An examination of the context for the development of female literary expression in Meiji Japan. It studies the lives and literary careers of three of Higuchi Ichiyo's peers - Miyake Kaho, Wakamatsu Shizuko and Shimizu Shikin - each representative of the diversity of the period.
Rebecca Copeland examines in detail the lives and literary careers of three Meiji women writers, each representative of the diversity and ingenuity of the period: Miyake Kaho (1868-1944), Wakamatsu Shizuko (1864-1896), and Shimizu Shikin (1868-1933).