Soei Yoneda

Born to a family of kimono merchants in Kobe. In 1912, at the age of 5, she was selected by an elder monk of Nanzen-ji Temple in Kyoto, and joined Reikan-ji Temple (Shishigatani) at Mt. Higashi. At the age of 8, she moved to the monzeki convent Donke-in Temple in Sagano, Kyoto. Here she trained under the nun Jikō Asukai. In 1937, at the age of 31, she received the request to become the abbess of Sankō-in from Monk Eiju Mamiya, who was both a friend of Asukai and head of the famous Hoko-ji Temple (a head temple of Rinzai Zen located on Mt. Kohokugo by Lake Hamana). At the request of the mayor of Koganei, Soei opened a preschool at the temple, and introduced the shōjin culinary arts in the style of the Bamboo Palace to Musashino region. This particular style of shōjin cooking is a tradition dating back over 600 years that she had learned at Donke-in.