| Yukichi Chuganji | |
 | |
| Birth: | 23 March 1889 Chikushino, Fukuoka, Japan |
| Death: | 28 September 2003 Ogori, Fukuoka, Japan |
| Age: | 114 years, 189 days |
| Country: |  JPN
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| Validated | |
Yukichi Chuganji [Japanese: 中願寺 雄吉] (23 March 1889 – 28 September 2003) was a Japanese supercentenarian who was the world's oldest living person from 29 December 2002 to his death, upon which time the title passed to Mitoyo Kawate. He currently ranks as the seventh-oldest validated man in history, after Jiroemon Kimura, Christian Mortensen, Emiliano Mercado del Toro, Juan Vicente Perez Mora, Horacio Celi Mendoza, and Walter Breuning.
Biography
Yukichi Chuganji was born in his family's farmhouse in the village of Chikushino, Fukuoka, Japan on 23 March 1889. He graduated from a technical school in the early 1900's and worked as a silkworm breeder, instructor in the agricultural specialty, as a bank employee, and community welfare officer. In 1914, he married Shika Chuganji; they had four sons and one daughter. The couple would remain married for close to 60 years before Shika's death in 1973. Among his hobbies were fishing and gardening, and he continued to ride a bike until his late 90s. He stayed active and independent into his centenarian years, including walking into town alone and voting in elections as a supercentenarian until his eyesight began to fail around 2000, by which point he stopped going out and spent more time in bed. While his blindness left him unable to read the newspaper, he still kept up on current world events, expressing concerns over the US invasion of Iraq. He didn't like to eat vegetables, but liked to eat beef and pork. He only consumed alcohol in moderate amounts and drank milk every day.
Chuganji became the oldest living man after the death of 112-year-old Antonio Todde on 3 January 2002, coincidentally the same day on which he became Japan's oldest living person after the death of Matsuno Oikawa. He died in Ogori, Fukuoka, Japan on 28 September 2003 at the age of 114 years, 189 days. His health appeared fine up until his death, and his family only noticed he wasn't looking well after his daughter went to give him homemade apple juice. According to his nephew, he thanked them for the drink as he went to sleep, and never woke up. He was the second man to reach the age of 114 and was the oldest Japanese man ever for a little more than 10 years, after which his record was broken by Jiroemon Kimura. He is the first Japanese man to undisputedly reach ages 113 and 114. He was survived by 1 of his 4 children, 7 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. He is the oldest man ever from Fukuoka.
Gallery
References
- Yukichi Chuganji, 114 Photo Gallery, GERONTOLOGY RESEARCH GROUP
- 中願寺さん男性世界最高齢／福岡の１１２歳ギネス公認
- Oldest man marks 114th birthday The Japan Times
- 男性長寿世界一、福岡の中願寺雄吉さん１１４歳に
- World's Oldest Man Dies in Japan at 114 AP News
| Japan's Oldest Living Person Titleholders (V • T • E) |
|
Tome Yoshida • Tokusaburo Hatsukade • Haru Komai • Ishi Hayashi • Yoshigiku Ito • Tome Horigome • Haruno Shimada • Mito Umeta • Niwa Kawamoto • Isa Nakayama • Man Ichikawa • Koume Kabira • Masutaro Sato • 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 • 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 • Harumi Nakamura • Nabi Tajima • Chiyo Miyako • Kane Tanaka • Fusa Tatsumi • Tomiko Itooka |
| Japan's Oldest Living Man Titleholders (V • E) |
|
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 Nonaka • Chitetsu Watanabe • Issaku Tomoe • Shojiro Shirai • Motoi Fukunishi • Mikizo Ueda • Shigeru Nakamura • Gisaburo Sonobe • Tomisaburo Wakui • Anonymous man of Tokyo |