Noriko Ibaragi

Noriko Ibaragi
Native name	茨木のり子
Born	宮崎のり子, 三浦のり子 (after marriage) June 12, 1926 Osaka
Died	February 17, 2006 (age 79)
Occupation	Poet writer playwright children's literature writer essayist translator
Language	Japanese, Korean
Nationality	Japanese
Notable works	Watashi ga ichiban kirei datta toki (わたしが一番きれいだったとき)
Notable awards	Yomiuri Prize
Spouse	Miura Yasunobu

Noriko Ibaragi (茨木 のり子, Ibaragi Noriko) was a Japanese poet, playwright, essayist, children's literature writer, and translator.^[1] She is most well known for her poem, Watashi ga ichiban kirei datta toki (わたしが一番きれいだったとき, "When my beauty shone"), written twelve years after the Japanese defeat in WWII. In 1953, she co-founded the literary journal Kai ("Oars"). She began to learn Korean as a second language at the age of fifty, going on to publish her own translations of poetry by her Korean contemporaries.^[2]