Socialist. He grew up when the Freedom and People's Rights Movement was gaining momentum in Tosa. He moved to Tokyo in 1888 and became a student of Nakae Chomin, who gave him the penname Shusui. After working as a press writer for the Jiyu Shimbun, he joined another newspaper company, Yorozu Choho-sha, and also became a member of the Shakai Shugi Kenkyu-kai (The Society of Socialism Research). In 1901 he published Niju Seki no Kaibutsu Teikoku Shugi (Imperialism, Monster of the Twentieth Century) and founded the Social Democratic Party with Abe Isoo. In 1903 he published Shakai Shugi Shinzui (The Essence of Socialism) and with Sakai Toshihiko started the newspaper Heimin Shinbun. In this paper, he published Rokoku Shakaito ni Atauru Sho (Open Letter to the Russian Social Democratic Party) and the translation of Kyosanto Sengen (Communist Manifesto), for which he was jailed. After he was released, he moved to the U.S. and founded the Social Revolution Party in 1906. After his return to Japan, he advocated in public and in newspapers for activism that takes real action. In 1909 he and Kanno Suga published the magazine Jiyu Shiso (Liberal Thought), which was banned. He was arrested during the High Treason Incident and executed in 1911.