Amino was born in Azabu Mamiana-cho and raised in Akasaka, Tokyo, where her father was a well-to-do sadler.

She graduated from the Japan Women's University in 1920 with a degree in English, then worked as a part-time assistant editor at a magazine, and from 1921-1926 a substitute English teacher at the university.

In 1921 she published a self-financed collection of stories entitled Aki (Autumn), and in 1923 met author Shiga Naoya whose disciple she became.

She did not publish while married, but made a comeback with a collection of short stories called Kisha no nakade (On the Train) in 1940.

She was a member of the Japan Art Academy and received the 1947 Women's Literature Prize for Kin no kan (A Golden Coffin), and the 1967 Yomiuri Prize[2] and Japan Academy of the Arts prize for her short story Ichigo ichie (Once in a Lifetime).