Higuchi Ichiyo, << hee goo chee ee chee yoh >> (1872-1896) was the first modern woman writer in Japanese literature. Her stories show the influence of the lyricism of classical Japanese literature combined with the realism of Ihara Saikaku, a major Japanese fiction writer of the 1600’s. Like Saikaku, Ichiyo chronicled the lives of average people living in cities.
Higuchi Natsuko was born on May 2, 1872, in Tokyo. She adopted the pen name Higuchi Ichiyo in 1891. She began to publish stories in magazines in 1892. Ichiyo’s early stories were highly melodramatic and romantic. Her masterpiece, the short novel Takekurabe (known by several names in English, including Comparing Heights, Growing Up, and Child’s Play), was published in installments in 1895 and 1896. It tells a realistic story of the loss of innocence of children growing up in the prostitution district of Tokyo. The children in the story gradually become aware that they cannot choose how they will live as adults but must follow the roles assigned them by society.
Ichiyo died on Nov. 23, 1896, at the age of 24 from tuberculosis. Her work brought her fame in the months before her death.
