Shima Tamami (1937-1999) was born in Hirosaki, Aomori prefecture. A graduate of the Women's College of Fine Arts (Tokyo) in 1958, she joined the Joryû Hanga Kyôkai Women’s Print Association which staged exhibitions of their work for ten years (1956-1965). Shima contributed prints to their fourth show held in the seventh-floor gallery of the Toyoko Department Store in Shibuya, Tokyo.

Shima's prints were promoted in the West after she received a travel grant from the College Women's Association of Japan in 1962. In the same year, she was included as a prize winner in James Michener's 1962 iconic book and print portfolio.

Her most prolific years seem to have been circa 1959-1962, and very few, if any, works are documented after around 1965. She appears to have moved to the United States in the early 1960s.