Misao Okawa

Misao Okawa
Okawa on her 116th birthday in 2014
Birth:	5 March 1898 Tenma-Ku, Osaka, Japan
Death:	1 April 2015 Higashisumiyoshi-ku, Osaka, Japan
Age:	117 years, 27 days
Country:	JPN
Validated

Misao Okawa (née Aoki; 5 March 1898 – 1 April 2015), also sometimes romanized as Misawo Okawa, was a Japanese supercentenarian who is the fourth-oldest validated person ever from Japan, and was also the oldest living person in the world from the death of the 116-year-old Jiroemon Kimura, who was also the oldest validated man ever, until her own death on 1 April 2015. She was the oldest person ever from Japan until 1 September 2017, when her age was surpassed by Nabi Tajima.

Okawa died in Higashisumiyoshi-ku, Osaka, Japan, on 1 April 2015, at the age of 117 years, 27 days. After her death, Gertrude Weaver (also born 1898) became the oldest living person, though only for six days. She was also the oldest living woman after the death of Koto Okubo on 12 January 2013 until her own death over two years later.

Okawa currently ranks as the oldest validated person ever from Osaka Prefecture, the fourth-oldest Japanese person ever (behind Kane Tanaka, Nabi Tajima, and Chiyo Miyako), and also the 10th-oldest person on record whose age is validated by the Gerontology Research Group (GRG).

Life

Okawa married her husband Yukio, who ran his own business in Kobe, in 1919 and had three children, two daughters and a son. As of February 2013, only one of her daughters, Shizuyo (aged 97), and her son Hiroshi (aged 99), were still alive. Her husband died on 20 June 1931 at the age of 36. In 2000, she broke her leg at the age of 102. But she said that she was doing leg squats. She was able to walk until she was age 110, after which she needed a wheelchair to prevent her from falling over.

Gallery

Okawa (right) with her older sister in circa 1900

Okawa in an undated photo

Okawa (aged 113), with her son Hiroshi and other relatives

Okawa with her son, Hiroshi, granddaughter and great-grandson Hibiki

Okawa (aged 114; almost 115), recognised by GWR as the World's Oldest Woman, 27 February 2013.

Okawa at the age of 115

Okawa at the age of 116

Okawa at the age of 117

References

• Gerontology Research Group
• World's oldest person Misao Okawa dies aged 117
• World's oldest person Misao Okawa dies in Japan

World's Oldest Living Person Titleholders (V • E)

Betsy Baker • Jennie Howell • Marie Carstenson • Nancy Ryan • Christina 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 Wilson • Mathew Beard • Augusta 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 Brown • Nabi Tajima • Chiyo Miyako • Kane Tanaka • Lucile Randon

World's Oldest Living Woman Titleholders (V • E)

Betsy Baker • Jennie Howell • Marie Carstenson • Nancy Ryan • Christina Karnebeek-Backs • Marie Olsen • Mary Kelly • Elizabeth Kensley • Auguste Pahl • Hannah Smith • Yoshigiku Ito • 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 Wilson • Augusta 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 • Mitoyo Kawate • Ramona Trinidad Iglesias-Jordan • Maria Capovilla • Elizabeth Bolden • Julie Winnefred Bertrand • Emma Tillman • Yone Minagawa • Edna Parker • Maria de Jesus • Gertrude Baines • Kama Chinen • Eugenie Blanchard • Maria Gomes Valentim • Besse Cooper • Dina Manfredini • Koto Okubo • Misao Okawa • Gertrude Weaver • Jeralean Talley • Susannah Mushatt Jones • Emma Morano • Violet Brown • Nabi Tajima • Chiyo Miyako • Kane Tanaka • Lucile Randon

Japan's Oldest Living Person Titleholders (V • T • E)

Waka Shirahama • Tane Ikai • Sue Utagawa • Suekiku 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 Tajima • Chiyo Miyako • Kane Tanaka • Fusa Tatsumi

Japan's Oldest Living Woman Titleholders (V • E)

Sue Watanabe • Unknown • Tome Yoshida • Haru Komai • Ishi Hayashi • Yoshigiku Ito • Tome Horigome • Haruno Shimada • Mito Umeta • Niwa Kawamoto • Isa Nakayama • Man Ichikawa • Koume Kabira • Matsu Yoshikuni • Koharu Kodaira • Oto Michii • Toka Miyata • Momu Okuma • Ine Tsugawa • Seki Takehara • Waka Shirahama • Tane Ikai • Sue Utagawa • Suekiku Miyanaga • Asa Takii • Tase Matsunaga • Yasu Akino • Kayo Fujii • Mie Ishiguro • Matsuno Oikawa • Mitoyo Kawate • Ura Koyama • Yone Minagawa • Shitsu Nakano • Tsuneyo Toyonaga • Kaku Yamanaka • Kama Chinen • Chiyono Hasegawa • Koto Okubo • Misao Okawa • Anonymous (Tokyo) • Nabi Tajima • Chiyo Miyako • Kane Tanaka • Fusa Tatsumi