Keiko Takemiya (b. 1950) is a member of the Year 24 Group and one of the founding authors of the shōnen-ai subgenre. Her serial Kaze to Ki no Uta (1976–1984) is the genre's foundational long-form work. Takemiya later moved into academic life and served as president of Kyoto Seika University from 2014 to 2018.
Career
Takemiya debuted in 1968 and shared the so-called 'Oizumi Salon' apartment with Moto Hagio in the early 1970s, a household where several Year 24 Group authors lived and worked together. Her Kaze to Ki no Uta ('The Song of the Wind and the Trees'), set at a French boarding school in the 1880s, was rejected by editors for several years before serialisation; its publication is usually treated as the moment shōnen-ai entered the mainstream shōjo magazine system.
Academic career
Takemiya joined Kyoto Seika University's manga faculty in 2000 and served as the university's president from 2014 to 2018. Kyoto Seika operates Japan's first full manga undergraduate degree programme and the Kyoto International Manga Museum in collaboration with Kyoto City.
Selected works
- Kaze to Ki no Uta (1976–1984).
- Terra e... (1977–1980) — long-form science fiction.
- The Wisdom of the Earth Mother (1994).