This is a list of women artists who were born in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

or whose artworks are closely associated with that country.

A

Chako Abeno is a female Japanese illustrator and manga artist. She publishes dōjinshi with the circle . She is also involved in the artwork of adult games. Works Manga * (2002, Kadokawa Shoten), Illustrator * (2003, Kadokawa Shoten) * (2006, Kadokawa Sho ...

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

artist *

Fuku Akino was a Japanese painter. She was born in Futamata, Iwata-gun, Shizuoka Prefecture (currently, Nimata Town, Tenryu Ward, Hamamatsu City). She became known by her paintings of Indian themes, landscapes and peoples. Life and career Akino got ...

(1908–2001), painter *

Akira Amano is a Japanese mangaka known for the '' shōnen'' series ''Reborn!''. Early versions of ''Reborn!'' were published in ''seinen'' manga magazines. In late 2003, the series, a stand-alone short story at the time, was published in the ''Weekly S ...

(born 1973), manga artist *

Kozue Amano is a Japanese manga artist. She is widely known as the creator of ''Aria (manga), Aria'', which proved to be a best-selling hit, and was adapted into an anime television series consisting of 3 seasons and 2 Original video animation, OVAs. As o ...

(born 1974), manga artist *

Yasuko Aoike is a female Japanese manga artist. Most of her works are ''shōjo'' manga, predominantly focused on romance, adventure, and light comedy, and many of them contain elements of shōnen-ai. She is included in Year 24 group. Aoike grew up as the you ...

(born 1948), manga artist *

Kotomi Aoki is a Japanese manga artist residing in Matsuyama, Ehime, Japan. She received the 2008 Shogakukan Manga Award for shōjo manga, ''shōjo'' manga for ''Boku no Hatsukoi o Kimi ni Sasagu''. Kotomi took her 2013 Manga, "The Liar and His Lover" and ...

(born 1980), manga artist *

Ume Aoki is a Japanese Mangaka, manga artist, illustrator and dōjin artist from Hyōgo Prefecture. She officially romanizes her name as aokiume. She illustrates under the pennames apricot+ for many of her dōjinshi, and for the visual novel ''Sanarar ...

, manga artist *

Chiho Aoshima is a Japanese pop artist and member of Takashi Murakami's Kaikai Kiki Collective. Aoshima graduated from the Department of Economics, Hosei University, Tokyo. She held a residency at Art Pace, San Antonio, United States in 2006. Personal life ...

(born 1974), pop artist *

Hina Aoyama is a Japanese paper-cutting artist and illustrator born on December 27, 1970, in Yokohama, Japan. She has been creating super fine lacy-paper-cuttings since 2000. She currently lives and works in Ferney-Voltaire, France. Art style Hina Aoyam ...

(born 1970), paper-cutting artist, illustrator *

Kiyoko Arai , known by the pen name , is a Japanese manga artist. She made her manga debut in the January 1984 issue of '' Ciao'' with her story ''Chotto dake Biyaku''. Since then, Arai has contributed many stories to ''Ciao'', its sister magazine '' ChuChu ...

, manga artist *

Hiromu Arakawa is a Japanese manga artist. She is best known for the manga series '' Fullmetal Alchemist'' (2001–2010), which became a hit both domestically and internationally, and was adapted into two anime television series. She is also known for '' Silv ...

(born 1973), manga artist *

Sakura Asagi is a Japanese animator, illustrator, and manga artist. She contributed her character design for the series ''Shōnen Onmyōji'' and ''Saint Beast''. Apart from illustrating for the novel series ''Shōnen Onmyōji'', she also authors the manga, w ...

, illustrator, manga artist * Yū Asagiri, manga artist *

George Asakura is a Japanese manga artist. She took her pen name from one of the title characters in ''Gatchaman'' and made her debut in 1995 with ''Punky Cake Junkie'', which was published in the magazine ''Bessatsu Friend DX Juliet''. She is best known for ' ...

