is a Japanese manga artist. An artist of both ''shōjo'' manga (manga for girls) and ''shōnen'' manga (manga for boys), her 1970 manga series has been described as the first manga in the ''yuri'' (female-female romance) genre.

Biography

Masako Yashiro was born Masako Yamamoto in 1947 in Iyomishima,

Ehime is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Ehime Prefecture has a population of 1,342,011 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 5,676 km2 (2,191 sq mi). Ehime Prefecture borders Kagawa Prefecture to the northeast, Tok ...

. She began her career as a manga artist with the manga , published in the

rental Renting, also known as hiring or letting, is an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good, service or property owned by another. A gross lease is when the tenant pays a flat rental amount and the landlord pays for a ...

''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Sumire'' in 1963. Her most popular series, , published a total of 28 volumes from 1964 to 1966, and had a strong impact on Japanese youth culture of the era. Yashiro went on to become one of the most popular artists in the manga magazine '' Margaret'' following the publication of her 1970 manga series , considered by some scholars be the first manga in the ''yuri'' genre (female-female romance). Its status as the first ''yuri'' is contested: manga critic

Yoshihiro Yonezawa was a Japanese manga critic and author. He is also known for being Comiket's co-founder and president. He died of lung cancer at 53. He won the 2007 Seiun Award in the special category and 2010 Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Special Award. Biog ...

claims ''Secret Love'' was particularly controversial and debated at the time of its publication, while manga scholar

Yukari Fujimoto is a manga researcher and professor of global Japanese studies at Meiji University. She was born in Kumamoto Prefecture. She was an editor for Chikuma Shobō. She is a manga critic, gender theorist, family theorist, current events critic, author, ...

contends that it did not have a strong influence. Regardless, ''Secret Love'' is generally regarded as an obscure work, with most critics identifying ''

Shiroi Heya no Futari is a Japanese one-shot manga written and illustrated by Ryoko Yamagishi. Published in the February 1971 issue of '' Ribon Comic'', it is considered to be the first (female-female romance) manga. The story follows the relationship between ...

'' by

Ryōko Yamagishi is a Japanese manga artist. She is one of the Year 24 Group, a collection of female artists who innovated (girls') manga throughout the 1970s. Her major works include and '' Terpsichora''. Biography Ryoko Yamagishi was born on September 2 ...

, published in 1971, as the first ''yuri'' manga. By end of the 1960s, she became one of the leading figures of the

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

magazine '' COM'' with her manga series ; her work at ''COM'' made her works known to a male audience, and she was one of the earliest female artists to create ''shōnen'' manga. She later produced manga for ''COMs sister magazine ''Funny'', which allowed her to publish innovative new ''shōjo'' manga. Yashiro is thus considered a precursor to the

Year 24 Group The is a grouping of female manga artists who heavily influenced ''shōjo'' manga (Japanese girls' comics) beginning in the 1970s. While ''shōjo'' manga of the 1950s and 1960s largely consisted of simple stories marketed towards elementary s ...

, a grouping of female artists who emerged in the 1970s and significantly influenced the ''shōjo'' genre.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Yashiro, Masako 1947 births Japanese female comics artists Living people Women manga artists Female comics writers Manga artists from Ehime Prefecture