Ichiyo+Higuchi

Ichiyo Higuchi

She was born on May 2nd, 1872. Her parents were Noriyoshi and Takiko Higuchi. Her given name was Natsume, Ichiyo (one leaf) was her pen name. She was taken out of school at age 11, but was then put to a poetry school run by Utako Nakajima. Her mother had taken her out of school because she thought that too much education was not good for a women. Her father wanted her to continue, so it was he that sent her to the poetry school three years later. She did amazingly well at poetry and during this time in her life she began her diaries which have been praised as her greatest literary works. Some even consider then better than her later novels and short stories. At the age of sixteen she became the head of her family. This was because her father retired and her older brother died. She lived in poverty the rest of her life as she worked different jobs to support her family while still writing. Musashino, the literary magazine, published her when she was 20. She wrote short stories and to novels that were praised by other renown Meiji writers. She died on November 23, 1896 of tuberculosis at the age of 24. Today she has a stong following that gathers at her grave on the annirversary of her death. It is said that people "tend to romanticize when genius dies young." Ichiyo is currently on the 5000 yen bill in Japan.

Works: Her Diaries Yamizakura (Flowers at Dusk, her first published short story) Takekurabe (Growing Up) Nigorie (Troubled Waters)