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Essays

Essays

Professor Kimura, the Yagoto Hospital Reading Group, and Beyond

Takashi Ikuta

Professor Bin Kimura was affiliated with the Department of Psychiatry at Nagoya City University (NCU) for fifteen and a half years, from mid-November 1970 to the end of April 1986. Since I joined the department at NCU in April 1982, my participation in the Yagoto Hospital reading group was limited to only the final quarter of that period. It remains uncertain exactly when the reading group commenced, but it is believed to have started shortly after Professor Kimura assumed his post at NCU. While the professor regularly held reading groups for German literature at the university, the hurdles were high for the collective reading of full-fledged psychopathological papers due to the presence of beginners in German and individuals with stronger interests in other domains (such as epilepsy or child psychiatry). However, driven by a desire to tackle challenging materials together, specialized psychopathological papers came to be read at the Yagoto Hospital reading group.

Around ten individuals interested in psychopathology—comprising not only physicians from Yagoto Hospital but also participants from the university and other hospitals—gathered for each session, sitting in a circle on chairs around a low table in the medical office (ikyoku). According to my uncertain memory, the sessions were held weekly from 6:00 p.m. to around 9:00 p.m. in a three-part structure: beginning with a German paper on psychopathology, followed by a German philosophical text, and concluding with a French text (either a book or a paper). For each session, one or two presenters were selected in advance to translate the text sentence by sentence. Professor Kimura would then re-translate it while discussing the content before proceeding forward.

The essence of this practice is described in the professor's autobiography, From Psychiatry to Clinical Philosophy (Seishinigaku kara Rinshō Tetsugaku he, Minerva Shobo, 2010; subsequent quotations are also from this volume): "What is vital in psychopathology is not what is stated as a conclusion, but rather the process of thought through which that conclusion is derived. To understand this, one must 'accompany' that thought by 'reading' behind the dictionary definition of each and every word written by the author." He notes that, as a result, "In addition to psychiatric papers, we naturally read many philosophical books. We thoroughly read Heidegger’s Being and Time (Seizai to Jikan) and The Basic Problems of Phenomenology, Hegel’s The Phenomenology of Spirit, and in French, I believe we completely read through Deleuze’s Bergsonism, Derrida’s Speech and Phenomena, and Levinas’s Time and the Other, among others."

By the time I joined, the reading of Heidegger’s Being and Time had already concluded. Cassette tapes recording those sessions were casually tossed into the depths of the bookshelves in the ikyoku, though one wonders where they might be now. The following translations were published in Japanese as books originating from this reading group:
・Tellenbach, Melancholy (Melankorī), Misuzu Shobo, 1978.
・Blankenburg, The Loss of Natural Self-Evidence: The Phenomenology of Schizophrenia (Jimeisei no Sōshitsu: Bunretsubyō no Genshōgaku), Misuzu Shobo, 1978.
・Bin Kimura, ed., The Anthropology of Schizophrenia: An Anthology of German Psychopathology (Bunretsubyō no Ningen'gaku: Doitsu Seishinbyōrigaku Ansorojī), Igaku-Shoin, 1981.
・Tellenbach, Critique of Psychiatric Treatment: From Ancient Health Precepts to Modern Medicine (Seishinigaku Chiryō Hihan), Sōzō Shuppan, 1985.

At that time, under the influence of the university student protests, the reconstruction of psychiatric departments was delayed, particularly at prestigious institutions. Consequently, "a phenomenon occurred where young psychiatrists seeking leadership continuously transferred from famous universities across the nation—including the University of Tokyo, Kyoto University, and Tohoku University—to Nagoya City University, which was merely a regional institution." I was one of those who arrived late, but various figures gathered there, lending the place a vibrant atmosphere reminiscent of a stronghold for outlaws (Ryōzanpaku). In the summer, we held intensive training camps where we stayed at the Yagoto Hospital villa in Nagano to completely read through German and French papers. My primary objective, however, was the casual learning that occurred during the drinking parties that began at night. The professor would also join us for a beer or two.

Though my poor memory may leave many omissions, let me record the names of those who participated in this group over a relatively long period (honorifics omitted). Some famous scholars came just to join this meeting even once, including philosophers like Megumi Sakabe and Tetsuya Takahashi. In addition to myself, the participants included (in alphabetical order): Atsushi Itō, Satoshi Usami, Shihoko Usui, Susumu Okamoto, Toyoaki Ogawa, Minoru Osanai, Kazuyoshi Kawai, Hiroshi Shima, Shigeru Suzuki, Yūichirō Suzuki, Kiyoshi Takahashi, Mari Nagai, Shinzō Fujita, Masaaki Hoshina, and Kyōichi Yamaya, though several have already passed away.

