Otake Kazue (1893-1966), best known by her pen name, Otake Kokichi (尾竹紅吉), was a feminist writer and activist in early 20th century Japan. She was an artist, and she received higher education at Japan Women's College.
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About this person
Otake Kazue (1893-1966), best known by her pen name, Otake Kokichi (尾竹紅吉), was a feminist writer and activist in early 20th century Japan. She was an artist, and she received higher education at Japan Women's College. She joined the Japanese Bluestocking Society and started contributing to the Bluestocking magazine (青鞜, Seitō) in 1911. She became a controversial member because she instigated the "Five-colored sake" and Yoshiwara incidents and because of her lesbian affair with Hiratsuka Raicho. She left the group in 1912, and after dealing with her declining mental and physical health, she went on to marry Tomimoto Kenkichi, change her name to Tomimoto Kazue, and have two children. Otake lived separately from Kenkichi for many years, and she started going by her pen name again during this time. The couple divorced following World War II because of their extreme political differences. In her writing career post-Bluestocking, she incorporated first-wave feminist, Marxist, and anti-imperialist ideas into her fiction works. While she is regarded as a pioneer for queer feminism in Japan, her extended breaks from writing to raise her children and protest the Second Sino-Japanese War led to her having a whitewashed legacy.
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