Noriko Ibaragi (1926–2006) was a Japanese poet and essayist. Drawing on her wartime experiences, she wrote poems such as “When I Was Most Beautiful,” which portrays a generation whose youth was overtaken by war, as well as works expressing personal independence in clear and direct language. In 1953, she co-founded the poetry journal “Kai” with Hiroshi Kawasaki and others, and later learned Korean and translated contemporary Korean poetry. In “Shi no Kokoro o Yomu,” she introduces poems from Japan and abroad and explores the emotions and experiences held within their words through her own attentive reading.
