Japanese Man Arrested Under 1889 Duelling Law After Fatal Fight Over Board Game

A Japanese man has been arrested under a 1889 law that bars duelling in the country. Fuzuki Asari, 26, arranged a duel with 30-year-old Naoya Matsuda in a public square last year after the two had a fallout over a board game. Matsuda, who was hurt badly during the brawl, was taken to the hospital and died from organ failure caused by brain damage three weeks later.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police stated that Asari conspired with a male Mongolian national to challenge Matsuda on a sidewalk in the Kabukicho red-light district. During the fight, Asari allegedly threw Matsuda to the ground. It has not been specified whether any weapons were involved in the fight.

According to a report in The Japan Times, the 1889 anti-duelling law states that “anyone who has engaged in a duel shall be punished by imprisonment for no less than two years and no more than five years". Though there is no written definition of a duel, a Supreme Court ruling defined it as “an act of combat in which the parties mutually agree to inflict physical or life-threatening violence".

Apart from being charged under the anti-duelling law, Asari could also be charged for causing death from involuntary injury under Japan's criminal law, which carries a prison sentence of at least three years. The Mongolian man who was at the scene and incited the duel has already been deported for illegal residence.

“I am deeply sorry that my opponent died," Asari told investigators after the arrest.

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Previous Instances

Japan's 137-year-old anti-duelling law is rarely enforced in modern times. Despite this, a recent and unusual case occurred in October last year, when a high school student and an adult man were arrested on suspicion of duelling in a prefecture north of Tokyo.

Historically, duelling was a tradition among the samurai class during Japan's Edo period, but this practice became increasingly subject to regulation over time.