Yukiko Honda was born in the Tamana District of Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, on 15 March 1913. Her ancestors belonged to samurai families that governed the region and were affluent landowners with extensive land holdings. She was a member of the high school basketball team, but she faced physical weakness from childhood and overcame many illnesses that persisted until old age. Following her graduation from Kumamoto Prefectural Second High School, she enrolled in Meiji University’s Women’s Faculty. During her time in college, she focused on the study of law and successfully obtained a clerk’s license.

Around the age of 25, she married a man employed in the railroad industry, who was six years her senior. At the time, her husband was an amateur baseball player in the Kansai region and was well-known locally. The couple had four children, and there was a period when the family lived in Yonago City, Tottori Prefecture, and Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture, due to her husband’s job transfer.

Honda enjoyed writing tanka as a hobby after her children had grown up. She once applied for and was selected to contribute to Kadokawa Gakugei Bunko’s magazine. Her eldest son credits modern medicine for enabling her to lead a long life despite her inherently frail constitution. After her husband passed away, she lived independently from the age of 74 to 90, maintaining a routine centered around her love for reading. According to her eldest son, her sister lived to the age of 102. She currently resides in a nursing home in Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture.