was a Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese socialist

Socialism

Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...

 intellectual from the Meiji Era. A member or an elite family of writers and thinkers of the Meiji Era, he became interested in socialism while still in his hometown of Okayama. in 1900, he penned an article printed in the magazine "Seinen no Fukuin" (lit. Evangelism of Youth) entitled "The Great Tragedy of Life," which spoke poorly of the marriage of the emperor. The reaction to this article had him "red-flagged" as a potential troublemaker, but he was not sent to prison.

In 1916, he married outspoken feminist and socialist Yamakawa Kikue.