At the age of twenty-two Nogami Yaeko made her literary debut with "Enishi" (The Ties of Love, 1907) and thereby began what has been the longest writing career of any author in Japan. Writing for many years does not mean that one is a great writer, but with each new work she steadily matured both in technique and insight. Many critics consider Hideyoshi to Rikyu (Hideyoshi and Rikyu, 1964), the historical novel that she completed when she was seventy-eight years old, one of the masterpieces of modern Japanese literature. After finishing this work Yaeko wrote several short stories, miscellanies, and many essays of social criticism. At the age of eighty-seven she published the first installment of Mori (The Forest, 1985), her autobiographical novel, in the literary magazine Shinch, and through her perseverance and diligence she was nearly able to complete the final chapter of this work before her death.

Yaeko was...