Three Little Bonzes: The Case Diary of Chinami Chiba

By Takafumi Takada

Three young boys visited a resort during their summer vacation and happened to witness a boy running away after apparently his stealing watermelons. Following the boy, they strayed into a temple deep in a mountain. It is said that the old temple was managed by raccoon dogs deceiving people. Then, they met three little bonzes, identical triplets, who had exactly the same look.

Little Bonze A is always honest.
Little Bonze B always lies.
Little Bonze C alternately lies and tells the truth.
Which little bonze knows the truth?

This is a blessed hybrid of a logic puzzle and a mystery fiction by Takafumi Takada, one of very popular Japanese novelists. Most of the world should first experience such an amazing masterpiece.

This work was first published in 2001 by Kodansha and translated in 2014 for The BBB: Breakthrough Bandwagon Books.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Dec 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9781794725805

Book preview

Three Little Bonzes: The Case Diary of Chinami Chiba

Originally written in Japanese by Takafumi Takada

Translated by Ryusui Seiryoin

Cover illustration by Polka D

Cover design by Tanya

This work was first published in Japan in 2001.

Japanese edition copyright © 2001 Takafumi Takada/ Kodansha

English edition copyright © 2021 Takafumi Takada / The BBB: Breakthrough Bandwagon Books

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 9781794725805

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By the way, Hacchobori.

Leisurely walking down a rural road under the scorching sun, Shinnosuke squinted at me.

Let me explain two things to you here.

First, my name is NOT Hacchobori. That is the name of the town that I live in and love. The name might remind you of a very famous samurai character in a TV samurai drama. If so, forget it, please. I am not yet 20, and my face is not long, unlike the samurai character.

Second, this guy, Shinnosuke Aiba, has been my troublemaking companion since high school, and we now go to a cram school at Yoyogi after failing the university entrance exam this spring. I don’t understand why he wears black clothes all year round and ties his long hair in a ponytail, like a samurai.

You should make sure that the things you say are more correct.

What do you mean?

The reason why you, Hacchobori, hate history is that everyone laughed at your unbelievably stupid answer in history class, right?

When it comes to such things, I don’t like Shinnosuke.

Wiping my sweat with the back of a hand, I replied, Hey, you have the wrong idea!

I think that experience accounts for more than 75 percent of the reason why you hate history. Shinnosuke considered this baseless figure and nodded, You just blame your lack of knowledge on others.

Who said that, Shinnosuke? I know you yourself made unbelievably stupid remarks about history in class.

Shinnosuke told me he didn’t remember that, but I insisted that his stupid remark was clearly recorded in the class diary.

Your argument seems to be off the point, said Chinami-kun, who was wearing a baseball cap low over his eyes and walking beside me. Your remark isn’t a counterargument at all.

His name is Chinami Chiba. He is my cousin, two years younger than me and in his second year of high school. He is a guy who has good grades and good looks. Moreover, his father is a major landowner. We went to his house last month, and his yard was definitely three times the size of Yoyogi Park.

I envy him because of his circumstances. In addition, Chinami-kun is a fair-skinned literary youth with a slender body and beautiful hair.

However, Chinami-kun continued, history classes are that kind of stuff. History itself is vague, because only the winners of battles write history. If you lose, you couldn’t complain about how you are written about. The truth in history is always unknown in any country and age.

I understand what you’re saying.

I sipped lukewarm Oolong tea from a plastic bottle. It was hot, but the