Morio Kita was the pen name of Japanese novelist, essayist, and psychiatrist, Sokichi Saitō. He attended Azabu High School, Matsumoto Higher School (now part of Shinshu University) and graduated from Tohoku University's School of Medicine. He initially worked as a doctor at Keio University Hospital. Motivated by the collections of his father's poems and the books of German author Thomas Mann, he decided to become a novelist. He is the father of the essayist Yuka Saitō.