Misao Fujimura

Misao Fujimura (藤村 操, Fujimura Misao, July 20, 1886 – May 22, 1903) was a Japanese philosophy student and poet, largely remembered due to his farewell poem.

His grandfather was a former samurai of the Morioka Domain, and his father relocated to Hokkaidō after the Meiji Restoration as a director of the forerunner of Hokkaido Bank.

He later traveled to Kegon Falls in Nikko, a famed scenic area, and wrote his farewell poem directly on the trunk of a tree before committing suicide.

The story was soon sensationalized in contemporary newspapers, and was commented upon by the famed writer Natsume Sōseki, an English teacher at Fujimura's high school.

I wanted to measure the immensity with this puny five-foot body.

Misao Fujimura’s suicide note