Life stories – Japanese women ancestors

For general sources click here. For sources about Japanese ancestors, also see the corresponding section under Literature. Where applicable, specific sources are mentioned in the life description of the ancestor.

Zenshin (ca. 572-640)

The first person in Japan to be ordained as a Buddhist was a woman. Her story is briefly described in the Nihonshoki, the chronicles of Japan from 720. Zenshin was born in 572 and given the name Shima. Her father was associated with one of the three major clans, the Soga. He was likely a Japanese diplomat to Korea and a descendant of Chinese immigrants.

In the 3rd and 4th centuries, Buddhism spread from China to Korea. By Shima’s time, some awareness of this new religion had also reached Japan through Korea. Shima was the first Japanese Buddhist and was ordained in 584 when she was eleven years old. She was given the name Zenshin. Along with her, the girls Zenzo and Ezen were also ordained. The three of them received instruction from, among others, a Korean nun who had come to Japan.

There was a lot of political rivalry in the country. Shortly after the ordination of the nuns another clan gained more power and Buddhism was vigorously suppressed. The temple of the nuns was destroyed, after which they were abused and imprisoned. However, the women remained steadfast in their Buddhist practice.

‘Chôshi in Shimôsa‘, woodcut by Katsushika Hokusai, 1833

When the tide turned, Zenshin and the two other nuns were released from prison. They crossed the sea to Korea where they were able to train and study under fully ordained nuns. The rule was that they had to spend at least two years in a convent to prove that they were not pregnant.

Eventually, the three women returned to Japan in 590 as fully ordained Buddhists. Zenshin gained many followers and was supported by Empress Suiko. Buddhism spread throughout the country. By 623, there were 569 nuns and 816 monks in Japan.

Komyo (701-760)

Her name means Luminous Clarity, and she is often regarded as the embodiment of Kannon, the bodhisattva of compassion. She was born into a family of regents. Her mother, Agata Mychiyo, was a court lady and served as a wet nurse for one of the later emperors before her marriage with an imperial prince. After his death, Mychiyo remarried and had a daughter who was given the name Komyo. Both of Komyo’s parents were devoted to Buddhism. At the age of fifteen, she married Crown Prince Shomu, who shortly thereafter became emperor. 

Empress Komyo made significant contributions to Buddhism in Japan. Under the reign of the emperor and herself, many Buddhist temples were constructed. She ensured that for every temple for monks, a corresponding temple for nuns was also built, totaling thirty locations throughout the country. This led to the establishment of a widespread network of nunneries, with Hokke-ji as the primary monastery.

Additionally, Komyo was deeply involved in social welfare. She facilitated various social projects conducted by nuns, such as providing medicine to the poor, caring for orphaned children, and assisting the impoverished and war-affected individuals. In 749, Komyo became a nun, becoming the first member of the imperial family to be ordained as a Buddhist. It is said that she herself washed many beggars and people with leprosy out of her compassion.

Empress Komyo, by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, 19e eeuw (Photo: Wikimedia)

She ensured that numerous copies of sutras, including the Lotus Sutra, were made. This facilitated the further spread and study of Buddhism in Japan. During the pregnancy of her first son, she herself began copying sutras. Some of these documents have been preserved to this day.

Text written by Empress Komyo in 744 (Photo: History of Japanese Calligraphy, Hachiro Onoue)

Tachibana no Kachiko (786-850)

Kachiko’s father was an important statesman. He passed away when she was three years old. At the age of 23, Kachiko married Emperor Saga, with whom she had seven children.

She was a devoted Buddhist and sent a monk to China to bring a Chan master to Japan. Kachiko then founded a monastery, Darin-ji and appointed this teacher, named Giku (Chinese: Yikung), as abbot. Thus, Darin-ji became Japan’s first Zen temple, and Tachibana no Kachiko the first Zen practitioner. Because of the name of her monastery, Kachiko was also known as Empress Danrin.
However, Giku was unable to establish a lasting Zen lineage and returned to China.

In the 13th century the great Zen master Dogen Zenji praised her and he wrote that Kachiko was the first to introduce zazen meditation in Japan.

