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Otohiko Kaga

かが おとひこ

Kaga Otohiko

Pen Names: Sadataka Kogi（Legal name; used for academic publications and translations in psychiatry/criminal psychology）

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1929-04-22 （Mita, Shiba, Tokyo City, Tokyo Prefecture, Japan）
Died
2023-01-12 age 93
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese
Religion
Catholicism (Roman Catholic) Baptized in 1987
Residence History
Nishi-Ōkubo, Shinjuku, Tokyo → Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo (workplace) → Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture (villa) → France (study/work at the University of Paris / Sainte-Anne Hospital)

Career

Occupations
Novelist, Physician, Psychiatrist, Professor, Writer
Active Years
1967-2023
Affiliations
University of Tokyo (assistant; medical technical officer etc.), Tokyo Medical and Dental University (Associate Professor), Sophia University (Professor, Faculty of Letters), Japan Art Academy, Japan PEN Club, Karuizawa Kogen Bunko (Director)
Memberships
Member, Japan Art Academy, Japan PEN Club (served as director and vice president), Japan Writers' Association (board member)
Influenced By
Fyodor Dostoevsky, Kunio Tsuji, Shūsaku Endō
Nominations
Akutagawa Prize nominee (short story 'Kusabira-tan')

Education

University of Tokyo, Faculty of Medicine
Faculty of Medicine / Department of Medicine
Degree: 医学士
Period: 1949–1953
Year of Graduation: 1953
Country: Japan
Undergraduate graduation
University of Tokyo (Graduate School, Medicine)
Graduate school (medicine) / Psychiatry / Criminal psychology
Degree: 医学博士
Period: 1953–1960
Year of Graduation: 1960
Country: Japan
Doctoral thesis on the criminological and psychopathological study of death-row and life-term prisoners in Japan
University of Paris (Sainte-Anne Hospital / Saint-Venant Hospital)
Psychiatry (clinical training)
Period: 1957–1960
Country: France
Study abroad and clinical work

Awards

Arts Encouragement Prize (Newcomer)
1968
Work: Flanders' Winter
Organization: Agency for Cultural Affairs
Result: 受賞
Tanizaki Jun'ichirō Prize
1973
Work: Summer That Does Not Return
Organization: Tanizaki Prize Committee
Result: 受賞
Japan Literary Award
1979
Work: The Sentence
Organization: Japan Literary Award Committee
Result: 受賞
Ōbutsu Jirō Prize
1986
Work: The Marsh
Organization: Ōbutsu Jirō Prize Committee
Result: 受賞
Arts Encouragement Prize (Minister of Education Award)
1998
Work: Eternal City
Organization: Agency for Cultural Affairs
Result: 受賞
Japan Art Academy Award
1999
Work: Takayama Ukon
Organization: Japan Art Academy
Result: 受賞
Ihara Saikaku Prize (4th)
1999
Work: Takayama Ukon
Organization: Ihara Saikaku Prize Committee
Result: 受賞
Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays
2005
Organization: Government of Japan
Result: 叙勲
Bunkyo City Honorary Citizen Award
2007
Organization: Bunkyo City
Result: 受賞
Person of Cultural Merit
2011
Organization: Government of Japan
Result: 顕彰
Mainichi Publishing Culture Award (Special Prize)
2012
Work: City of Clouds (5 volumes)
Organization: Mainichi Newspapers
Result: 受賞
Historical-era Writers' Club Award (Special Merit)
2016
Organization: Historical-era Writers' Club
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Flanders' Winter

1967 Novel

Kaga's debut long novel. Set partly in foreign landscapes, it explores postwar loneliness and human relationships and served as an early sign of his long-form writing.

LonelinessPostwar JapanForeign/alienation
Translations
  • Flanders' Winter (translation information not available)

Summer That Does Not Return

1973 Novel

A long novel addressing the psychology and memories of the postwar generation; winner of the Tanizaki Prize and a work that established Kaga's literary reputation.

MemoryPostwarFamily and human relationships
Translations
  • Summer That Does Not Return (no translation information)

Declaration / The Sentence

1979 Novel

One of his representative works depicting the suffering of death-row inmates from the viewpoint of a psychiatrist; it examines the ethics of capital punishment and the inner life of the condemned.

Capital punishmentLife and deathEthicsPsychiatry
Translations
  • The Sentence / Declaration (no translation information)

Riding the East Wind

1982 Novel

A work that treats history and human fate; it has been translated into English and adapted as a manga.

HistoryFateHuman drama
Adaptations
  • [Manga] Riding the East Wind (manga adaptation) / 松本零士 (1991)
Translations
  • Riding the East Wind — English translation by Hideo Levi (Kodansha International, 1999)

The Marsh

1985 Novel

A long novel about the tensions between nature and humans, memory and guilt; winner of the Ōbutsu Jirō Prize.

NatureGuiltMemory

City of Clouds (5 volumes)

2002 Long-form series

A long multi-volume series written over many years; a major work taking a broad view of history and society. It received the Mainichi Publishing Culture Award (special prize).

HistorySocietyReligion and culture

Bibliography

  • Flanders' Winter (1967)
  • Wind and the Dead (1969)
  • Literature and Madness (1971)
  • Summer That Does Not Return (1973)
  • The Sentence (1979)
  • Riding the East Wind (1982)
  • The Marsh (1985)
  • Eternal City (1997)
  • Takayama Ukon (1999)
  • City of Clouds (Vol.1–5, 2002–2012)
  • Skater Waltz (1987)
  • Autobiography of Otohiko Kaga (2013)

Adaptations

  • Riding the East Wind — Manga adaptation by Leiji Matsumoto (1991)

Translations by Author

  • Henri Baruk, 'The Treatment of Psychoses' (translated by Sadataka Kogi / O. Koga, 1956)
  • Maurice Merleau-Ponty, 'Phenomenology of Perception' (translated by Yoshirō Takeuchi & Sadataka Kogi, 1967)

Translations of Works

  • Riding the East Wind — English translation (Kodansha International, 1999)
  • Takayama Ukon — German translation 'Kreuz und Schwert' (Be.bra Verlag, 2006)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Psychiatric and psychological depth in characterizationNarration that links history and individual livesCalm, insightful narrative voice
Recurring Motifs
Life and deathGuilt and atonementMemory and the shadow of the pastReligion and faith (notably Catholicism)

Legacy

As a psychiatrist and novelist, he drew on clinical knowledge to explore themes of death, ethics, and memory. He bridged literature and psychiatry and influenced public debate on issues such as capital punishment and dignified death.

Museums

  • Mori Ōgai Memorial Museum (Honorary Director)
  • Karuizawa Kogen Bunko (Director) Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, Japan

Academic Societies

  • Japan Art Academy
  • Japan Writers' Association
  • Japan PEN Club

Archives

  • Diary preserved in his Hongo workplace (1949–2021), held by the family; portions reported by the press

In Popular Culture

  • TV appearances such as NHK's 'Kokoro no Jidai' featuring interviews and testimony
  • Manga adaptation of 'Riding the East Wind' (Leiji Matsumoto)

Quotes

  • Whenever I get stuck writing, I always come here. Then, strangely, I suddenly become able to write.
    Source: Karuizawa Web (interview) (2016)

Trivia

  • Legal name: Sadataka Kogi; he used his legal name for some academic works and translations.
  • Baptized into the Catholic Church at about age 58 (around 1987) with his wife.
  • Longtime hobbyist of figure skating; he reportedly skated before writing.
  • A diary kept at his Hongo workplace from 1949 to 2021 was reported to remain with the family.
  • His daughter is Maho Kaga (a shopping navigator for QVC Japan).