Haruko Kumota is a Japanese manga artist from Tochigi Prefecture, born on June 19. She began her professional career in 2007, initially creating Boys Love manga. Her early works include numerous short stories and serializations published by Tokyo Mangasha and Libre Publishing, such as those collected in the series featuring Madobe no Kimi and the serialized work Itoshi no Nekoppo (The Lovely Cat Hair). Her short story collection Nobara was ranked third in the Kono BL ga Yabai! guidebook in 2011.

Kumota is the creator of the manga series Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju, which was serialized in Kodansha's ITAN magazine from March 2010 to June 2016 and collected in ten volumes. The series is a historical drama centered on the world of rakugo, a traditional Japanese form of comedic storytelling. It follows the apprentice Yotaro and the master Yakumo, exploring their personal histories and the intricate relationships within the rakugo community. The manga received significant critical acclaim, winning the Excellence Award in the Manga Division at the 17th Japan Media Arts Festival in 2013, the General Manga Award at the 38th Kodansha Manga Awards in 2014, and the Newcomer Prize at the 21st Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2017.

The success of the manga led to multiple adaptations. A two-episode original video animation was produced by Studio Deen and bundled with special editions of the seventh and eighth manga volumes in March and August 2015. A television anime adaptation, also produced by Studio Deen, aired in two seasons; the first season of thirteen episodes ran from January to April 2016, and the second season of twelve episodes ran from January to March 2017. In these adaptations, Kumota is credited as the original creator based on her manga. A live-action television drama adaptation subsequently aired on NHK from October to December 2018.

Beyond Descending Stories, Kumota has worked on other notable projects. She provided the illustrations for the cover art of Shion Miura's novel The Great Passage and later adapted the novel into a two-volume manga series. She also created the character designs for the 2016 anime film adaptation of the same novel.

Her artistic identity is characterized by a delicate, sensual style that brings emotional depth to both human relationships and rakugo performances. Her storytelling is noted for its subtlety and ability to capture the nuances of character dynamics, as seen in the layered flashback sequences that form a core part of Descending Stories. While she built a strong foundation in the Boys Love genre, her work on Descending Stories established her as a creator of critically and commercially successful manga that transcends genre boundaries.