Kita Tofu, Doctor Writer Laughing Like the Wind (July 1974)

Kita Tofu, Doctor Writer Laughing Like the Wind (July 1974)
Kita Tofu (1927-2011) was a heretic and at the same time a limpid humorist in postwar literature. As a psychiatrist, he looked into the depths of human psychology, and as a writer, he encapsulated its ridiculousness and weakness in laughter. His masterpiece, "Dokutoru Mambo Kaiyouki" (The Voyage of the Dokutoru Mambo) is a symbol of his wry writing style and is known as a work of literature that quietly accepted the grim reality of postwar Japan with an "anchor of laughter.
In a magazine interview in July 1974, he said, "Literature that is too serious is placed outside of the reader. At the time, the end of the student movement and the distortion of economic growth were blocking the social atmosphere, but Kita believed that "literature has the power to transform sorrow into laughter," and he presented laughter as the breath of literature. That laughter was not escapism, but rather another courage to look at reality, and his deep faith in humanity was at the root of his work.
His experience as a psychiatrist also added depth to his literature. His view that "human beings are stupid, but there is hope in their stupidity" was a philosophy of compassion, not irony. Unlike the conceptualism of Kenzaburo Oe and the stylistic beauty of Yukio Mishima, Kita treated "laughter" as an ethic and produced literature rooted in everyday life.
In recent years, Kita's literature has been re-evaluated and is attracting attention in the fields of psychology and medicine, especially from the perspective that the power of humor promotes spiritual recovery. Many studies on the Web compare Kita's "philosophy of laughter" to the stresses of modern society, and his "lightness" is needed in times of great pressure. His laughter is soft like the wind, yet it continues to shine a light that illuminates the depths of human nature.