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Jiroemon Kimura
Jiroemon Kimura
Kimura on his 115th birthday in 2012.
Birth: 19 April 1897
Kyotango, Kyoto, Japan
Death: 12 June 2013
Kyotango, Kyoto, Japan
Age: 116 years, 54 days
Country: JapanJPN
Validated

Jiroemon Kimura [Japanese: 木村次郎右衛門] (né Kinjiro Miyake [Japanese: 三宅 金治郎]; 19 April 1897 – 12 June 2013) was a validated Japanese supercentenarian. At the age of 116 years, 54 days, he lived to be the oldest validated man ever, having surpassed Christian Mortensen's prior record of 115 years, 252 days. Kimura was recognized as the oldest living person for the last six months of his life after the death of Dina Manfredini on 17 December 2012, and became the oldest man in recorded history 11 days later. He became the last known man born in the 1800s after the death of Walter Breuning on 14 April 2011, inheriting the title of world's oldest man at the age of 113 years, 360 days, making him the oldest man to receive this record. He was the ninth person in recorded history to reach the age of 116. He was also the first man to reach the age of 116 and remains the only man to do so. He was among the very last living people to have been born in the 1800s.

Biography

Early life

Jiroemon Kimura was born as Kinjiro Miyake (三宅 金治郎) on 19 April 1897, in Kyotango, Kyoto, Japan; he was born in the fishing village of Kamiukawa as the 3rd born child of farmers Morizo and Fusa Miyake, who grew rice and vegetables. He finished school at the age of 14 as the 2nd best student in his class. Kimura worked at local post offices for 45 years, starting at the age of 17 until his retirement in 1962 at the age of 65. He also worked at a government communication unit in Korea in the 1920s. Upon his return, he married his neighbor, Yae Kimura. Since his wife's family lacked in a male heir, he changed his name to Jiroemon Kimura, becoming the 9th member of the family to have that name. He, after retiring, worked as a farmer, helping his son in farming until the age of 90. Yae died at the age of 74 in 1978.

Personal life

Four of Kimura's five siblings lived until at least the age of 90, and his youngest brother died at the age of 100. Kimura had seven children (five surviving), 14 grandchildren (13 surviving), 25 great grandchildren, and 13 great-great grandchildren. Kimura was health conscious and active. According to his grandson's widow, Eiko Miyake, he was a disciplined, serious man when he was younger, and even when he drank with his brothers, he would sit straight and keep quiet. On his 114th birthday in 2011, Kimura mentioned his survival of the 1927 Kita Tango earthquake that hit Kyoto and killed over 3,000 people. Kimura was presented with a certificate from Guinness World Records Editor-in-Chief Craig Glenday, relating to Kimura's appearance in the new 2013 Guinness World Records book in October 2012. Kimura was unwell during his 116th birthday in 2013, but received many well wishes, including a video message from the then-Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe.

Later life

Kimura would be woken up by his grandson's widow Eiko, everyday at 7:30am, and would help him get on his wheelchair and take him to the dining room where he would eat his breakfast. He had never suffered from any serious diseases until 2013. He would read the newspaper with a magnifying glass. He was positive and optimistic, and would be cheerful when visited by guests. He enjoyed reading newspapers and watching sumo wrestling and parliamentary debates on television. Kimura resided in Kyotango in Kyoto Prefecture, with his eldest son's widow, 83, and his grandson's widow Eiko Miyake, 59, in a two story wooden house he built during the 1960s. Kimura's condition started worsening in the last few months of his life. He became completely bedridden in February 2013, and was in the hospital on 11 May the same year for pneumonia.

Longevity records

Main article: Jiroemon Kimura/Longevity

Death

Kimura died of natural causes a month after his hospitalization for pneumonia on 12 June 2013 at 2:08 am local time at the age of 116 years, 54 days. He was survived by five children, 13 grandchildren, 25 great-grandchildren, and 13 great-great grandchildren. Kimura died as the oldest validated man ever (although if the pending case of Anisio Rodrigues Alves is true, then he would be the second-oldest), one of the top 10 oldest people ever, and one of the oldest Japanese people ever, after Misao Okawa, Nabi Tajima, and Kane Tanaka, but now he is the 25th-oldest person as numerous people had become older. Kimura was the oldest validated person to die in 2013, and was also the last surviving validated person born in 1897. He is currently the oldest validated person ever from Kyoto Prefecture.

After his death, Salustiano Sanchez became the oldest living man, and Misao Okawa became the oldest living person.