‘Birds pecking at the corpse of Tachibana no Kachiko’, by Takehara Shunsensai, 1841 (Photo: wikimedia)

According to tradition, the empress was exceptionally beautiful. She lamented this greatly because it distracted monks and laypeople, preventing them from listening to her teachings on illusion and the impermanence of life.

At the age of 64 – still beautiful – she passed away. Much to the horror of the imperial family, she had included in her will that her body was to be laid out on the street so that everyone could see it rot away and be eaten by scavengers and dogs. In this way, she wanted to convey something that had been so difficult to express during her lifetime. To this day, this place in Kyoto is called the Crossroads of Corpses.

Ryonen (lived around 1200)

Ryonen practiced for a long time with the Daruma-shu. This school, named after Bodhidharma, was founded in the 12th century by Dainichi Nonin and is considered the first Zen school in Japan. The nun Egi and the monk Ejo (successor of Dogen Zenji) also initially practiced with the Daruma-shu. In 1231, Ryonen left this school and became a student of Zen master Dogen. She was about 60 years old, 35 years older than her new teacher. Egi and Ejo also moved to Dogen’s monastery.

(Photo: Pexels)

After the death of Empress Komyo in 760, the Buddhist community gradually became a male stronghold over the centuries, making it very difficult for women to be ordained and receive instruction. However, Dogen had traveled to China to study Buddhism. In China, there were examples of female Zen masters from the past, and Buddhism was practiced by women, both nuns and laywomen. This likely gave Dogen a broader perspective on the practice of Zen by women. He introduced Soto Zen in Japan, a form where zazen (sitting meditation) is central.

Ryonen was one of his first disciples, and Dogen respected her greatly. In his writing Eihei Koroku (Extensive Records), he addresses her three times in laudatory terms such as “Ryonen, you who far surpass me in understanding the Dharma” and “the seed of prajna has always been within you.” In one of his lectures, he praises her wisdom, her compassion for suffering, and her great heart.

Ryonen likely passed away while Dogen was away from the monastery on an eight-month journey to visit the shogun in Kamakura. When he returned and saw that she was no longer alive, he wrote two poems in her honor.

See also her extensive life story.

Shogaku (lived around 1200)

She was born into a wealthy, noble family. After her husband passed away, she became a nun in 1225. Shogaku was a distant relative of Zen master Dogen and became his disciple. Thanks to the money and land she donated to him, Dogen was able to expand his temple, Kosho-ji.

Kitchen of the current Kosho-ji, the monastery where Dogen wrote his ‘Instructions for the Cook’ (Photo: Kosho-ji).

A teaching hall and a meditation space for the monks were built. The nuns lived in quarters located lower on the mountain.

Egi (lived in the beginning of the 13th century)

Egi, like Ryonen, practiced for a long time within the Daruma school and was ordained as a nun there. In 1234, she became a disciple of Zen master Dogen. Egi stayed with him for more than twenty years, both at Kosho-ji and later at Eihei-ji. She cared for Dogen during his prolonged illness at the monastery, until he passed away on his journey to see a doctor. The fact that Egi held this position indicates that Dogen fully trusted her. He had great respect for her, and although he did not officially give her Dharma transmission, he referred to her as the Dharma sister of his successor, Koun Ejo, a month before his death.

After Dogen’s passing, Egi supported Ejo and likely assisted him in compiling the Shobogenzo Zuimonki (The Treasury of the True Dharma Eye: Record of Things Heard), a collection of Dharma talks by Dogen.

Mugai Nyodai (Chiyono) (1223-1298)

She is the first female Zen master of Japan. Her biographies were written only after her death, and, unfortunately, much has been lost due to fires.

Born into the Adachi family, a samurai clan, she was given the name Chiyono. The men of the clan were elite warriors, and the women often played important roles as stewards. Chiyono received an extensive education that included archery, poetry, literature, philosophy, and history. She also learned Chinese, which was later helpful when she became deeply involved in Zen.

