Katsuhiro Sato, the famed mangaka and creator of the “Multipage Multiverse” quadrilogy, left specific instructions that his personal effects and spaces were not to be disturbed after his death. Therefore, after his untimely passing in a car accident, his family did not disturb his suite of rooms in the family home for 8 years. Eventually, though, in search of items for a charity auction, his daughter Miyoko attempted to put her father’s items in order. A locksmith was retained, as virtually all of Sato’s furniture had been fitted with locks, and eventually they all had to be drilled out.

Inside, they found none of the sketches or foul papers that they had expected. Those, it seems, had all been sent to Sato’s archive or destroyed, going by the number of paper scraps found in his fireplace. Nor was there any correspondence, as Sato had switched entirely to email in his later years.

Instead, each drawer that was drilled out and opened was found to contain…fish. A variety of fish, from tilapia to goldfish to trout, and all of them real. They had been carefully prepared using a variety of taxidermy methods to remain stable, and it seemed like Sato had experimented with a number of processes before deciding on a combination of flash mummification and lucite coating. A number of receipts were found for the purchase of fish and their subsequent treatment by a concern on Hokkaido, but the company could provide no clues as to the purpose of the fish. Sato had been polite but terse with them, paying generous bonuses but inviting no questions.

Ultimately, Miyoko donated the fish to the Emperor Emeritus Wing of the Ichthyological Institute, where they remain as the Katsuhiro Sato Collection. One fish was eventually auctioned for charity, and admirers began leaving fish on Sato’s grave as a sign of respect for what was clearly a very important, if private, pursuit for him.

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