Kitarō Nishida

Kitarō Nishida is an interesting character. He learned Danish—a notoriously difficult language—in order to read Kierkegaard in the original. This helped him incorporate the existential with Buddhism to create a unique philosophical system, personified by his theory of “basho”. This melding of Eastern and Western philosophy was the foundational principle of the Kyoto School that he established. Although hardly anyone has heard of him here in the West, when people use the term “non-binary”, they are evoking his influence.

I first meet him in the belly of a whale, along with Jonah. Soon, he becomes one of the key guides in my quest. Whether it be leaping fifty meters over the ramparts of Elsinore dressed as Morpheus from the Matrix, plying me with hallucinogenic fish, or getting all Zen in the pasta aisle of Tesco with Nagarjuna and Alan Watts, Nishida is an important element in the book.