Sada Abe - Family Background

Family Background

Sada Abe was the seventh of eight children of Shigeyoshi and Katsu Abe, an upper middle-class family of tatami mat makers in Tokyo's Kanda neighborhood. Only four of the Abe children survived to adulthood, and of those, Sada was the youngest. Abe's father, Shigeyoshi Abe, was originally from Chiba Prefecture. He had been adopted into the Abe family to help with the business, which he eventually inherited. Aged 52 at the time of Sada's birth, Shigeyoshi Abe was described by police as "an honest and upright man" who had neither conspicuous vices nor any brushes with the law, although some acquaintances reported him to be somewhat self-centered, with a taste for extravagance. Sada's mother, Katsu Abe, likewise had no known legal or moral blemishes on her record.

Sada's siblings did behave questionably, however. Her brother Shintaro was known as a womanizer, and after his marriage ran away with his parents' money. Sada's sister Teruko was also known to have had several lovers. Her father sent her to work in a brothel, then not an uncommon way to punish female sexual promiscuity in Japan, although he soon bought her back. Teruko's past was not considered a hindrance to marriage for those of the Abes' class at the time, and she soon married.