Shisha no Teikoku

Shisha no Teikoku, or The Empire of Corpses, originated as an unfinished manuscript by the visionary science fiction author Project Itoh, who passed away in 2009. The narrative explores an alternate 19th-century history where the technology to reanimate human corpses as mindless laborers has been perfected, framing the story as a philosophical investigation into the nature of the soul and the evolution of humanity within a steampunk aesthetic.

Following Itoh's death, his friend and fellow novelist Toh EnJoe was commissioned to complete the work based on Itoh's detailed notes and plot outlines. Published in 2012, the novel was acclaimed for its dense, intellectual exploration of biological technology and literary history, eventually serving as the foundational text for a 2015 feature film adaptation. It remains a poignant, collaborative monument to Itoh's enduring influence on contemporary Japanese speculative fiction.