Kogorō Akechi (明智小五郎 Akechi Kogorō) is a fictional character and the creation of Japanese mystery writer Edogawa Rampo. He first appeared in the story "The D Slope Murder case" in 1925 and continued to appear in stories for a quarter of a century. Edogawa Rampo (a pseudonym for Hirai Tarō) is considered the father of the Japanese detective story and was a great admirer of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Akechi is the first recurring detective character in Japanese fiction and is clearly inspired by Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. Mystery fiction is a distinct subgenre of detective fiction that entails the occurrence of an unknown event which requires the protagonist to make known (or solve). ... Edogawa Rampo (江戸川 乱歩 Edogawa Ranpo), born Hirai Tarō (平井 太郎 Hirai Tarō, October 21, 1894 - July 28, 1965) was a Japanese author and critic. ... Detective Story is a 1951 film which tells the story of one day in the lives of the various people who populate a police detectives squad. ... Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (May 22, 1859 - July 7, 1930) is the British author most famously known for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered a major innovation in the field of crime fiction. ... A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. ... Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes (1854–1957, according to William S. Baring-Gould) is a fictional detective of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, created by British author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. ...

Like Holmes, Akechi is a brilliant but eccentric detective who cousults with the police on especially difficult cases. He is a master of disguise and an expert at judo whose genius lets him solve seemingly impossible cases. Also like Holmes, Akechi makes use of a group of young boys to gather information. His version of the Baker Street Irregulars is known as the Boy Detective Club. Akechi smokes Egyptian cigarettes when he is thinking about a case. Deception is providing intentionally misleading information to others. ... Judo (Japanese: 柔道 Jūdō; gentle way) is a martial art, sport, and philosophy originated in Japan. ... A genius is a person with distinguished mental prowess. ... The Baker Street Irregulars are several different groups, all named after the original, from various Sherlock Holmes stories. ...

Kogoro Akechi is a tall, handsome man with heavy eyebrows who dresses well. He is married to a woman named Fumiyo and has an adopted son, Yoshio Kobayashi, the leader of the boy detectives club. Kobayashi often plays an important part in solving cases. Like his mentor, he is an expert at disguise and is especially adept at posing as a young woman. Aside from these relationships little is known of the detective's personal life, which always takes a back seat to the mystery in his adventures.

Detective Akechi's most frequent foe is the infamous Kaijin Nijū Menso (the 'Fiend with Twenty Faces'). The fiend is a master criminal whose infallible gift for disguise may have been inspired by Hamilton Cleek, Thomas W. Hanshew's heroic but amoral "Man of Forty Faces." The Fiend is a non-violent criminal who steals to demonstrate his brilliance rather than out of need for money. He and Akechi have a mutual respect in the stories.

The Akechi stories are based mainly in the detective's home city of Tokyo, though some move the action to the Japanese countryside. The stories often feature supernatural and erotic overtones, though not so much as Rampo's other fiction. View of Tokyos Shibuya district Long a symbol of Tokyo, the Nijubashi Bridge at the Kokyo Imperial Palace. ... The supernatural (Latin: super- exceeding + nature) comprises forces and phenomena which are beyond the realm of current scientific understanding, and which may actually directly contradict conventional scientific understandings. ... Eroticism is an aesthetic focused on sexual desire, especially the feelings of anticipation of sexual activity. ...

Akechi has become a fixture in Japanese pop-culture. There have been a number of movies made based on his adventures, some of which pit him against other fictional characters such as Arsène Lupin. The actor best known for playing the detective is Eiji Okada. Akechi has been featured as a character in the anime series Lupin III and references to him are common in Japanese fiction. He is probably best known in the west through the 1994 movie, The Mystery of Rampo. Popular culture, or pop culture, is the vernacular (peoples) culture that prevails in a modern society. ... Arsène Lupin is a fictional gentleman-thief character appearing in a series of novels by Maurice Leblanc. ... A scene from Cowboy Bebop (1998) Anime (アニメ) is a style of animation originating in Japan. ... Lupin III or Lupin the 3rd (ルパン三世, Lupin the 3rd, not Lupin 3) is an anime and manga series originally created by manga artist Kazuhiko Katō (加藤一彦) under the pen name Monkey Punch (モンキーパンチ) in 1967 as a part of Weekly Manga Action . ...

Another notable movie featuring Akechi is the 1968 film Black Lizard. The movie was adapted from Rampo's novel by noted author Yukio Mishima who also appears briefly. The story pits the detective against a female mastermind, known as the Black Lizard, who is played by transvestite actor Akihiro Maruyama. The film is considered high camp with its bizarre conventions and over-the-top performances but has a loyal following among fans and critics alike. 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... Yukio Mishima (三島由紀夫 Mishima Yukio), was the public name of Kimitake Hiraoka (平岡公威 Hiraoka Kimitake), (January 14, 1925 - November 25, 1970), a Japanese author and considered a right-wing political activist, notable for both his nihilistic post-war writing and the circumstances of his suicide. ... For a discussion of the history and current usage of the term transvestite, see transvestism. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... The term camp—normally used as an adjective, even though earliest recorded uses employed it mainly as a verb—refers to the deliberate and sophisticated use of kitsch, mawkish or corny themes and styles in art, clothing or conversation. ...

Modern references to him can also be found in Japan's popular and extremely long running television anime series, Detective Conan, known in the U.S. as Case Closed. One of the characters, Detective Richard Moore (Kogoro Mori in the Japanese version)., is a persistent and courageous yet highly flawed and lecherous private detective -- almost a parody of Kogoro Akechi. He has his cases solved for him by the youthful main character, Conan Edogawa. Further Akechi references can be seen in the TV series's inclusion of a nonviolent antagonist, the Phantom Thief (Kaitou Kid), a brilliant disguise-master thief who steals high profile items for recognition. It is worth noting that the Phantom Thief (Kaitou Kid) character is actually an earlier creation of Aoyama Gosho, prior to his Detective Conan series. The name of young Conan's elementary school detective club is the "Junior Detective League" ("Detective Boys" in the Japanese version). A scene from Cowboy Bebop (1998) Anime (アニメ) is a style of animation originating in Japan. ... Case Closed, known as Detective Conan (名探偵コナン, Meitantei Conan) in Japan and in non-English speaking countries, is a detective manga and anime series by Gosho Aoyama (青山 剛昌), which has been published in Weekly Shonen Sunday magazine since 1994. ... Richard Moore, known in Japan as Kogoro Mori (毛利 小五郎 Mōri Kogorō) is a character from the detective manga and anime series Case Closed, known in Japan as Detective Conan. Richard is just like your typical good-for-nothing detective who always lazed around and trys to peep at anything a... ... Gosho Aoyama (青山 剛昌 Aoyama Gōshō), born Yoshimasa Aoyama (青山 剛昌 Aoyama Yoshimasa, born June 21, 1963 - ) is an manga writer. ...