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Yukichi Chuganji
Yukichi Chuganji
Birth: 23 March 1889
Chikushino, Fukuoka, Japan
Death: 28 September 2003
Ogori, Fukuoka, Japan
Age: 114 years, 189 days
Country: JapanJPN
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


World's Oldest Living Person Titleholders (VE)

Lucy WoodmanNancy MerrimanBetsy BakerJennie HowellMathias Hansen SaetherCatherine WallerChristina Karnebeek-Backs • Robert Early • Nettie MinickMary Kelly • James King • Narcissa Rickman • Tome Horigome • Marie Bernatkova • Haruno ShimadaAda Roe • Kitty Harvey • Josefa Salas Mateo • Alice Stevenson • Ettie Crist • Laurence Entiope • Mito Umeta • Niwa Kawamoto • Alice Coles • Josefa Llovet • Eliza UnderwoodAugustine Tessier • Nellie Spencer • Emma WilsonAugusta Holtz • Mary McKinney • Anna Eliza Williams • Florence Knapp • Easter Wiggins • Jeanne Calment • Marie-Louise Meilleur • Sarah Knauss • Ella Miller • 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 • Ana Nogueira de LucaMaria 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 MoreraTomiko Itooka


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 • 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 • Horacio Celi MendozaJiroemon Kimura • Salustiano Sanchez • Arturo Licata • Alexander Imich • Sakari Momoi • Yasutaro Koide • Israel Kristal • Francisco Nunez Olivera • Masazo NonakaTomas Pinales FiguereoEmilio Flores MarquezSaturnino de la Fuente GarciaJuan Vicente Perez MoraShi PingJohn Tinniswood


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

Tome YoshidaTokusaburo HatsukadeHaru KomaiIshi HayashiYoshigiku ItoTome HorigomeHaruno ShimadaMito UmetaNiwa KawamotoIsa NakayamaMan IchikawaKoume KabiraMasutaro SatoMatsu YoshikuniKoharu KodairaOto MichiiToka MiyataMomu OkumaIne TsugawaSeki TakeharaWaka 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 • Harumi Nakamura • Nabi TajimaChiyo MiyakoKane TanakaFusa TatsumiTomiko Itooka


Japan's Oldest Living Man Titleholders (VE)

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 SonobeTomisaburo WakuiAnonymous man of TokyoKiyotaka Mizuno

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