Chieko Takamura
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chieko Takamura (May 20, 1886-October 5, 1938) was a Japanese poet.
She was born in what is now Adachi-machi, Adachi-gun, Fukushima Prefecture as Chieko Naganuma, the eldest of six daughters and two sons.
In 1903, she went to the Japan Women's University in Tokyo, and graduated in 1907.
She was beautiful, an oil painter, and made colorful papercuts.
She was an early member of the Japanese feminist movement Seiosha.
In 1911 she was a member of the group of women that founded "Seito" magazine. She made the first cover illustration. It began as a literary outlet for woman writers and quickly turned into a forum for discussing feminist issues. These women were from the upper-middle class and soon were labeled, "New Women," because of their views and their lifestyles.
She was married to Kotaro Takamura, a sculptor and poet, whom she met soon after he had retuned from France - they married in February 1914.
Following the breakup of her family home in 1929, she was diagnosed in 1931 with symptoms of schizophrenia - she was hospitalized for that disease in 1935, and remained there until her death from tuberculosis in 1938.
Kotaro's book of poems about her, "Chieko's Sky" (Chiekosho), is still widely admired and read today.
