Hideko Sōgawa was born in Gobō, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, on 5 February 1909. At some point she got married and had five children (two sons and three daughters). She worked as a home economics teacher at a prefectural high school while raising her children, and retired at the age of 60.

In 2005, when she was 96, she moved to Kōchi City, where her daughter lived. Until she was around 109, once a week she would walk to a meeting place on a hill about 300 m away from her home, and she would participate in the 40-minute “A lively 100-year-old gymnastics” (strength training for the elderly). At the age of 107, it was reported she would occasionally leave her cane at the meetinghouse, indicating she could walk a distance of 300 m without her cane. Until the age of 109, in addition to doing gymnastics once a week, it was her daily routine to take a walk around her house with her daughter. In addition, it was reported that she had a hobby of drawing Japanese paintings.

Hideko Sōgawa passed away in Kōchi, Kōchi Prefecture, Japan, on 6 June 2020, at the age of 111 years, 122 days.