was the

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

of , a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

psychiatrist, novelist and essayist. Kita was the second son of poet

Mokichi Saitō was a Japanese poet of the Taishō period, a member of the Araragi school of tanka, and a psychiatrist. Mokichi was born in the village of Kanakame, now part of Kaminoyama, Yamagata in 1882. He attended Tokyo Imperial University Medical Sc ...

. , his older brother, was also a psychiatrist. The essayist Yuka Saitō is Kita's daughter. Kita attended

Azabu High School , often referred to simply as "Azabu", is a private preparatory day school in Japan. It teaches boys between seventh and twelves grades. The campus of Azabu is located in the Azabu district of Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Azabu consists of two instit ...

and Matsumoto Higher School (now part of

Shinshu University , abbreviated to , is a Japanese national university located in Matsumoto, Nagano, Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. As the only national university in Japan bearing the name of a former Provinces of Japan, Japanese province, it bears the nam ...

), and graduated from

Tohoku University is a public research university in Sendai, Miyagi, Japan. It is colloquially referred to as or . Established in 1907 as the third of the Imperial Universities, after the University of Tokyo and Kyoto University, it initially focused on sc ...

's School of Medicine. He initially worked as a doctor at

Keio University Hospital Keio University Hospital (慶應義塾大学病院, ''Keio Gijuku Daigaku Byouin'') is an academic health science centre and tertiary referral hospital located in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. The hospital is part of the Keio University. Overview Ke ...

. Motivated by the collections of his father's poems and the books of German author

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...

, he decided to become a novelist. Kita suffered from manic–depressive disorder from middle age onwards.

Awards

* 1960:

Akutagawa Prize The is a Japanese literary award presented biannually. Because of its prestige and the considerable attention the winner receives from the media, it is, along with the Naoki Prize, one of Japan's most sought after literary prizes. History Th ...

, for the novel, ''In The Corner Of Night And Fog'', which takes its title from

Nacht und Nebel ''Nacht und Nebel'' ( German: ), meaning Night and Fog, also known as the Night and Fog Decree, was a directive issued by Adolf Hitler on 7 December 1941 targeting political activists and resistance "helpers" in the territories occupied by Na ...

, the Nazi campaign to eliminate Jews, the mentally ill and other minorities. The novel concerns the moral quandary of staff at a German mental hospital during the final years of the Second World War. Faced with demands from the SS that the most severely ill patients be segregated for transportation to a special camp, where it is obvious that they will be eliminated, the more morally conscious of the doctors make desperate efforts to protect the patients without outwardly defying the authorities. A parallel theme is the personal tragedy of a young Japanese researcher affiliated with the mental hospital, whose own schizophrenia has been triggered by the disappearance of his half-Jewish wife. (Shinchosha Co., Morio Kita - ''In the Corner of Night and Fog and Other Stories'', 2011)

Bibliography

Novels

* ''Ghosts'' (1954) * Briefly reviewed in the January 14, 1985 issue of ''The New Yorker'', p.117.

Essays

* ——————— ;Bibliography notes

Work for television

Nescafé Nescafé is a brand of instant coffee sold by the multinational food and drink corporation Nestlé. It comes in many different forms. The name is a portmanteau of the words "Nestlé" and "café". Nestlé first introduced their flagship coffee br ...

Gold Blend commercial (1974) * Tetsuko no Heya (1980 and 12 May 2008; with Yuka Saitō)

References

1927 births 2011 deaths Azabu High School alumni Japanese children's writers Japanese fantasy writers 20th-century Japanese novelists 21st-century Japanese novelists Japanese psychiatrists Japanese travel writers Academic staff of Keio University Night and Fog program People with bipolar disorder Tohoku University alumni Akutagawa Prize winners Writers from Tokyo 20th-century Japanese essayists 21st-century Japanese essayists 20th-century pseudonymous writers Scientists from Tokyo {{Japan-writer-stub