzer Prize, and the 1960 World Press Photo award. Footage of the incident was also captured.

Nobel Prize-winning author Kenzaburō Ōe based his 1961 novellas Seventeen and The Death of a Political Youth on Yamaguchi.