(born 1974), manga artist *

Hinako Ashihara is a Japanese manga artist. She wrote and illustrated various manga series, including, ''Homemade Home'', ''Forbidden Dance'', ''Sand Chronicles'', '' Piece: Kanojo no Kioku'', ''Tennen Bitter Chocolate'', ''SOS'', and ''Chouchou Kumo''. Ashiha ...

, manga artist *

Izumi Aso is a Japanese Mangaka, manga artist known for her ''Hikari no Densetsu'' series. Biography Izumi Aso at an early age was a very active young woman who enjoyed drawing. In her late teens she decided that she was going to become a manga artist ...

(born 1960), manga artist

B

Ippongi Bang is a multimedia and manga artist,. She has been called "one of the most well-known manga artists in America in the mid-1990s." Life and career Ippongi was born in Yokohama City, and attended Den-En Chofu Hikiba High School, then Tamagawa Univer ...

(born 1965), multimedia and manga artist

C

Toriko Chiya is a Japanese manga artist. She is best known for ''Clover'' as well as ''Tokyo Alice''. Works * (1990, '' Bouquet'', Shueisha, 1 volume) * (1991, ''Bouquet'', Shueisha, 2 volumes) * ''Miracle''(1992–1993, ''Bouquet'', Shueisha, 4 volumes) * ...

, manga artist *

Junko Chodos Junko Chodos (born 1939) is a contemporary artist born and educated in Japan and residing in the United States since 1968. Her works represent a wide variety of techniques and styles, ranging from pencil, pen, and collage, to works done with acr ...

(born 1939), mixed media artist, now in the United States *

Nanae Chrono Nanae Chrono, known in Japan as is a female Japanese manga artist. She is best known as the creator of the manga series ''Peacemaker Kurogane'', ''Senki Senki Momotama'', and ''Vassalord''. Works Serials *; (1999) :This was a oneshot manga or ...

(born 1980), manga artist * Clamp, manga artists

E

Eiki Eiki is a Japanese manga artist who has been creating manga since 1998. Most of her manga are written under the yaoi and yuri genre. Biography She is the grandchild of former Prime minister of Japan Noboru Takeshita and the older sister of rock sin ...

(born 1971), manga artist * Kinuko Emi (1923–2015), painter * Nariko Enomoto (born 1967), manga artist

F

* Chie Fueki (born 1973), Japanese-American painter *

Mihona Fujii is a Japanese shōjo manga artist. She is best known for her manga ''GALS!'', which was published in '' Ribon'' magazine, and adapted into an anime television series under the name ''Super GALS! Kotobuki Ran''. Her debut work was ''Mujaki na ...

(born 1974), manga artist *

Kazuko Fujita (born 18 March 1957 in Niigata, Japan) is a Japanese '' shōjo'' manga artist. She made her professional debut in 1977 in ''Bessatsu Shōjo Comic'' and she has written manga mainly for ''Flower Comics''. She is best known for '' Makoto Call!'' ...

(born 1957), manga artist *

Cocoa Fujiwara was a Japanese manga artist and illustrator from Fukuoka Prefecture. Her debut was with a work called ''Calling'', which she made when she was only fifteen. She chose not to go to high school so that she could draw manga. Fujiwara was a fan of R ...

(1983–2015), manga artist *

Hiro Fujiwara is a Japanese manga artist. The manga artist was once active under her previous pen name, at the end of the 1990s, but has abandoned the name after she won the Best Rookie award in the LMS for ''Kaeri Michi, Yuki no Netsu''. Her first series, ...

(born 1981), manga artist * Keiko Fukazawa (born 1955), ceramicist and sculptor *

Ikuyo Fujita is a Japanese artist who works primarily in needle felt painting and mogol (pipe cleaner) art. She is known for rabbit and cat art. Her kawaii style needle felt paintings are popular among rabbit lovers in Japan. Life and career Fujita w ...

(birth year unknown), needle felt artist

H

Moto Hagio is a Japanese manga artist. Regarded for her contributions to ''shōjo'' manga ( manga aimed at young and adolescent women), Hagio is considered the most significant artist in the demographic and among the most influential manga artists of a ...

