Moriyama was born in Shuri, a district of Naha City, Okinawa Prefecture, on 5 November 1907. She was the only child of her parents, Manabe and Shosuke. At the age of 25, she married her Japanese husband in the Philippines; the couple had five children, two daughters and three sons.

Moriyama returned to Okinawa with her family in 1941, during her pregnancy with her third son. In 1944, her eldest daughter died when the ship she was evacuating on, Tsushima Maru, was torpedoed. Moriyama rarely talked about her loss, choosing to grieve privately. She worked as a dressmaker to provide for her younger children.

Moriyama lived in a Naha nursing home from 2006. Following the 7 August 2020 death of Sayo Taminato, she became the oldest resident of Okinawa Prefecture.

Moriyama died on 1 March 2021 at the age of 113 years, 116 days. Her successor as Okinawa’s oldest living person was Matsu Gaja (1908 – 2022).