Who was this person?
A Meiji-era novelist and poet. Born in Tokyo, she studied waka and the classics at Nakajima Utako’s poetry school Haginoya. Supporting her family after her father’s death, she wrote fiction and left masterpieces such as Child’s Play (Takekurabe), Troubled Waters (Nigorie) and The Thirteenth Night, but died of tuberculosis in 1896 at just 24. She appears on the 5,000-yen note issued from 2004 to 2024.
| Name | Higuchi Ichiyō (樋口一葉) |
|---|---|
| Born–died | 1872 – 1896 |
| Period | Meiji period |
| Birthplace | Uchisaiwai-chō, Tokyo (now Chiyoda, Tokyo) |
| Also known as | Higuchi Natsu (real name; also Natsuko) |
| Main achievements |
|
Born in Tokyo into the family of a government official; her real name was Natsu.
She entered Nakajima Utako's poetry school Haginoya, studying waka and the classics.
Her father died and, as head of the household, she had to support her mother and sister in deep poverty.
To earn a living she aimed to write fiction, studying under Nakarai Tōsui.
She published Umoregi in a magazine and began to be recognized as a writer.
She moved to Ryūsenji in Shitaya and opened a cheap sweet shop; life there became the setting of Takekurabe.
She moved to Maruyama-Fukuyama in Hongō, where in about a year and a half she wrote masterpiece after masterpiece, a period called "the miraculous fourteen months".
She published Takekurabe, Nigorie, Jūsan'ya and other works.
Takekurabe was highly praised by Mori Ōgai and others, but that year she died young of tuberculosis.
A. A Meiji-era novelist and poet. Born in Tokyo, she studied waka and the classics at Nakajima Utako’s poetry school Haginoya. Supporting her family after her father’s death, she wrote fiction and left masterpieces such as Child’s Play (Takekurabe), Troubled Waters (Nigorie) and The Thirteenth Night, but died of tuberculosis in 1896 at just 24. She appears on the 5,000-yen note issued from 2004 to 2024.
A. Period: Meiji period. Born in 1872, died in 1896.
A. Higuchi Ichiyō was born in Uchisaiwai-chō, Tokyo (now Chiyoda, Tokyo).
A. A phrase for the roughly fourteen months from late 1894 to early 1896 during which Ichiyō published one major work after another, including The Last Day of the Year, Child’s Play, Troubled Waters and The Thirteenth Night.
See also: Wikipedia (ja) / Wikipedia (en) / Wikipedia (fr) / Wikipedia (zh) / Wikidata
Follow this life (autoplay)Kitamura TokokuShiga KiyoshiKunikida DoppoKōtoku ShūsuiShimazaki TōsonTayama KataiHata SahachirōHishida Shunsō
People of the Meiji period ・ People by period
Based on facts found in textbooks and biographies. Uncertain points are marked as such.