Ichiyō Higuchi (樋口 一葉 Higuchi Ichiyō, May 2, 1872 – November 23, 1896) is the pen name of Japanese author Natsu Higuchi (樋口 奈津 Higuchi Natsu), also known as Natsuko Higuchi (樋口 夏子 Higuchi Natsuko).
Higuchi was born in Meiji era Tokyo of samurai lineage. In the space of her short life, she moved a total of 12 times. Upon reaching the age of 14, she entered the Haginoya, a poetry school and received a classical education; at the age of 15, she suffered the loss of her brother, and her father's business failed. Shortly afterward, he died and at the young age of 17 she became the head of the Higuchi household. Along with her mother and younger sister, they made ends meet by doing needlework, washing, and other jobs. In 1892, after seeing the success of a classmate, Tanabe Kaho, who wrote a novel,[1] Higuchi decided to become a novelist to support her family.
At age 20, Higuchi wrote her first novel and also adopted the pen name of Ichiyō. Around this time, Higuchi turned down a marriage proposal and moved to a house near the Yoshiwara pleasure quarters. In 1894 her first major work, Ōtsugomori (大つごもり, "The New Year's Eve") was published, and in the following year, Takekurabe, Nigorie (にごりえ, "Troubled Waters"), Takekurabe (たけくらべ , “Child’s Play”), and Jūsan'ya (十三夜, "The Thirteenth Night") were published to critical and popular success. Higuchi’s works such as “Child’s Play,” “Troubled Waters,” and “Separate Ways” (1895) highlight the characters and behaviors of the licensed district in the nineteenth century. “Child’s Play” (たけくらべ) takes place in the neighborhood near Yoshiwara, located in Tokyo for nearly 300 years. Higuchi has her characters in “Child’s Play” growing into their differing social positions. “Child’s Play” depicts the struggle of lives in areas surrounding the pleasure quarters and the life of the women in the Yoshiwara district. Higuchi's literary career was cut short in 1896, when she contracted, and soon died of, tuberculosis.
In spite of her very short career and limited output, Higuchi is remembered for the quality of her works and is considered to be the first professional female writer in modern Japanese literature. Women during the nineteenth century struggled to receive or continue an education. Higuchi succeeded, as a woman, in receiving a classical education and creating literary works that became popular and critical successes for Meiji literature. Higuchi's likeness adorns the Japanese 5000 yen banknote as of fall, 2004, becoming the third female to appear on a Japanese banknote, after Empress Jingū in 1881, and Murasaki Shikibu in 2000.