Ochanomizu University
Mitsuko was born in Nagano city, Nagano prefecture. After graduating from Nagano Normal School, she worked for two years as a teacher, during which time she met the poet Mizuho Ōta, and began to compose "tanka" verses herself. She entered the Tokyo Women's Higher Normal School (present-day Ochanomizu University) in 1906 and married Mizuho Ōta when she graduated.