Odawara, Kanagawa
From a samurai-class family of Ashigarashimo District, Kanagawa (part of present-day Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture), Kitamura was interested in liberal politics at an early age, and played a minor role in the Freedom and People's Rights Movement. He attended the "Tōkyō Senmon Gakkō" (which later became Waseda University), but was expelled due to his radical political views. After almost a year of vigorous political activities, which occasionally involved robbery to raise funds, he started questioning the purpose of the movement and left to become a writer. He was also baptized as a Christian in 1888.