Chiyono married someone from the circle of the shogun’s regents and had a daughter. It was a tumultuous time with the Mongol invasions of Japan. After her daughter was married and her mother passed away, Chiyono increasingly turned to Buddhism. Following the death of her husband, she sought instruction from various Zen masters. To this end, she is said to have even burned her face, as her feminine appearance was seen as an obstacle. She eventually became a student of the Chinese Zen teacher Wuxue Zuyuan (Japanese: Mugaku Sogen or Bukko Kokushi) and was ordained as a nun, taking the Buddhist name Mugai Nyodai. At that time, she was around sixty years old and had already been practicing Zen for about twenty years.

Chiyono, by Hakuin Ekaku (1686-1769), (Photo: Hakanono University, Japan)

Her ultimate awakening is said to have occurred while carrying water daily, when the bottom of her rickety bucket fell out. However, whether her awakening happened in this way or if the Chiyono in this story was a namesake, remains unclear to this day. 

After her Dharma transmission by Wuxue, she founded Keiai-ji in Kyoto, which became the main monastery of the network of women’s monasteries. She was a great and highly respected Zen master. Towards the end of her life, a life-size statue of Mugai Nyodai was made, as was often done at that time. It wasn’t until the 1980s that it was discovered that the statue of this Zen master was a woman.

Statue of Mugai Nyodai, 13th century (Photo: Wikimedia)

She is one of the few women included in the official lineage chart of the Rinzai school and is mentioned in the Enpo dento roku (English: Transmission of the Lamp) from 1706. To this day, memorial services are dedicated to her on her birth and death anniversaries.

Kakuzan Shido (1252-1305)

Kakuzan was the aunt of Mugai Nyodai, although she was younger than her niece. She was born in the great city of Kamakura as a member of the powerful Adachi family and was given the name Horiuchi. Her father passed away when she was one year old. She was raised with examples of powerful women from the samurai tradition.

Tomoe Gozen, female warrior, kills Leyoshi, by Chikanobu (1838-1912), (Photo: The Walters Art Museum)

At the age of 9, Horiuchi married her 10-year-old cousin Hojo Tokimune. Tokimune became the regent of the shogun, making him effectively the most powerful man in the country. These were turbulent times with invasions by the Mongols. In 1271, Horiuchi had a son. Like her husband, she was deeply dedicated to Zen Buddhism and was a student of the Chinese Zen teacher Wuxue Zuyuan (Jap: Mugaku Sogen, also known as Bukko Kokushi, 1226-1286). Wuxue was the abbot of Engaku-ji, the Zen monastery that Tokimune had built.

Shortly before Tokimune’s early death in 1284, both were ordained, and Horiuchi received the name Kakuzan Shido. When her son came to power shortly thereafter, he had most of the Adachi family, his mother’s family, killed out of fear of a takeover. Kakuzan withdrew and founded Tokei-ji, next to Engaku-ji. It was a Zen monastery for nuns within the Rinzai school, a school where koan training is central. In 1304, she received transmission from her teacher, Tokei. Kakuzan is mentioned in the koan collection Shonan katto roku from 1545 (case 87) with the story of her transmission ceremony, in which her samurai dagger also plays a role. In another koan (case 30), it is described how Kakuzan gains insight before a large mirror owned by the monastery, after which she introduces mirror meditation. Many abbesses after her used this meditation to bring their students to awakening.

Print by Kitagawa Utamaro, c. 1789-1801, Honolulu Museum (Photo: Picryl)


Kakuzan initiated a temple law stating that a woman who stayed at Tokei-ji for three years was officially divorced. The monastery was forbidden to men. For centuries, Tokei-ji remained a refuge for abused women and those who no longer wanted to stay with their husbands. In 1873, the divorce law was abolished, and Tokei-ji was no longer a monastery for women but came under the administration of the monks of Engaku-ji.

See also her extensive life story.

Ekan Daishi (lived in the 13th century)

Ekan was the mother of the famous Zen master Keizan Jokin (1268-1325). From a young age, she was a practicing Buddhist and deeply devoted to Kannon, the bodhisattva of compassion (Sanskrit: Avalokiteshvara, Chinese: Guanyin). During the transition of Buddhism from India to China, the male bodhisattva transformed into a predominantly female form.

