On Supervising the Kimura Libra ry
Kenshin Shimizu (Psychiatrist)
The Bin Kimura Memorial Archive of Clinical Philosophy (the "Aida Library") was established within Yagoto Hospital (Medical Corporation Shiseikai)—an institution with deep historical ties to Professor Bin Kimura—to honor the achievements of this preeminent psychopathologist and philosopher, and to preserve his publications, personal library, and correspondence.
Our greatest effort was directed toward Room A, which houses Kimura’s own works. Beyond his major monographs, we have meticulously collected and organized his academic papers (including rare Western-language documents) and even short columns contributed to newspapers. The room also features personal items that offer a multi-dimensional glimpse into "Professor Bin Kimura the man," such as an original calligraphy strip by Kitarō Nishida that hung in the center of Kimura’s study, a copy of Zur Sache des Denkens (On Time and Being) presented to him personally by Martin Heidegger, and numerous photographs from various stages of his life.
In Rooms B and C, visitors are free to browse Kimura’s extensive collection of Japanese and international works on psychiatry and philosophy. Many of these volumes contain Kimura’s own handwritten marginalia. These represent invaluable resources for future research into "Kimura and Phenomenological/Anthropological Psychopathology," "Kimura and Japanese Philosophy (the Kyoto School)," and "Kimura’s connections with contemporary French and Italian thought."
Furthermore, we have compiled a new, comprehensive Chronology and Complete Bibliography of Kimura’s work. (I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Ms. Yumi Hoshi and Mr. Futoki Uchiyama for their immense cooperation in this task.) It is likely that errors or omissions still remain in the comprehensive list of works. We welcome your candid feedback and corrections. Furthermore, if you possess any materials not yet held in our collection, we would be deeply grateful if you could inform or guide us.
It goes without saying that a thorough reading of historical texts is essential for research in humanistic psychopathology and clinical philosophy. In an era where the very meaning of "clinical practice" (clinique) is shifting, I hope this archive will serve as a lighthouse, opening new horizons for psychopathology and clinical philosophy.
It goes without saying that a thorough reading of historical texts is essential for research in humanistic psychopathology and clinical philosophy. In an era where the very meaning of "clinical practice" (clinique) is shifting, I hope this archive will serve as a lighthouse, opening new horizons for psychopathology and clinical philosophy.
Criteria for Selection and Original Arrangement
Finally, as the supervisor, I would like to document the criteria used for selecting materials for preservation and the original arrangement of Professor Kimura’s collection.
Finally, as the supervisor, I would like to document the criteria used for selecting materials for preservation and the original arrangement of Professor Kimura’s collection.
Professor Kimura’s personal library was originally housed across two locations: his private residence in Arashiyama, Kyoto—distributed among the living room, study, bedroom, and garden shed—and his office at Kawaijuku (Kyoto), where he served as Senior Researcher and Director of The Kawai Institute for Culture and Education after retiring from the Faculty of Medicine at Kyoto University.
The collection was organized by location: psychiatric literature was primarily kept in the living room; philosophical works in the study; miscellaneous books in the bedroom; and magazines and other volumes in the garden shed. His office at Kawaijuku held correspondence, offprints, and documents, as well as various books brought from his home as needed for his writing projects.
In total, the collection comprised approximately 10,000 volumes. As it was physically impossible to preserve the entire collection, we have selected approximately 6,000 volumes based on the following criteria.
１．First and foremost, we prioritized the preservation of Professor Kimura’s own works. This included not only published books and journal articles but also lecture manuscripts, class notes, diaries, correspondence, and unpublished translation drafts (though it appeared that almost no unpublished academic essays existed). In preserving his own writings, we made every effort to include all available editions. Regarding his diaries and personal letters, out of consideration for privacy, the handling of these materials was essentially left to the discretion of his family member, Mr. Gen Kimura.
２．Next, we preserved books that contained even minor handwritten marginalia, as well as those with important letters from the authors tucked inside (Professor Kimura frequently kept correspondence inside the respective author's books). Books without such markings were not prioritized for physical preservation, as long as they were recorded in the inventory, since the physical copies themselves can be referenced elsewhere. In cases where only one volume of a multi-volume series contained markings, we nonetheless preserved the entire set.