(born 1949), manga artist * Akiko Hatsu (born 1959), manga artist * Nanae Haruno, manga artist * Bisco Hatori (born 1975), manga artist *

Akiko Higashimura is a Japanese manga artist from Kushima in Miyazaki Prefecture. She debuted in the now-defunct manga magazine ''Bouquet Deluxe'' in 1999 with and later gained notoriety for her manga , which debuted in ''Cookie'' magazine in 2001. Higashimura ...

(born 1975), manga artist *

Tatsu Hirota was a Japanese painter. Tatsu Hirota was born in Kyoto, Japan, where she lived until her death in 1990. Hirota is best known for her paintings of ''jinbutsu'' (figure painting). She is widely noted for her paintings of nudes and maiko girls. Ea ...

(1904–1990), painter *

Fumiko Hori was a Japanese artist, known for her paintings in the Nihonga style. Biography Hori was born to a scholarly family in Hirakawacho, in Tokyo, Japan, in 1918. In 1940, she graduated from Women's School of Fine Arts (now Joshibi University of ...

(1918–2019),

Nihonga ''Nihonga'' (, "Japanese-style paintings") are Japanese paintings from about 1900 onwards that have been made in accordance with traditional Japanese artistic conventions, techniques and materials. While based on traditions over a thousand years ...

painter * Kayoko Hoshino (born 1949), ceramicist

I

* Megumi Igarashi (born 1972), sculptor, manga artist *

Ike Gyokuran was a Japanese Bunjinga painter, calligrapher, and poet. She was famous in Kyoto, Japan, during her lifetime, and she remains a celebrated artist in Japan. Gyokuran was born of a decade long affair between her mother, Yuri, and a high ranking ...

(1727–1784), painter, calligrapher, poet *

Leiko Ikemura is a Japanese-Swiss painter and sculptor. Biography Leiko Ikemura studied at Osaka University from 1970–1972. She then left Japan to study in Spain from 1973 to 1978 at the Academia de Bellas Artes in Granada and Seville. In 1979, Ikemura ...

(born 1951), Japanese-Swiss painter, sculptor * Tari Ito (born 1951), performance artist

K

* Shirley Kaneda (born 1951), artist, educator, writer, based in New York *

Tamako Kataoka (5 January 1905 in Sapporo – 16 January 2008) was a Japanese ''Nihonga'' painter. She is known for her series of Mount Fuji and other mountains, painted in bold colours such as red. Biography Tamako Kataoka was born in Sapporo, Japan in 1 ...

(1905–2008), Nihonga painter * Mari Katayama (born 1987), multimedia artist * Kitamura Junko (born 1956), ceramist * Chigusa Kitani (1895–1947), painter and painting teacher * Yuko Takada Keller (born 1958), artist, curator, writer, based in Denmark * Asami Kiyokawa (born 1980), embroidery artist *

Rieko Kodama , also known as Phoenix Rie, was a Japanese video game artist, director, and producer employed by Sega from 1984 until her death. She is primarily known for her work on role-playing games (RPGs) including the original ''Phantasy Star'' series ...

(born 1963), video game designer, artist *

Nahoko Kojima (born October 2, 1981) is a contemporary Japanese paper cut artist. She started Kirie (Japanese Papercutting) under private tutelage at the age of 5 and continued throughout her formative years. In 1999 she moved to Tokyo and in 2004 she gradu ...

(born 1981), paper cut artist *

Shigeko Kubota (2 August 1937 – 23 July 2015) was a Japanese video artist, sculptor and avant-garde performance artist, who mostly lived in New York City. She was one of the first artists to adopt the portable video camera Sony Portapak in 1970, likening it ...

(1937–2015), video artist, sculptor *

Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese contemporary artist who works primarily in sculpture and installation, and is also active in painting, performance, video art, fashion, poetry, fiction, and other arts. Her work is based in conceptual art and shows some attributes ...

