Masanari Takagi

Viscount Masanari Takagi was a Japanese entomologist and nobleman, who also served as a politician in the House of Peers. He was born in 1894 as the heir to Masayoshi Takagi, the last lord of Tannan Domain in the area now known as Osaka Prefecture. Upon his father's death in February 1920, he inherited his noble titles.

Takagi graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1922 with a Bachelor of Science degree in zoology. He continued his postgraduate studies at the same university, focusing on entomology, with particular interest in butterflies and longhorn beetles.

During World War II, Takagi experienced the loss of much of his insect specimen collection and library due to an air raid. The subsequent abolition of the peerage system in Japan resulted in the loss of his noble privileges, which hindered his ability to reconstruct his collection.

In his personal life, he was the father of Yuriko, Princess Mikasa, who was married to Takahito, Prince Mikasa. Prince Mikasa was the youngest brother of Emperor Hirohito.

On 8 July 1948, Takagi disappeared suddenly. He was in possession of potassium cyanide capsules, which he kept for collecting insects. His suicide note stated, "it is utterly futile to try to find me, so pray do not try to do so; I shall just merge with nature and become part of it again." His body was discovered on 1 November 1948 at Mount Kumotori in Okutama, a location where he often went for insect collection.