Born on 1 July 1898, she was added to the Gerontology Research Group's list of validated living supercentenarians on 30 September 2009, aged 111 years, 91 days.
There is, however, little biographical information on Yaoe Koda available. She eventually died of heart failure on 9 June 2011, aged 112 years, 343 days. At the time of her death, she was the fifteenth-oldest living person.
Koda was also the fifth oldest living Japanese at the time of her death, behind Chiyono Hasegawa, then 114 (she is now 115), Jiroemon Kimura, 114, Misawo Okawa, 113, and Kame Nakamura, 113, as well as the 34th oldest Japanese ever; she is now 35th oldest all-time, her age having since been surpassed by Hatsue Ono of Hokkaidō, born 31 October 1898, who is aged 113 years, 32 days as of 2 December 2011.