Part of the Lotus Sutra – Chapter 25, Japanese scroll from 1257 (Photo: Wikimedia)

Ekan greatly desired a child and directed her devotional practice daily to Kannon. According to the Lotus Sutra, Kannon not only hears every cry for help but is also helpful with fertility and a good childbirth.

“If a woman wishes to give birth to a male child, she should offer obeisance and alms to Bodhisattva Perceiver of the World’s Sounds and then she will bear a son blessed with merit, virtue, and wisdom.”
Chapter 25 of the Lotus Sutra

When Ekan was 37, she found out she was pregnant. During her pregnancy, she made 1,333 bows every day and prayed to Kannon that the child would become a spiritual leader in service to all living beings. Together with her mother, Myochi, she raised her son, Keizan. Myochi, Keizan’s grandmother, had been a devoted Buddhist her entire life. She had shared the same teacher as Dogen Zenji (1200 – 1253) and later became Dogen’s disciple, also supporting him financially.

Ekan often took the baby to her favorite temple, the Sanjusangendo in Kyoto. This temple housed 33,000 statues of Kannon, including 1,001 statues with eleven heads and twenty pairs of hands—an overwhelming expression of the bodhisattva who hears every cry and helps all people. When her son was 8 years old, Ekan sent him to Eihei-ji, the monastery founded by Dogen in 1244, to further his spiritual education.
In the years that followed, she founded two Soto Zen monasteries, Joju-ji and Hoo-ji. In 1309, she became the abbess of Joju-ji and taught the Dharma. She passed away around 1314 at the age of 87.

In his biography, Keizan states that it was thanks to the great dedication of his mother Ekan and grandmother Myochi that he became a Zen master. They were also the inspiration for his commitment to teaching women. In their memory, he built the Enzuin Temple on the grounds of his Yoko-ji monastery in 1322. He dedicated this temple to the welfare of all women. He placed in it the statue of Kannon that his mother had given him on her deathbed, to which she had devoted her life. In the base of the statue, he placed two items Ekan had given him: a lock of his baby hair and his umbilical cord.

The Sanjusangendo Temple in Kyoto, with its tens of thousands of statues, still exists to this day.

Detail of the 1001 Kannon statues in the Sanjusangendo temple in Kyoto ( Photo: website Sanjusangendo)

Seitaku (lived in the 14th century) 

She was likely born into the prominent Hojo family. Her worldly name was Sawa, and she married Sakurada Sadakuni. He was the Grand Marshal in the shogunate army but perished in 1333 during the domestic war against the emperor. Following his death, Sawa decided to become a nun at the nun’s monastery Tokei-ji, where she received the Buddhist name Seitaku. For years, she practiced under Zen master Daisen. He was the seventeenth abbot of Engaku-ji, the monastery for monks with which the nun’s monastery was affiliated. Eventually, Seitaku became the abbess of Tokei-ji, the third in line.

She is mentioned in the koan collection Shonan katto roku from 1545 (case 69) with “Paper Sword Zen”. It tells the story of how Seitaku walked from Engaku-ji to her own residence, after her evening meditation during Rohatsu, the celebration of Buddha’s enlightenment in December. On the way, she was attacked by a man who attempted to rape her. He threatened her with a sword, but Seitaku quickly rolled up a piece of paper from a document. As she wielded it like a sword in the darkness before her attacker’s eyes, she let out a tremendous scream, channeling all her energy into it. The man was completely overwhelmed and fled.

Female warrior (Still from the movie ‘Women Were Some of the Fiercest Samurai Warriors Ever”)

Konto Ekyu (lived in the 13th-14th century)

Ekyu was the first woman in Japan to receive transmission in the Soto lineage of Zen. Very little is known about her. She was a disciple of Zen master Keizan, and he supported her practice by translating Dogen’s explanations of the Buddhist precepts. Dogen had written these explanations in kanji, the Japanese script based on Chinese characters. Since Ekyu was not proficient in this script, Keizan converted it into the simpler hiragana script. In the Tokoku Chronicle, it is recounted that Keizan gave her transmission in 1323 along with the accompanying documents.

She succeeded Sonin as the abbess of the Zen temple Enzuin. This temple was built by Keizan on his monastery complex Yoko-ji, and was only accessible to women.

