Sōma was born in a wealthy farming family in what is now
Azumino, Nagano. He came to Tokyo at the age of 17 in order to enter
Waseda University in 1886, entering the Tokyo Professional College which had just been founded. His professors included
Tsubouchi Shōyō 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, and became friends with
Taguchi Ukichi. He graduated in 1890, and travelled to
Hokkaido, where he studied
sericulture at the
Sapporo Agricultural College, and returned to Nagano to conduct experiments in the improvement of
silkworms. He also founded a
temperance movement in Azumino, which drew the wrath of locals for its aggressive approach against drinking and brothels. In 1909, he moved the shop to
Shinjuku. 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, and by providing financial support to struggling artists and writers. Members of the salon included
Naoe Kinoshita, 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 and others. Sōma provided shelter for
Rash Behari Bose, the fugitive head of the
Indian independence movement. Bose was the mastermind behind a number of bomb plots against the
Viceroy of India and attempts to organize an uprising against the
British Raj. Bose married Sōma’s daughter Toshiko in 1918. Sōma died in 1954. ==References==