Yangji Lee (1955-1992) was the second generation of a Korean family living in Japan. She visited Korea for the first time in 1980. After that she repeatedly visited Korea and was affected by the Korean culture such as musok (manners and customs of shamans and shrine maidens in Korea), gayaguem (the harp created in Gaya in old Korea), and pansori (old stories narrated with melody). She entered the Korean Literature Department of Seoul University in 1982, and wrote Sad Butterfly while she was a student there. The work was published in the magazine Gunzo. It was nominated for the Akutagawa Prize. After graduating from Seoul University in 1988, Lee died of acute pneumonia at the age of 37 in 1992.

1989 Akutagawa Prize, for Yuhi