was a Japanese writer of short stories, novels and poetry. She was awarded the Noma Children's Literature Newcomer Award, the Akutagawa Prize, and the Women's Literature Prize.
Yoshiyuki was born in Tokyo as the third child of writer Eisuke Yoshiyuki and his wife Aguri, a prominent beautician. She graduated from the department of Japanese literature at Waseda University in 1961.
Her first poetry collection titled was published in 1963. Her 1967 poetry collection won her the Tamura Toshiko Prize. In 1973, she published her short story about her father, who had died when she was only one year old. A collection of short stories titled followed in 1975.
Her children's story won her the Noma Children's Literature Newcomer Award. Other prize-winning works include and . Many of her stories have cats as characters or describe relationships between cats and humans, or draw upon childhood memories. Another recurring theme is the way people's cruel behaviour affects the lives of others.
Yoshiyuki died in Tokyo on 4 May 2006 of thyroid cancer.
Her older brother Junnosuke was also a novelist, and her older sister Kazuko is an actress.
Only few of Yoshiyuki's writings have been translated into English, these include her poems Carrying and Sacrificial Victim, and the short story The Little Lady. Her short story was translated into German as Im Brunnen die Sterne.