Taeko Watanabe debuted as a manga artist in 1979 with her story
Waka-chan no Netsuai Jidai (Love Struck Days of Waka).
Kaze Hikaru is her longest-running series, but she has created a number of other popular series. Watanabe is a two-time winner of the prestigious Shogakukan Manga Award in the girls' category--her manga
Hajime-chan go Ichiban! (Hajime-chan Is Number One!) claimed the award in 1991, and
Kaze Hikaru took it in 2003.
Watanabe read hundreds of historical sources to create
Kaze Hikaru. She is from Tokyo.