Fusako Kuramochi is a Japanese manga artist born on May 14, 1955, in the Shibuya district of Tokyo. She made her professional debut in 1972 while still in high school with the short story Megane-chan no Hitorigoto, which was published in the autumn issue of the shōjo manga magazine Bessatsu Margaret and won the publication’s gold medal for amateur artists. After graduating, she studied Japanese painting at Musashino Art University but left before completing her degree to focus entirely on her career in manga.

Kuramochi is recognized for her significant influence on the shōjo genre, particularly through her work in the magazine Bessatsu Margaret, where she became a leading creator during the 1970s and 1980s. Her storytelling was noted for its realistic psychological depth and focus on everyday life in contemporary Japan, which distinguished her work from the more fantastical or historical romances common in the genre at the time. This approach is credited with helping to modernize shōjo manga and has been cited as an influence on numerous later artists, including Ai Yazawa and Ryo Ikuemi.

Among her most prominent works is the manga Tennen Kokekkō, which was serialized in the magazine Chorus beginning in the 1990s. This series earned the Kodansha Manga Award for shōjo manga in 1996 and was later adapted into a live-action film released in 2007. Another notable title, A-Girl, was adapted as an original video animation anime in 1993, for which she is credited as the original creator. Her later work Hana ni Somu received the Grand Prize at the 21st Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2017. The significance of her career was further acknowledged with a fiftieth anniversary exhibition of her work held at the Yayoi Museum in Tokyo in 2022.