Chief priest killed at noted Tokyo Shrine; 2 suspects also dead

December 8, 2017

Tokyo- The female chief priest of Tomioka Hachimangu in Tokyo was killed in a knife attack that is believed to have happened near the premises of the famous Shinto shrine Thursday evening.

The victim was Nagako Tomioka, 58. Two suspected attackers--her 56-year-old brother, Shigenaga, and a woman apparently in her 30s--also died, sources in the Metropolitan Police Department said.

After attacking Tomioka, Shigenaga killed the female suspect and then himself, the sources said. They were apparently a married couple. Tomioka's male driver, 33, suffered injuries in the attack.

The MPD plans to send investigation papers on Shigenaga and the female suspect to public prosecutors on charges including murder. The police suspect that a problem between Tomioka and the brother led to the incident.

After receiving an emergency call reporting a knifing rampage, MPD officers rushed to the site and found four fallen people who were bleeding on and near the premises of the shrine in the Tomioka district of Koto Ward in the Japanese capital.

The four people were sent to hospital, and three of them--Tomioka and the two suspects--were confirmed dead.

Around 8:25 p.m. Thursday (11:25 a.m. GMT), Shigenaga, who came to the scene with the female suspect, attacked the chief priest with a Japanese sword when she got out of a car on a road near the shrine.

The woman chased Tomioka's driver, who ran away, and attacked him on a road about 100 meters from where Tomioka was assaulted. The driver suffered injuries in the right arm and chest, but his injuries are not life-threatening.

Later, the two attackers moved to the premises of Tomioka Hachimangu. Shigenaga stabbed the woman in the chest and stomach, and then himself in the left side of the chest several times.

The series of developments were captured by security cameras installed nearby, according to the police sources.

Two survival knifes and two Japanese swords were left on the scene, the sources said.

Shigenaga was arrested some 10 years ago for blackmailing his sister. After leaving the post of chief priest in 2001, the brother in January 2006 sent to Tomioka a postcard in which he wrote, among other things, that he would send her to hell. At the time, Tomioka was in the post called "negi," the second-highest rank at a Shinto shrine after the chief priest.

The shrine, established in 1627, is known for its Fukagawa Hachiman annual festival in August, one of Tokyo's three major festivals from the Edo period. The shrine is also the birthplace of the Edo-period fund-raising sumo.

Tomioka Hachimangu got into trouble with Jinja Honcho, or the Association of Shinto Shrines, in 2010 over the appointment of the shrine's chief priest. The shrine left the association on Sept. 28 this year.

Thursday's incident happened about 100 meters east of Monzen-nakacho Station of Tokyo Metro Co.'s Tozai subway line.

Describing the incident, a woman in her 30s running an osteopathic clinic near the shrine said she saw a bleeding man lying in front of a nearby convenience store.

The man, who looked unconscious, was carried away by ambulance attendants and a pool of blood was left on the place where he was lying, she also said.

"This kind of thing has never happened here," said a 48-year-old ramen noodle restaurant manager. He said he did not hear anybody scream around the time of the incident. Jiji Press