Fukujuso was presented at the 18th Tokyo International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in July 2009 to great acclaim. The two screenings were accompanied by benshi narration, by Midori Sawato and Ichiro Kataoka respectively.
The film was presented at silent film festival Le Giornate del Cinema Muto in October 2013; this is believed to be the film's first international screening.
Fukujuso is based on a story by Nobuko Yoshiya (1896-1973), a lesbian novelist who was involved in the Japanese feminist movement. She specialized in fiction about adolescent girls and is a pioneer of the "Class S" genre, about emotional relationships between schoolgirls.