Okawa was born on 5 March 1898, in the Tenma district (present-day Kita-ku) of Osaka, and in her latter years lived at a nursing home in Higashisumiyoshi-ku, Osaka. She married Yukio in 1919, and had three children, two of whom were still alive at the time of her death. She also had four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.