Kamichika was born in what is now Saza, Nagasaki on June 6, 1888. She studied at Tsuda University, where she became affiliated with the Bluestocking society. After graduation she became a teacher at the Aomori Prefectural School for Girls, until she was asked to leave when her connection to the Bluestockings was discovered. She began writing for the Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun in 1914. Kamichika also met Ōsugi Sakae in 1914. In 1915, after they grew close enough that Ōsugi would stay at Kamichika's house over the weekend when he visited Tokyo to teach French classes. They began having an affair. Ōsugi was married at the time. In 1916 he also started a relationship with Itō Noe. The three women had a tense relationship, which culminated in November 1916, when Kamichika stabbed Ōsugi in an incident that was later called the Hayama Hikage Chaya scandal, after the teahouse in Hayama, Kanagawa where the incident took place. She was sentenced to 4 years in prison, but after appealing she only served 2. After Kamichika was released from prison in 1919, she wrote for the Nyonin Geijutsu. In 1920, she married Atsushi Suzuki and had three children. She and Suzuki published the in 1935. It was a literary journal that featured women writers and questioned Japan's increasing nationalism just before World War II broke out.
Post-war
In 1947, after the war ended, Kamichika became active in political organizations and ran for office. While she wasn't elected that year, she was elected to the House of Representatives during the 1953 Japanese general election, representing Tokyo's 5th district. She was a member of the Leftist Socialist Party of Japan, then the Social Democratic Party. She lost her seat during the 1960 election, but regained it during the next term. During her time in office, she worked to pass the Prostitution Prevention Law. She retired in 1969. In 1970, Kamichika tried to sue Yoshishige Yoshida for making a film called Eros + Massacre, which included a scene based on the Hayama Hikage Chaya incident. Instead, Yoshida changed the name of her character in the film to Masaoka Itsuko. Kamichika died on August 1, 1981. She wrote and translated many books throughout her life.
