[1] From an early age on, she was trained in traditional Japanese arts like the tea ceremony, writing tanka and painting, and was taken to see kabuki plays.

[2] She graduated from Tokyo Prefectural Daiichi High School in 1932 and started studying English at Surugadai YWCA Women's Academy.

[1][3] Shibaki started contributing to literary magazines such as Reijokai and Wakakusa in 1935 after her mother's death.

[1] She was awarded the Akutagawa Prize in 1941 for her short story "Seika no ichi" (青果の市, lit.

"Dusk on the Sumida river") won the Shincho Literary Award and the Nihon Literature Prize.