1882-1953. Poet and physician. In 1905 Saito was adopted by his relative, Dr. Kiichi Saito, and entered the Tokyo College of Medicine. He studied short verses under Sachio Ito. He published Araragi in 1908 and carried on with his activity of wiring poems and reviews. In 1914 he married Kiichi’s second daughter, Teruko, and studied in Europe in 1921 after becoming a professor at Nagasaki Medical School. When Kiichi’s Aoyama Hospital burned down just after Saito returned to Japan, he devoted his efforts to rebuilding it. In 1945, he moved to his hometown of Yamagata, and the hospital was transferred to Tokyo. Although Saito was acclaimed as a poet, he continued to devote himself to rebuilding the hospital after he returned to Tokyo in 1947.

While looking after the management of the hospital , Saito wrote many poems set in Aoyama.

In 1903, Saito’s adoptive father, Kiichi, built the Aoyama Hospital at the present 4-chome Minamiaoyama. Saito himself lived at this place from 1907 to 1945 and struggled to rebuild the hospital after it burned down in 1924. as its director from 1927, he wrote many poems set in Aoyama. A stone tablet inscribed with Saito’s poem sits on the site of the hospital and describes his devotion to the path he chose and presents his feelings at the time against the landscape of Aoyama. His son Morio Kita wrote Nireke no hitobito (The People of the Nire Family), which depicts the Saito family and the hospital.

References
Nihon Jinmei Daijiten (Japanese Biographical Dictionary) (Kodansha)
Nihon no sakka 100-nin Hito to bungaku Saito Mokichi (100 Japanese Writers: People and Literature - Mokichi Saito) (Mariko Ogura / Bensei Shuppan)

The site of Mokichi Saito’s home (Oji Green Hill, 4-17-40 Minamiaoyama)
Tomb of Mokichi Saito (Aoyama Reien, 2-chome MInamiaoyama)
Aoyama Hospital (4-17-43 Minamiaoyama)

Shakko (Red Lights) (Iwanami Bunko) Saito Mokichi Kashu (Poems by Mokichi Saito) (Iwanami Bunko)
Manyoshuka Parts 1 & 2 (Iwanami Shinsho)
Saito Mokichi Zuihitsushu (Collection of Essays by Mokichi Saito) (Iwanami Bunko)

Seinen Mokichi: Shakko Aratama Jidai (The Young Mokichi: The Times of Shakko and Aratama) (Morio Kita / Iwanami Gendai Bunko)
Sonen Mokichi “Tsuyujimo”-“Tomoshibi” Jidai (Middle-aged Mokichi: The Times of “Tsuyujimo”-“Tomoshibi”) (same as above)
Mokichi Hoko; Takahara -Shoen (Mokichi the Wanderer; The Times of Takahara -Shoen) (Same as above)
Mokichi Bannen Shiroki Yama -Tsukikage Jidai (Mokichi in Twilight Years: The Times of Shiroki Yama and Tsukikage) (Same as above)