After Professor Kimura transferred to Kyoto University, this group ceased to meet at Yagoto Hospital. However, with support from The Kawai Institute for Culture and Education (where the professor would later serve as Director), the sessions continued under the banner of the Mind-Body Theory Research Group (Shinshinron Kenkyūkai). Comprising mostly the same members, we held two-day overnight training camps four times a year in Nagoya. This persisted until June 3, 2018, when the professor collapsed during what would ultimately be our final camp. Since Kawaijuku also has a presence in Kyoto and his residence was in Arashiyama, holding the sessions in Kyoto would have been feasible. Yet, perhaps due to a profound attachment, the professor insisted on holding them in Nagoya. Indeed, he wrote in his autobiography, "The Nagoya period was the most fulfilling time for me." From this Nagoya group, the following works were translated:
・Weizsäcker, Illness and Man: An Introduction to Medical Anthropology (Yamai to Hito: Igakuteki Ningen'gaku Nyūmon), Shinyosha, 2000.
・Weizsäcker, Pathosophie (Patozofī), Misuzu Shobo, 2010.
There is no doubt that my own ability to read German was significantly forged through this reading group. However, if I may speak frankly without discourtesy, the greatest beneficiary of this group was perhaps the professor himself. It is often said that the best way to learn is to teach others, but it was none other than the professor himself who imposed this task upon himself, never failing to prepare and arriving the most thoroughly equipped. I am truly filled with deep respect.

Since I have written about the professor during his NCU days elsewhere, please refer to that piece as well (Takashi Ikuta, "In Memory of Professor Bin Kimura," Japanese Journal of Clinical Psychopathology [Rinshō Seishinbyōrigaku], 43:73–78, 2022). It is a matter of immense joy that the professor's personal library has returned to Nagoya, the birthplace of Kimura’s psychopathology.

※Reprinted from the commemorative volume marking the opening of the Bin Kimura Memorial Archive of Clinical Philosophy (the "Aida Library"): "Between Clinique and Philosophy: Bin Kimura and German Phenomenology/Anthropology"
https://www.koyoshobo.co.jp/book/b670977.html

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Takashi Ikuta
Born in Otaru in 1949. Doctor of Science and Doctor of Medicine (Ph.D.). After conducting research in theoretical physics at Osaka University and Nagoya University, he graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at Osaka University. Joined the Department of Psychiatry at Nagoya City University. Worked at Yagoto Hospital (1983–1991). Attended the University of Marburg under a fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. After serving as Director of the Department of Psychiatry at Seirei Hamamatsu Hospital, he has practiced at the Raku Mental Clinic since 2025. His specialties include psychopathology, the history of psychiatry, and pathography. His publications and translations include Narrative, Delusion, and Schizophrenia (Katari, Mōsō, Sukizofurenia, Kongo Shuppan, 2011), and Blankenburg’s Psychopathology of the Inconspicuous (Medatanu Mono no Seishinbyōrigaku, Misuzu Shobo, 2012), among others.
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  • The self can only become aware of itself as the self at the moment it encounters something other than itself. ... The self an d that which is not itself exist simultaneously , so to speak.Nishida Kitaro's famous line, "When the world becomes aware of itself , our self becomes awar e. When our self becomes aware of itself, the world becomes aware," points to this point. ... At the very moment when the self encounters something other than itself, like a sudden spark of fire, the self and that which is not itself arise from something . ... The individual is this something that is born from the encounter between the self and that which is not itself. This something exists before the individual . ... For the time being, I would like to express this something as "betwe en people."

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Bin Kimura's
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The self can only become aware of itself as the self at the moment it encounters something other than itself. ... The self an d that which is not itself exist simultaneously , so to speak.Nishida Kitaro's famous line, "When the world becomes aware of itself , our self becomes awar e. When our self becomes aware of itself, the world becomes aware," points to this point. ... At the very moment when the self encounters something other than itself, like a sudden spark of fire, the self and that which is not itself arise from something . ... The individual is this something that is born from the encounter between the self and that which is not itself. This something exists before the individual . ... For the time being, I would like to express this something as "betwe en people."

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Bin Kimura's
Words

The self can only become aware of itself as the self at the moment it encounters something other than itself. ... The self an d that which is not itself exist simultaneously , so to speak.Nishida Kitaro's famous line, "When the world becomes aware of itself , our self becomes awar e. When our self becomes aware of itself, the world becomes aware," points to this point. ... At the very moment when the self encounters something other than itself, like a sudden spark of fire, the self and that which is not itself arise from something . ... The individual is this something that is born from the encounter between the self and that which is not itself. This something exists before the individual . ... For the time being, I would like to express this something as "betwe en people."

Archive Close
Bin Kimura's Words
The self can only become aware of itself as the self at the moment it encounters something other than itself. ... The self an d that which is not itself exist simultaneously , so to speak.Nishida Kitaro's famous line, "When the world becomes aware of itself , our self becomes awar e. When our self becomes aware of itself, the world becomes aware," points to this point. ... At the very moment when the self encounters something other than itself, like a sudden spark of fire, the self and that which is not itself arise from something . ... The individual is this something that is born from the encounter between the self and that which is not itself. This something exists before the individual . ... For the time being, I would like to express this something as "betwe en people."