She attended Kabe High School from the age of 17 and began her literary activities there, writing mainly tanka and western-style poetry.
This poem is about a victim of the atomic bombing who suddenly goes into labour whilst taking refuge in an air-raid shelter.
A midwife sharing the shelter goes to her aid, in spite of her own severe injuries, and so gives her own life to deliver the baby safely.
It is based on real events witnessed by Kurihara in the shelter beneath the post office in Sendamachi, Hiroshima (in reality the midwife survived and later had a reunion with the child).
It has been praised for its skillful contrast between the fading of one life and the birth of another, its expression of human strength in the face of tragedy, and its sense of hope for the future.