Hotta is best known as the author of the best-selling manga and anime series Hikaru no Go, which is widely credited for the late 90s-2000s boom of the game of go in Japan.
The idea behind Hikaru no Go began when Yumi Hotta played a pick-up game of go with her father-in-law.
She later worked with Takeshi Obata (the illustrator) and Yukari Umezawa (5-Dan, the supervisor) in the creation of Hikaru no Go.
She won the 2000 Shogakukan Manga Award[1] and the 2003 Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize for Hikaru no Go.
She also had a short manga series Yūto (ユート) about long track speed skating that ran in Weekly Shōnen Jump in 2005.