Mugai Nyodai

Mugai Nyodai (Japanese: 無外如大, 1223–1298), was one of the first Zen abbesses and the first female Zen master in Japan. A disciple of Mugaku Sogen, she organized convents and spread the lessons of Rinzai Zen.^[1][2][3] The only surviving written accounts of her life date to more recent centuries, and so many details of her biography are unclear.^[4]

Yoshitoshi's Lady Chiyo (Nyodai) and the Broken Water Bucket