３．Following this, we preserved books that, even without markings, were deeply related to Kimura’s work. In doing so, priority was given to Western-language publications over Japanese ones, taking into account their scholarly value and the relative difficulty of accessing them elsewhere.
４．Conversely, we did not preserve complimentary copies or miscellaneous books from the storage unit that showed no evidence of having been read, nor did we keep books that were sent to him after he was no longer in a condition to read.
５．As for non-book materials such as journals (periodicals), offprints, and conference proceedings, we preserved only those to which Professor Kimura had contributed (i.e., his own writings), those containing his handwritten notes, or those with a close connection to him (for example, offprints gifted by Blankenburg or special issues of foreign journals dedicated to Professor Bin Kimura). We did not attempt to comprehensively preserve every volume and issue of all the journals he owned.
As the aforementioned criteria were refined gradually throughout the selection process, there may be slight inconsistencies where some items do not strictly adhere to these standards. Furthermore, based on his wife’s testimony, it is presumed that a considerable number of books and magazines had already been lost prior to the commencement of this project due to multiple relocations and sales to second-hand bookstores. Therefore, while every effort has been made to be as comprehensive as possible, we must clarify that the collection is not exhaustive.
It should also be noted that the arrangement within the shelves was often inconsistent. Furthermore, it was evident that Professor Kimura frequently moved materials between his residence and the Kawaijuku office, or between the living room and his study, according to his needs at the time. Consequently, we have not recorded the specific shelf location for each individual item. Instead, a general overview of the original distribution is provided below.
① Living Room Bookshelves
The collection was housed in a sliding shelving system with two layers (front and back). The front layer consisted of 4 sections, and the back layer consisted of 5 sections, each with 7 vertical tiers. The following overview describes the general arrangement, numbering sections from left to right (e.g., "LR-Front 1-1" refers to the top tier of the leftmost section in the front layer).
The collection was housed in a sliding shelving system with two layers (front and back). The front layer consisted of 4 sections, and the back layer consisted of 5 sections, each with 7 vertical tiers. The following overview describes the general arrangement, numbering sections from left to right (e.g., "LR-Front 1-1" refers to the top tier of the leftmost section in the front layer).
- LR-Front Sections 1–4, Tiers 1–4 (Section 1 extends to Tier 5): Foreign-language psychiatric texts (primarily in German, including works by Viktor von Weizsäcker) were arranged roughly in alphabetical order by author.
- LR-Front Section 4, Tiers 5–6: Works related to Sigmund Freud were shelved here.
- LR-Front Section 1, Tiers 6–7 & Section 2, Tiers 5–7: Kimura’s own publications and edited volumes containing his contributions.
- LR-Front Section 3, Tiers 5–7 & Section 4, Tier 7: Presentation copies (gifted books) and books belonging to his wife.
- LR-Back Section 1, Tiers 1–6: Complete works (Gesamtausgabe) of Plato, Aristotle, Nishida, and Watsuji, as well as series such as Lectures on Abnormal Psychology and Psychopathology of Schizophrenia.
- LR-Back Sections 2–3, Tiers 1–6: Foreign psychiatric journals (such as Der Nervenarzt) and various dictionaries.
- LR-Back Section 4, Tiers 1–6: Japanese-language psychiatric texts.
- LR-Back Section 5, Tiers 1–2: Presentation copies. Tier 3: Foreign psychiatric journals.
Tiers 4–6: Kimura’s own books and translations. - LR-Back Sections 1–5, Tier 7: Offprints, conference abstracts, Kimura’s lecture manuscripts, course notes, and various documents.
② Study Bookshelves
Upon entering the study, five sections on the left were dedicated to Continental and Japanese philosophy (referred to as "Study Sections 1–5"). On the right side of the room was a desk; to its right stood a single section for natural sciences and analytic philosophy ("Sci-Sec"), and to its left was a small shelf for Kimura’s own works and his most frequently consulted volumes ("Handy-Shelf"). The overview is as follows:
Upon entering the study, five sections on the left were dedicated to Continental and Japanese philosophy (referred to as "Study Sections 1–5"). On the right side of the room was a desk; to its right stood a single section for natural sciences and analytic philosophy ("Sci-Sec"), and to its left was a small shelf for Kimura’s own works and his most frequently consulted volumes ("Handy-Shelf"). The overview is as follows:
- Study Section 1: Arranged from the top were works of contemporary French and Italian thought including Derrida, Deleuze, Merleau-Ponty, Foucault, and Agamben, as well as Japanese philosophy (Kitarō Nishida, Tetsurō Watsuji, Shūzō Kuki, Keiji Nishitani, etc.).
