Ichiyo higuchi biography examples

Japanese writer (1872–1896)

In this Japanese name, the surname is Higuchi.

Natsuko Higuchi (Japanese: 樋口 夏子, Hepburn: Higuchi Natsuko, 2 May 1872 – 23 November 1896), known by her pen nameHiguchi Ichiyō (樋口 一葉), was a Japanese writer during the Meiji era. She was Japan's first professional woman writer of modern literature, specializing in short stories and poetry, and was also an extensive diarist. Her portrait appears on the 5000 yen banknote in Japan.

Biography

Early life

Higuchi was born in Tokyo on 2 May 1872 as the fourth child and second daughter of Noriyoshi Higuchi, a samurai, and Ayame "Taki" Furuya.Official documentation states her name as Natsuko Higuchi, though she would often refer to herself as Natsu Higuchi (樋口 奈津, Higuchi Natsu). Her parents were from a peasant community in nearby Yamanashi Prefecture, but her father had managed to procure samurai status in 1867. Despite only enjoying the position for a short time before the samurai caste was abolished with the Meiji Restoration, growing up in a samurai household was a formative experience for her.

In 1886, she began studying waka poetry at the Haginoya, a private school run by Utako Nakajima. There, she received weekly poetry lessons and lectures on Japanese literature. There were also monthly poetry competitions in which all students, previous and current, were invited to participate. Poetry taught at this school was that of the conservative court poets of the Heian period. She felt inferior and unprepossessing among the other students, the great maj

On this day in 1896 Japan lost one of its most important authors as Ichiyo Higuchi died of tuberculosis. She was only 24. Despite living for less than a quarter of century, Higuchi is still revered today and until 2024 is the face of the ¥5,000 note. Writing stories that predominantly focused on female characters, she was most well-known for the novella Takekurabe (Child’s Play). 

Background

Born Natsuko Higuchi on May 2, 1872, she was the daughter of a samurai. Though both her parents were from a peasant community, her father won status as a shogunate vassal in 1867, a year before the Meiji Restoration. With imperial rule restored to Japan, his status as a samurai was short-lived. It did, however, help him gain a position under the Tokyo government, meaning the family lived relatively comfortably. 

Growing up, Higuchi was a bookworm who received top grades during her elementary school days. Her mother, though, didn’t believe in education for girls. She requested that her daughter quit school before she reached her teens to help with the housework. Higuchi’s father felt differently. He bought her poetry books and paid for a personal tutor for the young girl. When she was 14, he helped her enroll at Haginoya, a private school run by famous waka and tanka poet Utako Nakajima. 

At the school, Higuchi received weekly poetry and Japanese literature lessons. Although she was regularly top of the class, the teenager never felt like she fitted in as most of her fellow students came from noble backgrounds. At 17, she had to put her studies to one side as her father passed away. With her oldest brother having died two years earlier and her other brother away, she was suddenly seen as the family’s main breadwinner. 

Becoming a Writer

To make things more difficult, Higuchi’s father had debts due to a failed wagon transportation business venture. On top of that, Saburo Shibuya, the well

Working hard is not enough. To succeed, you have to let go of fear.

Higuchi Ichiyō is considered one of the most influential writers of the Meiji era. Her stories are held as groundbreaking masterpieces. And her face is on Japan's 5000 yen note.

But she didn't achieve this through sheer will or hard work. She was also fearless. Circumstances, setbacks, tragedy, and the world around her gave her plenty of reason to fear. But she found a way to overcome it, and achieve more in her short life than any man of the Meiji period.

The Meiji Period: Higuchi Ichiyō's World

Everything in Japan was flipped on its head in the early Meiji period (1868 - 1912). The shogun gave up his power to the Emperor. The class system that put the samurai class above everyone else was abolished. And the country ended its long standing isolation from the rest of the world.

Japan as a whole felt like it had fallen behind and the only way to catch up was to modernize, and fast. The government sent out groups of scholars to bring back technology, political ideas, language, and everything else they could get their hands on to turn Japan into a modern mishmash of the best parts. This flood of new technology bombarded the Japanese people, forcing them to play catch-up while the country reinvented itself.

And for women, this did a few really harmful things.

Education

Revisions to the educational system crippled girls compulsory education. Not only was the education provided to girls embarrassingly lower than that given to boys, but they were only required to attend six years of school.

Suddenly people were arguing that an education would make girls misbehave. They said women didn't need schooling if they were going to do their duty as mothers.

Pressure to turn women into "Good Wives, Wise Mothers" in order to make Japanese citizens loyal,

The writer Higuchi Ichiyō was born as Higuchi Natsu in what is now Chiyoda in Tokyo 150 years ago, on May 2, 1872. She went from relative wealth to poverty, and obscurity to fame in a life full of drama as Japan’s first female professional writer before she died at the age of just 24. Her best-known works include “Takekurabe” (trans. “Child’s Play”), “Nigorie” (trans. “Troubled Waters”), and “Jūsan’ya” (trans. “The Thirteenth Night”) (all translated by Robert Lyons Danly). Due to her early death, she only wrote 24 stories. While her diaries are also of literary interest and she left copious waka poems, only a slim volume of her short stories is readily available today. Her classical literary style can make her seem difficult to approach, but she is highly regarded, and research into her oeuvre from various angles continues in the twenty-first century. Since 2004, her portrait has appeared on the ¥5,000 banknote, and her major works have been translated into contemporary Japanese by writers like Matsuura Rieko and Kawakami Mieko.

The ¥5,000 banknote issued from 2004 features a portrait of Higuchi Ichiyō. (© Jiji)

Early Signs of Literary Talent

Ichiyō’s parents were farmers from what is now Yamanashi Prefecture who eloped to Edo (now Tokyo). They worked hard, and her father Noriyoshi won status as a shogunate vassal, although in the following year of 1868, the shogunate fell with the Meiji Restoration. Even so, as Noriyoshi was now a former samurai, he was able to get a position under the Tokyo government, allowing him to build a relatively prosperous household. After one girl and two boys, Higuchi Ichiyō was born in 1872, followed by another daughter two years later.

Her mother Taki did not believe that education was necessary for girls. Ichiyō was an enthusiastic reader from a young age and st