Tada Koyurugi was born in April 1907 in Daido 3-chome, Tokushima City.
She began learning the shamisen at the age of six. Later, at the age of ten, she became an apprentice to Nobukiku Kiyomoto and began her serious training in the shamisen.
After graduating from Shinmachi Elementary School, she aspired to become a geisha, making her debut as a geisha "Utamaru" in 1920. In 1923, she became an independent geisha under the name "Koyurugi," and in 1930, she changed her name to "Okoi."
She became widely known for her well-honed singing voice and shamisen skills. In 1931, she recorded "Tokushima Bon Odori Uta (Yoshiko)" and "Awa Fukei" at the Osaka branch of Nippon Columbia, and released them on record the following year.
In 1933, she became a master of Nagauta under the name Matsunaga Wasayu, and two years later, in 1935, Tada Koyurugi released "Awa Bon Odori Uta (Yoshiko)" and "Sekizoro."
The following year, in 1936, she signed an exclusive contract with Taihei Records and became a nationally renowned recording singer, known as "Ichimaru of the East, Okoi of the West," and a "diva" of Japan. In December 1946, after returning to Tokushima City from her evacuation location, she joined a caravan to promote the Awa Odori dance, which had been revived after the war. She performed "Yoshiko" outside the prefecture, became widely known along with the Awa Odori dance. At the end of 1949, Tada Koyurugi opened the restaurant "Kototoi" in Sakaemachi and managed the establishment as its proprietress. In 1959, she released "Awa Odori" and "Awa Odori Hayashi."
In the same year, with the start of television broadcasting by NHK Tokushima and Shikoku Broadcasting, Tada Koyurugi began making numerous appearances on radio and television.
Subsequently, in 1987, she released the cassette tape "Singing for 70 Years: Awa Yoshiko's Okoi," in 1998 she produced two CDs, "Awa no Kokoro" and "Omoide no Uta," and in 2006 she produced the CD album "Okoi: Her Singing Voice Transcends Time."[2]
Tada Koyurugi passed away on April 6, 2008 due to old age, at the age of 100. In her later years, she was often seen using a wheelchair during performances. The day before her death, she enjoyed cherry blossom viewing with her family.[3]