Masa Nakayama (中山 マサ, Nakayama Masa, January 19, 1891 – October 11, 1976) was a Japanese politician and educator who was the first woman appointed to the Cabinet of Japan when she became Minister of Health and Welfare in 1960.

Masa attended Kwassui Jogakko, a mission school run by American Methodist missionaries.

In 1911, she moved to the United States where she enrolled at Ohio Wesleyan University,[2] graduating in 1916.

Returning to Japan, she had a distinguished career as a high school and college educator prior to the outbreak of World War II.

[4] Nakayama died of throat cancer at an Osaka hospital on October 11, 1976, aged 85.