Born in
Tokyo in 1886, the second daughter of a high ranking civil servant, and educated at
Japan Women's University () in 1903, Hiratsuka came to be influenced by contemporary currents of European philosophy, as well as
Zen Buddhism, of which she would become a devoted practitioner. Of particular influence to her was turn-of-the-century Swedish feminist writer
Ellen Key, some of whose works she translated into Japanese, and the
individualistic heroine of
Henrik Ibsen's ''
A Doll's House'' (1879). Hiratsuka was also interested in the works of
Baruch Spinoza,
Meister Eckhart, and
G. W. F. Hegel during her time at Japan Women's University. In 1908 she attempted a double-suicide with
Morita Sōhei, her teacher – a married writer – and a disciple of novelist
Natsume Soseki, in the mountains of
Nasushiobara,
Tochigi. The pair were found alive on the mountain, but the attempted suicide by such a highly educated pair aroused widespread public criticism. Upon graduation from university, Hiratsuka entered the Narumi Women's English School where, in 1911, she founded Japan's first all-women literary magazine,
Seitō (, literally
Bluestocking). She began the first issue with the words, "In the beginning, woman was the sun" () – a reference to the
Shinto sun goddess
Amaterasu, legendary ancestress of the
Imperial House of Japan, and to the spiritual independence which women had lost. Adopting the pen name
Raichō ("Thunderbird"), she began to call for a women's spiritual revolution, and within its first few years the journal's focus shifted from literature to women's issues, including candid discussion of
female sexuality,
chastity and
abortion. Contributors included renowned poet and women's rights proponent
Yosano Akiko, among others. Even though many Japanese became exposed to the ideas of the modern feminists, due to rebuttals by Japan's media, most did not take their ideas seriously, thinking that Raichō and her comrades were attempting to steal a moment of fame in history. The journal folded in 1915, but not before establishing its founder as a leading light in Japan's
women's movement. Meanwhile, in 1914, Hiratsuka began living openly with her younger lover, artist
Okumura Hiroshi, with whom she had two children out of wedlock and eventually married in 1941. From 1918 to 1919,
Yosano Akiko started to claim the importance of women's financial independence in the context of the rapid development of capitalism in Japan after the end of World War I. Since Hiratsuka were influenced by Key's argument for the priority of motherhood through her translated works, she claimed that complete independence was an impractical expectation in the situation at that time, and added that maternity protection with financial assistance by the government would be necessary to establish women's national, social existence in the context of the difficult condition of women's workers, against Yosano's argument. Afterwards,
Yamakawa Kikue and
Yamada Waka participated in this debate, and it became a big social movement known as the Maternity Protection Controversy (母性保護論争, Bosei-hogo ronso). It was largely through this group's efforts that Article 5 of the Police Security Regulations—which, enacted in 1900, had barred women from joining political organizations and holding or attending political meetings—was overturned in 1922.
Women's suffrage, however, remained elusive in Japan. A further and more controversial campaign attempted to ban men with
venereal disease from marrying. This unsuccessful campaign remains a point of controversy surrounding Hiratsuka's career in that it saw her aligning herself with the
eugenics movement, asserting that the spread of
venereal diseases was having a detrimental effect on the Japanese "race". Hiratsuka would join the cooperative movement in the 1930s, concluding that this would be the best option to include the most number of people towards the main goal of social reform. The next several years, however, saw Hiratsuka withdraw somewhat from the public eye, saddled with debts and her lover beset with health problems, although she would continue to write and lecture. In the postwar years, she emerged again as a public figure through the
peace movement. In 1950, the day after the outbreak of the
Korean War, she traveled to the United States together with writer and activist
Nogami Yaeko and three other members of the Japan Women's Movement () in order to present
US Secretary of State Dean Acheson with a request that a system be created in which Japan could remain neutral and pacifist. Hiratsuka continued to champion women's rights in the postwar era, founding the
New Japan Women's Association () in 1963 together with Nogami and noted artist
Iwasaki Chihiro, and continuing to write and lecture up until her death in 1971. == Legacy ==