(born 1929), multidisciplinary artist, writer

M

* Keiko Masumoto, contemporary ceramist *

Migishi Setsuko Migishi Setsuko (三岸節子, January 3, 1905 – April 18, 1999) was a Japanese ''yōga'' (Western-style) painter. Known for employing vivid colors and bold strokes for still-life and landscape, Migishi contributed greatly to the establishmen ...

(1905–1999), painter and illustrator * Keiko Minami (1911–2004), painter, engraver, poet * Kimiyo Mishima (born 1932), ceramic artist * Samizu Matsuki (1936–2018)), painter, educator *

Mariko Mori is a Japanese multidisciplinary artist. She is known for her photographs and videos of her hybridized future self, often presented in various guises and featuring traditional Japanese motifs. Her work often explores themes of technology, spirit ...

(born 1967), contemporary artist *

Mokona is the pen name of the lead artist, colorist, and composition designer of the all-female manga-creating team Clamp. She was formerly known as ; she dropped her last name because it sounded too "immature". Clamp has had a huge impact on the "man ...

(born 1968), manga artist *

Mitsukazu Mihara is a Japanese illustrator who helped to influence the Gothic Lolita look through her illustrations, particularly as the cover illustrator for the first eight volumes of the ''Gothic & Lolita Bible''. In 1994, she won a contest in the Japanese mang ...

(born 1970), illustrator, manga artist and writer *

Fuyuko Matsui is a female contemporary Japanese artist, specialized in ''Nihonga'' paintings. She is known for her "new Kusozu" series. Matsui has been making her works based on her psychoanalysis results, putting heavy weight on her feelings and interests i ...

(born 1974),

painter * Aiko Miyanaga (born 1974), sculptor *

Junko Mori (born 1974) is a Japanese artist based in Wales. Working primarily in metalwork sculpture, Mori’s works are aggregate pieces usually connected thematically and visually to her observations of living matter, particularly plants. Her choice ...

(born 1974), sculptor

N

Tsubaki Nekoi , formerly , is a member of the all-female manga-creating team Clamp. She is the co-director and her duties in the team include applying screentones and correcting manga illustrations. She was also the lead artist (a role that normally falls to ...

(born 1969), manga artist * Minako Nishiyama (born 1965), contemporary artist *

Betty Nobue Kano Betty Nobue Kano (born in 1944) is a Japanese painter, curator and lecturer at San Francisco State University and New College of California, teaching the 332 Japanese American Art and Literature class. She is notable for exhibiting her work in nea ...

(born 1944), painter, now in the United States

O

Nanase Ohkawa is a member of the all-female manga-creating team CLAMP. She is the director of the team and is primarily responsible for writing the stories and scripts for CLAMP's various works. As part of CLAMP's 15th Anniversary, each of the four members ...

(born 1967), manga artist *

Katsushika Ōi Katsushika Ōi (, – ), also known as or Ei-jo, was a Japanese Ukiyo-e artist of the early 19th century Edo period. She was a daughter of Hokusai from his second wife. Ōi was an accomplished painter who also worked as a production assistant ...

(1800–1866),

Ukiyo-e Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surfac ...

artist *

Yoko Ono Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up i ...

(born 1933), multimedia artist, singer, peace activist * Emi Ozawa (born 1962), contemporary artist

P

* Junco Sato Pollack (active since 1970s), textile artist, based in the United States

R

Yamashita Rin was a painter of icons for the Japanese Orthodox Church. She was one of the first independent Japanese female artists, the first recognized female '' yōga'' painter. She studied in Russia, and her work can be found in over forty churches across ...

(1857–1939), icon painter

S

* Shima Seien (1892–1970),

nihonga ''Nihonga'' (, "Japanese-style paintings") are Japanese paintings from about 1900 onwards that have been made in accordance with traditional Japanese artistic conventions, techniques and materials. While based on traditions over a thousand years ...

artist *

Yoshiko Shimada is a Japanese printmaker and performance artist who has been referred to as "Japan’s premier feminist and antiwar artist." Shimada has been exploring issues of gender, power, history, and nation in her artwork since the late 1980s, situating ...