- Study Section 2: Housed German Idealism, Ancient Philosophy, Phenomenological Sociology, French philosophy such as Bergson, and Early Modern Philosophy.
- Study Section 3: Contained works by Nietzsche, Heidegger, Husserl, Levinas, and others.
- Study Section 4: Shelved philosophical encyclopedias, dictionaries, and linguistics-related texts.
- Study Section 5: Held Japanese-language works by contemporary philosophers with whom Professor Kimura had personal acquaintances, alongside his own publications.
- Scientific Section (Sci-Sec): Dedicated to scientific literature (Mathematics, Biology, Basic Medicine) and Philosophy of Science related to Analytic Philosophy.
- Handy-Shelf (Reference/Personal): Likely kept within arm's reach for constant reference, this shelf contained Kimura’s own books (some marked "For Personal Use"), Iwanami Bunko editions of Nishida’s works, Blankenburg’s writings, and the tanka poetry collections of Yūko Kōno.
③ Bedroom Bookshelves
This area featured a sliding shelving system with two layers (front and back).
Front Layer: Contained literary works by authors such as Dostoevsky and Goethe, as well as various paperbacks (bunko and shinsho), travel guidebooks, maps, and books belonging to Professor Kimura's wife.
Back Layer: Housed music-related literature concerning composers such as Bach, Mozart, and Toru Takemitsu. It also included works by figures associated with the Kyoto School, such as Hajime Tanabe, Junzō Karaki, and Kiyoshi Miki, along with tanka poetry collections by Kuniyo Takayasu, Yūko Kōno, and Kazuhiro Nagata.
This area featured a sliding shelving system with two layers (front and back).
Front Layer: Contained literary works by authors such as Dostoevsky and Goethe, as well as various paperbacks (bunko and shinsho), travel guidebooks, maps, and books belonging to Professor Kimura's wife.
Back Layer: Housed music-related literature concerning composers such as Bach, Mozart, and Toru Takemitsu. It also included works by figures associated with the Kyoto School, such as Hajime Tanabe, Junzō Karaki, and Kiyoshi Miki, along with tanka poetry collections by Kuniyo Takayasu, Yūko Kōno, and Kazuhiro Nagata.
④ Garden Shed
This storage area contained back issues of various journals and miscellaneous volumes. The journals included Seishin Shinkeigaku Zasshi (Psychiatria et Neurologia Japonica), Seishin Igaku (Clinical Psychiatry), Gendai Shisō (Revue de la pensée d'aujourd'hui), Shisō, Risō, and imago.
This storage area contained back issues of various journals and miscellaneous volumes. The journals included Seishin Shinkeigaku Zasshi (Psychiatria et Neurologia Japonica), Seishin Igaku (Clinical Psychiatry), Gendai Shisō (Revue de la pensée d'aujourd'hui), Shisō, Risō, and imago.
⑤ Office at Kawaijuku (Kyoto)
The materials here primarily consisted of Kimura’s own works, lecture manuscripts, correspondence, presentation copies, Japanese journals, donated offprints, and various documents.
Correspondence: Western-language letters exchanged with figures such as Wolfgang Blankenburg, Hubertus Tellenbach, and various participants of the Zurich conferences were meticulously filed in chronological order.
The materials here primarily consisted of Kimura’s own works, lecture manuscripts, correspondence, presentation copies, Japanese journals, donated offprints, and various documents.
Correspondence: Western-language letters exchanged with figures such as Wolfgang Blankenburg, Hubertus Tellenbach, and various participants of the Zurich conferences were meticulously filed in chronological order.
Offprints: Significant offprints were organized and filed by individual author.
Books: While most books appeared to have been brought from his residence as needed, notable items kept at the office included the Japanese edition of the Complete Works of Sigmund Freud, the Collected Works of Shizuteru Ueda, and materials related to Mari Nagai.
Books: While most books appeared to have been brought from his residence as needed, notable items kept at the office included the Japanese edition of the Complete Works of Sigmund Freud, the Collected Works of Shizuteru Ueda, and materials related to Mari Nagai.