In January 1948, two Tokyo police officers made a discovery that shocked the nation and exposed one of the darkest chapters in Japanese crime history. While on morning patrol, they found four bulky wooden boxes belonging to a local funeral director. Inside were the bodies of five infants. That moment would lead investigators to Miyuki Ishikawa, a licensed Japanese midwife who later became known as one of the most notorious female serial killers in Japan.
This case uncovered how a trusted maternity hospital turned into the center of a mass infant death scandal during post-war Japan.
Miyuki Ishikawa was born in 1897 in southern Japan. Though little is recorded about her childhood, she later moved to Tokyo to attend college and train as a professional midwife. After completing her education, she married Takeshi Ishikawa, a former military sergeant who later served with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.
Miyuki joined the Kotobuki Maternity Hospital, where she eventually became director. In 1940s Japan, she was responsible for guiding pregnant women through childbirth, delivering babies, and overseeing neonatal care. Families placed immense trust in her, especially at a time when maternal healthcare was limited and social safety nets were weak.
Following World War II, Japan faced economic devastation. Food shortages, housing crises, and unemployment made raising children extremely difficult. At the time, abortion was illegal in Japan, leaving many women with no legal way to avoid unwanted pregnancies.
Many struggling mothers turned to maternity hospitals, including Kotobuki, for help. Miyuki Ishikawa exploited this desperation. Instead of offering care or legal alternatives, she began a deadly system of infanticide disguised as medical treatment.
According to investigators, Miyuki Ishikawa suffocated, strangled, or neglected newborn babies until they died. Her husband Takeshi Ishikawa then demanded money from the parents, claiming that paying for the death was cheaper than raising a child. This turned infant deaths into a financial scheme.
A physician named Dr. Shiro Nakayama completed the operation by issuing false death certificates, listing natural causes. This allowed the killings to continue undetected within Japan’s healthcare system.
Together, this group ran what became one of the most horrifying medical crime networks in Japanese history.
The case was exposed in January 1948, when Tokyo police found four wooden boxes during routine patrol. Inside were five infant bodies. Medical exams showed that three babies died from pneumonia and malnutrition, while two froze to death. All were found with empty stomachs, confirming severe neglect.
The funeral director who owned the boxes admitted that they came from Kotobuki Maternity Hospital. He also revealed he had been paid 500 yen per baby to dispose of the bodies.
Three days later, Miyuki and Takeshi Ishikawa were arrested.
Police investigations uncovered the true scale of the crimes. Authorities found over 40 infant remains in a funeral home and 30 more buried under a temple. In total, Miyuki Ishikawa was linked to the deaths of 103 infants, making her one of the deadliest serial killers in Japan.
In October 1948, Miyuki Ishikawa, Takeshi Ishikawa, and Dr. Shiro Nakayama went on trial. The defense argued that the parents were responsible because they had abandoned their children. Many members of the public, shaped by post-war hardship, supported this reasoning.
The Tokyo District Court convicted Miyuki and Takeshi on five counts of murder by omission. After appeals, Miyuki received four years in prison, while Takeshi received two years, sentences widely criticized as too light given the scale of the crimes.
On June 24, 1949, Japan passed the Eugenic Protection Law, which legalized abortion for economic reasons. Lawmakers aimed to prevent future tragedies by giving women legal reproductive options.