Throughout her childhood she had problems with her hips dislocating, requiring multiple surgeries to address and providing experience that she would later incorporate into her story Miesugiru me (見えすぎる目, Eyes That See Too Well), about a child with similar problems who has a troubled relationship with her mother.
In 1946 Shigekane was baptized as a Protestant, and the next year she married her husband, with whom she subsequently had three children.
[3] Her story Yama ai no keburi (やまあいの煙, The Smoke in the Mountain Valley), about a diligent crematorium worker, was chosen over Haruki Murakami's nominated story Hear the Wind Sing, which the committee considered to be too imitative of American literature to be awarded the Akutagawa Prize.
Shigekane wrote several more novels after winning the Akutagawa Prize, including the 1980 novel Usui kaigara (うすい貝殻, Thin Seashells), about a woman who conforms to the expectations of those around her, and the 1986 novel Kumazasa no hara no kaze no michi (熊笹の原に風の道, A Windy Pass in the Field of Low Striped Bamboos), about a bank worker whose new bride develops a fatal tumor.
[1] In 1985 Toho released a film adaptation of Yama ai no keburi titled Itoshiki hibi yo, starring Rino Katase and Masami Shimojō.