was a Japanese

supercentenarian A supercentenarian (sometimes hyphenated as super-centenarian) is a person who has reached the age of 110 years. This age is achieved by about one in 1,000 centenarians. Supercentenarians typically live a life free of major age-related diseases u ...

who lived for 116 years and 54 days. He became the verified oldest man in history on 28 December 2012, when he surpassed the age of

Christian Mortensen Thomas Peter Thorvald Kristian Ferdinand Mortensen (August 16, 1882 – April 25, 1998), known as Christian Mortensen, was a Danish supercentenarian, who resided in California, United States.the last living veteran of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Kimura became the oldest living man in Japan upon the death of Tomoji Tanabe on 19 June 2009, the world's oldest living man upon the death of

Walter Breuning Walter Breuning (September 21, 1896 – April 14, 2011) was an American supercentenarian who lived for 114 years and 205 days and was, at the time of his death, the oldest living man in the world and the third-oldest verified man ever, behind Chr ...

on 15 April 2011, the oldest living person in Japan upon the death of Chiyono Hasegawa on 2 December 2011, and the world's oldest living person, upon the death of Dina Manfredini on 17 December 2012, until his own death almost half a year later.

Early life and education

Kimura was born as . According to records, he was born on 19 April 1897 in the

fishing village A fishing village is a village, usually located near a fishing ground, with an economy based on catching fish and harvesting seafood. The continents and islands around the world have coastlines totalling around 356,000 kilometres (221,000 m ...

of Kamiukawa, Kyoto prefecture, to farmers Morizo (1858–1935) and Fusa (1867–1931) Miyake. Kimura's age was further verified by researchers in an article that they published in 2017. After thorough research, including conducting family interviews and searching official records, the authors verified Kimura's age and date of birth. Kimura's nephew Tamotsu Miyake said his uncle's birthday was 19 March, but that this had been mistakenly recorded as 19 April in 1955 when records from neighbouring towns were consolidated and redone. The researchers concluded, however, that Kimura was listed as being born on 19 March 1897 (as opposed to 19 April 1897, his likely true birth date), on his school records due to his parents' desire to have him begin school a year earlier than his later birthday would have allowed, so that he could graduate from school earlier and begin working on the family farm. During this time in Japan, schoolchildren born before April were one school year ahead of schoolchildren who were born in April or afterwards. In his family, Kimura was the fifth child and second surviving son of eight children, six of whom lived to adulthood and five (all except A.M. who died at age 85) became over 90 years old. He had four elder siblings including two elder sisters, Sa.M. (1887–1892) and I.M. (1889–c.1985/86) and two elder brothers, S.M. (1892–1894) and H. M. (1895–1986). He had three younger siblings: his third sister G. M. (1900–1993), his first younger brother A. M. (1902–c. 1987/88) and his youngest brother Tetsuo (1909–2007). On 1 April 1903, Kimura began his primary-school education. An intelligent student, he graduated with the equivalent of an eighth-grade education under the old imperial educational system on 31 March 1911, having had two additional years of schooling beyond what was then compulsory.

Career

On 10 April 1911, Kimura began work at the Nakahama post office as a

telegraph boy In many English-speaking countries, a telegram messenger, more often known as a telegram delivery boy, telegraph boy or telegram boy was a young man employed to deliver telegrams, usually on bicycle. In the United Kingdom, they were employed by t ...

while also working on his family's farm. He left the Nakahama post office on 2 February 1913. From May to December 1914, he studied at a posts and telegraph training school in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

, graduating at the head of his class of 70 students and resuming work at the Nakahama post office on 4 December 1914.

Military service

On 1 April 1918, Kimura was conscripted into the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

and was posted to

Nakano, Tokyo is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. The English translation of its Japanese self-designation is Nakano City. On 23 May 1920, he left the Nakahama post office for the final time. To help support his younger brother A. M. who had emigrated to

Korea under Japanese rule Between 1910 and 1945, Korea was ruled as a part of the Empire of Japan. Joseon Korea had come into the Japanese sphere of influence with the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876; a complex coalition of the Meiji government, military, and business offic ...

for work and had fallen ill there, Kimura moved to Keijō (now

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

), taking a job on 31 May with the Government-General of Chōsen in the Mail and Telecommunications Department, with a salary of 30 yen plus a 30% overseas service allowance. He only stayed in Korea until November, however, before returning to Japan and his work on the farm. From 1 to 21 September 1921, Kimura underwent a final three-week period of army service, again in a communications unit, during which he was posted to

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...