Mokufu Sonin (lived in the 14th century)

She was the wife of Shigeno Nobunao, the governor of the Shinshu province, and became known by her Buddhist name Mokufu Sonin. Her mother was a disciple of Zen master Keizan and had the Buddhist name Shozen. In 1319, Sonin received ordination from Keizan. Together with her husband, she donated land and money, which enabled Keizan to establish the Soto Zen monastery Yoko-ji. In 1322, Keizan built Enzu-in, a temple for Kannon, on the monastery grounds in memory of his grandmother and mother. Sonin became the first abbess of Enzu-in.

Magnet and iron (Photo: Wikimedia)

There was a special bond between Sonin and Keizan. He saw her as the reincarnation of his grandmother, who had been a great source of inspiration for him, and compared their relationship to a magnet and iron. Sonin is not mentioned as one of Keizan’s successors in his writings, although the Nihon Tojo rentoroku does mention that she received transmission from Keizan. Shortly before his death, he appointed her as the head of one of his temples, Hoo-ji.

Sonin passed away a few years after her Zen teacher, when she was over 80 years old.

Joa (late 13th century)

She was a disciple of Soto Zen Master Kangan Giin, who had practiced Zen under Dogen. In 1278, Giin founded Daiji-ji, one of the most important Soto temples on the large island of Kyushu in southern Japan. He had many nuns among his disciples, whom he encouraged in dedication and devotion. Joa was given the practice of copying the Lotus Sutra by him, and she devoted herself wholeheartedly to this sutra. The earliest known Sanskrit title for the sūtra is the Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtra, which can be translated as”The Discourse on the White Lotus of the True Doctrine.”

Illustration of white lotuses, Ch.25 of the Lotus Sutra by Sugawara Mitsushige, 1257, Metropolitan Museum of Art (Photo: Wikimedia)

Soitsu (mid-14th century)

Soitsu was a student of Zen teacher Gasan Joseki, a successor of the renowned Zen master Keizan. Gasan was also the abbot of Soji-ji for several decades, one of the two main monasteries of the Soto school. He had various nuns as disciples. Soitsu was the only woman to receive transmission from him, becoming one of his Dharma successors. She is mentioned in the Sotoshu Komonjo, the Collected Documents of Soto Monasteries.

Eshun (1362 – ca. 1430)

Eshun was the sister of Soto Zen master Ryoan Emyo, founder and abbot of Saijoji. She did not want to marry and asked her brother to ordain her as a nun. Because Eshun was such a beautiful woman, he refused fearing that the monks would be distracted by her presence. Moreover, Ryoan believed that monastic life was only for men. However, Eshun was determined. She shaved her head and burned her face with red-hot fire tongs. When her brother saw this, he ordained Eshun and allowed her to practice. 

Despite her disfigurements, she continued to receive advances from monks. However, Eshun was very quick-witted, knew how to hold her own in a male-dominated world, and had great insight into the Dharma. This is evident, among other things, in the following anecdote.

One time, her brother Ryoan, the abbot, wished to send a message to Engakuji’s abbot. None of the monks from Saijoji would go, because Engakuji had a reputation for severe treatment of outsiders. Only Eshun was willing to perform the task. When the Engakuji monks saw her walk in through the main gate, a monk came up to her, lifted his robe and declared: “This monk’s thing is three feet long.” Eshun, however, just calmly raised her robe, spread her legs toward the monk, and said: “The nun’s thing is infinitely deep.” She walked on, leaving the monk astonished and bewildered.

Fire (Photo: Adonyi Gábor)

When Eshun was old, she had a large fire made and sat meditating in it. One of the monks came running, shouting, and asked, “Is it hot?” “For one who follows the way, there is neither hot nor cold,” Eshun replied and let her beauty turn to ashes.