Gallery

References


World's Oldest Living Person Titleholders (VE)

Betsy BakerJennie HowellMarie CarstensonNancy RyanChristina Karnebeek-Backs • Marie Olsen • Mary Kelly • Elizabeth Kensley • William Fullingim • Hannah Smith • John Mosley Turner • Johanna Booysen • Marie Bernatkova • Ada Roe • Josefa Salas Mateo • Alice Stevenson • Elizabeth Watkins • Mito Umeta • Niwa Kawamoto • Sophia DeMuth • Marie-Virginie Duhem • Fannie Thomas • Augustine Tessier • Nellie Spencer • Emma WilsonAugusta Holtz • Mary McKinney • Anna Eliza Williams • Florence Knapp • Jeanne Calment • Marie-Louise Meilleur • Sarah Knauss • Eva Morris • Marie Bremont • Maud Farris-Luse • Grace Clawson • Adelina Domingues • Mae Harrington • Yukichi Chuganji • Mitoyo Kawate • Ramona Trinidad Iglesias-Jordan • Maria Capovilla • Elizabeth Bolden • Emiliano Mercado del Toro • Emma Tillman • Yone Minagawa • Edna Parker • Maria de Jesus • Gertrude Baines • Kama Chinen • Eugenie Blanchard • Maria Gomes Valentim • Besse Cooper • Dina Manfredini • Jiroemon Kimura • Misao Okawa • Gertrude Weaver • Jeralean Talley • Susannah Mushatt Jones • Emma Morano • Violet BrownNabi Tajima • Chiyo MiyakoKane TanakaLucile RandonMaria Branyas Morera


World's Oldest Living Man Titleholders (V • TE)

Sylvester MelvinJoseph Saint-Amour • William Fullingim • John Mosley Turner • Friedrich Wedeking • Frederick Butterfield • Jean Teillet • Charlie Nelson • Charlie Phillips • Zachariah BlackistoneJames NashWalter WilcoxGregory PandazesJoe Thomas • Herman Smith-Johannsen • Alphaeus Philemon Cole • John Evans • Henri Perignon • James Wiggins • Frederick Frazier • Josep Armengol-Jover • Christian Mortensen • Johnson Parks • Walter Richardson • Denzo Ishizaki • Antonio Urrea-Hernandez • John Painter • Antonio Todde • Yukichi Chuganji • Joan Riudavets-Moll • Fred Hale • Emiliano Mercado del Toro • Tomoji Tanabe • Henry Allingham • Walter Breuning • Jiroemon Kimura • Salustiano Sanchez • Arturo Licata • Alexander Imich • Sakari Momoi • Yasutaro Koide • Israel Kristal • Francisco Nunez Olivera • Masazo NonakaChitetsu WatanabeBob WeightonEmilio Flores MarquezSaturnino de la Fuente GarciaJuan Vicente Perez Mora


Japan's Oldest Living Person Titleholders (V • TE)

Waka Shirahama • Tane Ikai • Sue UtagawaSuekiku Miyanaga • Asa Takii • Tase Matsunaga • Yasu Akino • Denzo Ishizaki • Kayo Fujii • Mie Ishiguro • Matsuno Oikawa • Yukichi Chuganji • Mitoyo Kawate • Ura Koyama • Yone Minagawa • Shitsu Nakano • Tsuneyo Toyonaga • Kaku Yamanaka • Kama Chinen • Chiyono Hasegawa • Jiroemon Kimura • Misao Okawa • Anonymous (Tokyo) • Nabi TajimaChiyo MiyakoKane TanakaFusa TatsumiTomiko Itooka


Japan's Oldest Living Man Titleholders (VE)

Shozaburo Oda • Tokusaburo Hatsukade • Unknown • Ikumatsu Matsuura • Masakichi Kai • Goro Usuyama • Shizuo Jinjiang • Kokuzo Iwate • Eisaku Takada • Hisaharu Arai • Chojiro Goto • Yozotaro Yoshikawa • Masutaro Sato • Takataro Hiragushi • Mataichi Ono • Shotaro Tanaka • Rinzo Shimizu • Koji Onishi • Inasaku Abe • Mokotaru Osada • Eiju Tsuru • Kiichi Fujiwara • Nisaburo Matsuyama • Shimetaro Hara • Gihei Oka • Gengan Tonaki • Denzo Ishizaki • Sadayoshi Tanabe • Yukichi Chuganji • Kameni Nakamura • Minsho Ozawa • Totaro Murakami • Kohachi Shigetaka • Nijiro Tokuda • Tomoji Tanabe • Jiroemon Kimura • Jokichi Ikarashi • Sakari Momoi • Yasutaro Koide • Masamitsu Yoshida • Masazo NonakaChitetsu WatanabeIssaku TomoeShojiro ShiraiMotoi FukunishiMikizo UedaShigeru NakamuraGisaburo Sonobe

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