The Master Key (大いなる幻影, Ōinaru gen'ei) is a 1962 novel by the Japanese novelist
Masako Togawa which received the
Edogawa Rampo Prize upon publication.[1] The English translation by Simon Grove was first published by
Dodd, Mead & Co in 1985.[2]
It is a mystery story set in the 1950's postwar
Ikebukuro, Japan with the setting of K Apartment for Ladies, reserved only for women. Many of the aging residents have their own secrets bound to the master key, which opens all of the 150 rooms in the K Apartment.[3] All the secrets start to unravel when the building is slated for construction work to be moved four meters with the residents inside.
Characters
Major Characters:
Katsuko Tojo/Haru Santo - older receptionist with a limp/white haired mysterious resident.
Kaneko Tamura - younger receptionist.
Chikako Ueda - previous school teacher who waits for her dead husband.
Toyoto Munekata - professor guarding her dead husband's manuscripts.
Noriko Ishiyama - eccentric woman known to other residents as Ms. Bladderwrack who forages for fishbones at night.
Suwa Yatabe - violinist who previously stole a Guarnerius violin from her teacher.
Yoneko Kimura - retired school teacher who writes letters to her previous students.
Minor Characters:
Yasuyo Aoki - mysterious guest of Chikako Ueda.
Keiko Kawauchi (Mrs. Kraft) - divorced from Major Kraft after disappearance of their son.
Major D. Kraft - U.S. Army major who returned to the U.S. after divorce from Keiko Kawauchi.
George Kraft - son of Major Kraft, reported kidnapped and missing.
Priest - leader of the Three Spirit Faith cult, performs seemingly miraculous revelations.
Thumbelina the Vestal - small statured woman who is the medium of the séance.
Translation
Togawa, Masako. The Master Key. Translated by Grove, Simon. Dodd, Mead & Co. ISBN 9781782273639