was an entrepreneur, philanthropist, patron of the arts, and advocate of

Pan-Asianism file:Asia satellite orthographic.jpg , Satellite photograph of Asia in orthographic projection. Pan-Asianism (also known as Asianism or Greater Asianism) is an ideology aimed at creating a political and economic unity among Asian people, Asian peo ...

in the

Empire of Japan The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From Japan–Kor ...

. He is known as the founder of Nakamura-ya, a noted bakery in Tokyo.

Biography

Sōma was born in a wealthy farming family in what is now

Azumino, Nagano is a city located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 97,761 in 39744 households, and a population density of 290 persons per km2. Its total area is . Etymology of Azumino Azumino is a combination of two word ...

. He came to Tokyo at the age of 17 in order to enter

Waseda University Waseda University (Japanese: ), abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the Tōkyō Professional School by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the fifth Prime Minister of Japan, prime ministe ...

in 1886, entering the Tokyo Professional College which had just been founded. His professors included

Tsubouchi Shōyō __NoTOC__ was a Japanese author, critic, playwright, translator, editor, educator, and professor at Waseda University. He has been referred to as a seminal figure in Japanese drama. "Wetmore deals cleanly with Japanese theatre as part of the mo ...

and Tameyuki Amano. Later, he studied with Sokichi Tsuda, a Japanese historian who became a professor at Waseda University. During this time, he was also converted to Christianity by

Uchimura Kanzō was a Japanese author, Christian evangelist, and the founder of the Nonchurch Movement ( Mukyōkai) of Christianity during the Meiji and Taishō periods in Japan. He is often considered to be the most well-known Japanese pre-World War II pac ...

, and became friends with

Taguchi Ukichi was a Japanese historian and Georgist economist of the Meiji period, and one of the foremost proponents of the '' bunmeishi'' view of history. He was elected to the House of Representatives of Japan in 1894. He is sometimes referred to as "the Ja ...

. page 115-117 He graduated in 1890, and travelled to

Hokkaido is the list of islands of Japan by area, second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own list of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō fr ...

, where he studied

sericulture Sericulture, or silk farming, is the cultivation of silkworms to produce silk. Although there are several commercial species of silkworms, the caterpillar of the Bombyx mori, domestic silkmoth is the most widely used and intensively studied silkwo ...

at the

Sapporo Agricultural College was a school in Sapporo, Hokkaidō established in September 1875 for the purpose of educating students in the agriculture industry. History The first president of the college was Zusho Hirotake. Dr. William S. Clark, a graduate of Amherst C ...

, and returned to Nagano to conduct experiments in the improvement of

silkworm ''Bombyx mori'', commonly known as the domestic silk moth, is a moth species belonging to the family Bombycidae. It is the closest relative of '' Bombyx mandarina'', the wild silk moth. Silkworms are the larvae of silk moths. The silkworm is of ...

s. He also founded a

temperance movement The temperance movement is a social movement promoting Temperance (virtue), temperance or total abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and ...

in Azumino, which drew the wrath of locals for its aggressive approach against drinking and brothels. He also met with foreign missionaries, and established a local orphanage. In 1898, married Kokkō, the daughter of an ex-samurai from

Sendai is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Miyagi Prefecture and the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,098,335 in 539,698 households, making it the List of cities in Japan, twelfth most populated city in Japan. ...

, which he had visited in order to raise funds for the orphanage, but she had frequent problems with her health and with adjusting to rural life, and the couple relocated to Tokyo in 1901. In Tokyo, Sōma purchased the Nakamura-ya bakery near the main gate to

Tokyo Imperial University The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public university, public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several Edo peri ...

. He is credited with inventing the ''kurimu-pan'', a bun with custard inside. In 1909, he moved the shop to

Shinjuku , officially called Shinjuku City, is a special ward of Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative center, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world ( Shinjuku Station) as well as the Tokyo Metropol ...

. He often hired foreigners or consulted with foreign residents in Japan for ideas on new products or new condiments to use in his bakery items. He also established a school to teach commercial morality and to improve on the service standards of his employees. The shop flourished, and he added a café and restaurant as well. Sōma became a patron of the arts and literature by organizing a

literary salon A salon is a gathering of people held by a host. These gatherings often consciously followed Horace's definition of the aims of poetry, "either to please or to educate" (Latin: ''aut delectare aut prodesse''). Salons in the tradition of the Fren ...

, and by providing financial support to struggling artists and writers. Members of the salon included

Naoe Kinoshita was a Japanese Christian socialism, Christian socialist activism, activist and author. Biography Kinoshita was a native of Matsumoto, Nagano. After graduating from the predecessor of Waseda University, he returned to Nagano to work as a journal ...

, a socialist activist from Sōma’s home town, Vasili Eroshenko, a blind Russian poet, as well as actress Sumako Matsui, painter Tsune Nakamura, and sculptor Rokuzan Ogiwara. Sōma also provided support to the pan-Asian movement, and his salon provided a convenient and confidential meeting place for politicians, including Toyama Mitsuru,

Inukai Tsuyoshi Inukai Tsuyoshi (, 4 June 1855 – 15 May 1932) was a Japanese statesman who was Prime Minister of Japan, prime minister of Japan from 1931 to his assassination in 1932. At the age of 76, Inukai was Japan's second oldest serving prime minister, ...

and others. Sōma provided shelter for

Rash Behari Bose Rash Behari Bose (; 25 May 1886 – 21 January 1945) was an Indian revolutionary leader and freedom fighter who fought against the British Empire. He was one of the key organisers of the Ghadar Mutiny and founded the Indian Independence Lea ...

, the fugitive head of the

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic ...

. Bose was the mastermind behind a number of bomb plots against the

Viceroy of India The governor-general of India (1833 to 1950, from 1858 to 1947 the viceroy and governor-general of India, commonly shortened to viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom in their capacity as the Emperor of ...

and attempts to organize an uprising against the

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

. Bose married Sōma’s daughter Toshiko in 1918. Sōma died in 1954.

References

External links

Aizo Sōma: Founder of Nakamuraya and a Great Shopkeeper
{{DEFAULTSORT:Soma, Aizu 1870 births 1954 deaths People from Nagano Prefecture Japanese Protestants Waseda University alumni Japanese businesspeople Japanese philanthropists Pan-Asianists