Yodo (1318-1396)

She was a daughter of Emperor Go-Daigo and had eighteen (half-)sisters and sixteen (half-)brothers. Her mother’s identity is unknown. Amidst a power struggle, one of her half-brothers was murdered, after which Princess Yodo withdrew to the Zen temple Tokei-ji. She became the fifth abbess of this monastery, serving in this role for about 55 years. In keeping with Tokei-ji tradition, Yodo practiced “mirror meditation” (also practiced by Kakuzan Shido, the founder of Tokei-ji). The poem she wrote in response to this meditation is included in the Shonan Katto Roku, a koan collection from 1545:

Heart unclouded, heart clouded
Standing or falling, it is still the same body

Kogetsu (1549-1624)

At her birth, she was given the name Nene. She grew up about 190 mi west of Tokyo, as a member of an aristocratic samurai family. Nene’s father was a bushō, a prominent military leader with a high rank.

Around 1561, she married the more than ten years older Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Her mother, Asahi-dono, was initially opposed to the marriage because he was a samurai of humble origins. However, Hideyoshi later became one of the most powerful men in Japan. He had many wives and mistresses, but Nene was clearly his first wife. They had a special marriage based on respect and love, as evidenced by surviving letters. In 1593, he wrote to her, “Your skill is the best, and our wish is always the same.”

Kogetsu, later known as Kodai-in, in her Buddhist robes (Photo: Picryl)

Nene was known for her kindness and respectful interactions with others. She was an intelligent woman with authority and great influence, often advising her husband on diplomatic and political-military matters. She was given a high rank by the shogun – Kitano Mandokoro – which placed her above many men within the shogunate.

Nene possessed a very special sword, called Mikazuki Munechika, crafted in the 11th century, which later became known as one of the Five Famous Swords of Japan.

When her husband passed away in 1598, she became a nun and took the name Kodai-in Kogetsuni. She was widely respected for her helpful nature and courtesy. In 1606, she founded a Rinzai temple, Kodai-ji, where she lived until her death. After her passing, she was also referred to as the Angel of Light. A street in Kyoto is named after her: Nene’s Street.

Nene’s street, Nene-no-Michi (Photo: Wikimedia)

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Ryonen Genso (1646 – 1711)

Ryonen was born in Kyoto into an old noble family and was given the name Fusa. Her father was a descendant of a powerful samurai and a lay practitioner of Rinzai Zen. Her mother came from a courtly family and served the Empress. She had two younger brothers—one a year younger and the other six years younger—both of whom became Zen monks. As a child, Fusa was introduced into imperial circles and became the companion of the Empress’s grandchildren. At court, she received solid training in various arts, including calligraphy and waka poetry. She was an intelligent girl with striking beauty.

At age 16, she married Matsuda Bansui, a physician and Confucian scholar. After arranging for a new wife and mother for her husband and children, she entered the Hokyo-ji women’s monastery after ten years of marriage. It seems that at the start of the marriage, she had agreed to part ways after a certain period (or perhaps after bearing a son). When her close friend Yoshi, the Empress’s granddaughter, died at a young age, Fusa decided to fully commit to becoming a nun, taking the name Ryonen Genso, which means “Clear Realization.”

At some point, she traveled to Edo—now Tokyo—but was rejected by two monasteries because she was too beautiful, which would have caused too much distraction for the monks. However, Ryonen’s desire to gain deep insight into the matter of life and death was so strong that she decided to sacrifice her beauty by disfiguring her face with a red-hot iron poker. She wrote a poem about this on the back of a mirror:

When I was a girl, I burned incense for pleasure;
Now I have burned my face to study Zen.
The seasons flow effortlessly into one another.
Who is the one who writes these words amidst these changes?

This horrible act led to her being accepted at the Daikyu-an monastery, where she became the foremost student of the Zen teacher Hakuo Dotai. After four years, in 1682, she received Dharma transmission from him.

That same year, Hakuo passed away. Ryonen continued the temple’s work. She was very enterprising and carried out various social projects, such as building bridges and establishing a school. Just before her death in 1711, she wrote the following poem:

In the autumn of my 66th year, I have lived a long time.
The intense moonlight shines brightly on my face.
There is no need for koan study;
Just listen to the wind outside in the pines and cedars.

Her Zen practice, expressed through poetry and calligraphy, became famous throughout the country and is still known today. Sadly, a hundred years after her death, in 1811, most of her work was lost in the great Edo fire, the same fire that had played such a decisive role in her life.

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