She began her career as a with the short story "Chiisana himitsu" ("Small Secret") in the rental shōjo manga magazine Sumire in 1962.
She married Masaharu Yamamoto in 1964, himself a manga artist and the younger brother of Sachiko Shinjō.
[4] Its status as the first yuri is contested: manga critic Yoshihiro Yonezawa claims Secret Love was particularly controversial and debated at the time of its publication, while manga scholar Yukari Fujimoto contends that it did not have a strong influence.
Regardless, Secret Love is generally regarded as an obscure work, with most critics identifying Shiroi Heya no Futari by Ryōko Yamagishi, published in 1971, as the first yuri manga.
[1] By end of the 1960s, she became one of the leading figures of the avant-garde magazine COM with her manga series Noah o sagashite (ノア を さがし, lit.