(born 1959), video artist, feminist *

Toko Shinoda was a Japanese artist. Shinoda is best known for her abstract sumi ink paintings and prints. Shinoda’s oeuvre was predominantly executed using the traditional means and media of East Asian calligraphy, but her resulting abstract ink paintings ...

(1913–2021), painter, calligrapher *

Michiko Suganuma is a leading Japanese '' Kamakura-bori'' artist using a technique she calls ''Wagae-nuri''. She is the only Japanese female to have presented her collection at exhibitions of National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne. Her works are held in the c ...

(born 1940), Urushi lacquer artist

T

* Tomiyama Taeko (1921–2021), painter *

Tomoko Takahashi Tomoko Takahashi is a Japanese artist. She was born in Tokyo in 1966 and has based in London since the early 1990s. She studied at Tama Art University, Goldsmiths College and the Slade School of Fine Art. Takahashi's main medium is installati ...

(born 1966), installation artist, based in London *

Mitsuba Takanashi is a Japanese manga artist. She made her debut in 1992 at the age of 17 in ''Bessatsu Margaret'' with "Koi nante nai." List of works * (1997, Shueisha) * (1998, Shueisha) * (1999, Shueisha); English translation: ''The Devil Does Exist'' (200 ...

(active since late 1990s), manga artist *

Aya Takano is a Japanese painter, Superflat artist, manga artist, and science fiction essayist. Aya Takano is represented by Kaikai Kiki, the artistic production studio created in 2001 by Takashi Murakami. Early life and influence Takano was born in Sa ...

(born 1976), manga artist, writer * Chieko Takamura (1886–1938), oil painter, paper cutter * Kiyohara Tama (1861–1939), painter, based in Italy *

Tsuneko Taniuchi Tsuneko Taniuchi (谷内恒子 Taniuchi Tsuneko), born in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo, Japan, in 1946, is a contemporary artist, who uses performance as her main medium. Her practice, which oscillates between scripted situations and participatory works ...

, contemporary performance artist * Atsuko Tanaka (1932–2005), avant-garde artist *

Yoko Tawada Yōko Tawada (多和田葉子 ''Tawada Yōko'', born March 23, 1960) is a Japanese writer currently living in Berlin, Germany. She writes in both Japanese and German. Tawada has won numerous literary awards, including the Akutagawa Prize, the Tan ...

(born 1960), writer, now in Germany *

Kea Tawana Kea Tawana (c. 1935 – August 4, 2016) was an American artist known for creating the ''Ark'', an 86-foot-long, three-story high ship she built in Newark, New Jersey, starting in 1982. For decades she had collected salvaged wood, stained glass, and ...

(c. 1935–2016), sculptor, active in the United States *

Yoko Terauchi Yoko Terauchi (born 1954) is an artist who makes sculpture and artists books, interested in concepts of the one, whole and interior and exterior. Life and career Terauchi was born in 1954 in Tokyo, Japan. She studied at the Department of Art and ...

(born 1954), sculptor * Naoko Tosa (born 1961), artist

U

* Shōen Uemura (1875–1949), painter * Hana Usui (born 1973), visual artist, now in Europe

W

Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada (born August 2, 1944) is a Japanese textile artist, curator, art historian, scholar, professor, and author. She has received international recognition for her scholarship and expertise in the field of textile art. In 2010, sh ...

(born 1944), textile artist

Y

Hisae Yanase Hisae Yanase (December 8, 1943 – May 21, 2019) was a Japanese ceramist, painter, and sculptor, based in Spain. She spent the majority of her adult years in Córdoba, Spain, where she trained in ceramics and developed her career as an artist ...

(1943–2019), ceramist * Matsuda Yuriko (born 1943), ceramist {{Lists of women artists by nationality -

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

Artists An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, the ...

Artists, women