Chieko Takamura

was a Japanese artist. Biography Chieko Takamura was born in the town of Adachi in what is now the city of Nihonmatsu, Fukushima Prefecture as Chieko Naganuma, the eldest of six daughters and two sons. In 1903, she went to the Japan Women's University in Tokyo, and graduated in 1907. She became an oil painter, and made colorful papercuts. She was an early member of the Japanese feminist movement Seitōsha, joining in 1911. She made the cover illustration for the first issue of their magazine, "Seitō". It began as a literary outlet for woman writers and quickly turned into a forum for discussing feminist issues. These women were from the upper-middle class and soon were labeled "New Women" because of their views and their lifestyles. In February 1914, she married Kōtarō Takamura, a sculptor and poet, whom she met soon after he had returned from France.