. Around this time, he attended a ceremony in Kyoto to welcome the return to Japan of Crown Prince

Hirohito Emperor , commonly known in English-speaking countries by his personal name , was the 124th emperor of Japan, ruling from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989. Hirohito and his wife, Empress Kōjun, had two sons and five daughters; he was ...

from a tour of Europe. After his national service, Kimura resumed farming until 21 April 1924, when he was appointed a deputy postmaster at the Hira post office. He worked there for the next 38 years until his retirement on 30 June 1962, two months after his 65th birthday and having worked in post offices for 45 years.

Later years

After retiring, Kimura helped his eldest son run the family farm until he turned 90. In 1978, Kimura and his wife moved in with their first son and his family. Kimura's wife died the following year, and he continued to live with his first son's family and subsequently with his eldest grandson's family for the remainder of his life. On 28 September 1999, aged 102, he appeared on a local television program featuring local residents noted for their longevity. On 17 June 2002, he published an autobiographical pamphlet, “Looking back at my happy 105 years.”

Personal life

On 27 December 1920, Kimura (then still Kinjiro Miyake) married his neighbor Yae Kimura (1904–1979), the adopted daughter of Jiroemon Kimura VIII and his wife K. Kimura (1870–1939). The marriage was officially registered two days later. Since his wife's family lacked a male heir, he changed his name to Jiroemon Kimura, becoming the ninth member of the family to bear that name after his adoptive father-in-law's death in 1927. Kimura and his wife, who were married for more than 58 years, had eight children (six sons and two daughters) of whom all but their second son survived to adulthood. Kimura was health-conscious and active. He woke up early in the morning and read newspapers with a magnifying glass. Also, he enjoyed talking to guests and followed live parliamentary debates on television. He credited eating small portions of food (''

hara hachi bun me (also spelled , and sometimes misspelled ) is a Confucian teaching that instructs people to eat until they are 80 percent full. The Japanese phrase translates to, "Eat until you are eight parts (out of ten) full", or "belly 80 percent full". Oki ...

'') as the key to a long and healthy life. Kimura resided in Kyōtango, Kyoto Prefecture, with his eldest son's widow, 83, and his grandson's widow, 59. On his 114th birthday on 19 April 2011, he mentioned his survival of the 7.6

magnitude Magnitude may refer to: Mathematics *Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction *Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object *Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector *Order of ...

1927 Kita Tango earthquake The 1927 North Tango earthquake () occurred in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan on 7 March with a moment magnitude of 7.0. Up to 2,956 people were killed and 7,806 were injured. Almost all the houses in Mineyama (now part of Kyōtango) were destroyed as ...

that hit Kyoto and killed over 3,000 people. Just four days before turning 114, upon

's death, Kimura became the oldest living man in the world. In October 2012, Kimura was presented with a certificate from ''

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

'' Editor-in-Chief Craig Glenday, relating to Kimura's appearance in the 2013 edition of ''Guinness World Records'' book; this was the second year in a row Kimura was recognized as the oldest living man in the world, as he also appeared in the book the year before. During the meeting, Kimura said he spent most of his time in bed. On his 116th and final birthday, Kimura received many well-wishes, including a video message from Japan's prime minister

Shinzō Abe Shinzo Abe ( ; ja, 安倍晋三, Hepburn: , ; 21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 20 ...

. On 23 May 2013, upon the death of Barbadian man James Sisnett (born 22 February 1900), Kimura became the last verified living man born in the 19th century.

Death

Kimura was admitted to hospital for

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

on 11 May 2013 and recovered temporarily. However, his health started worsening again in early June 2013, as his

blood sugar level Glycaemia, also known as blood sugar level, blood sugar concentration, or blood glucose level is the measure of glucose concentrated in the blood of humans or other animals. Approximately 4 grams of glucose, a simple sugar, is present in the blo ...

urine production Fluid balance is an aspect of the homeostasis of organisms in which the amount of water in the organism needs to be controlled, via osmoregulation and behavior, such that the concentrations of electrolytes (salts in solution) in the various b ...

and response declined. Kimura died of natural causes in a hospital in his hometown of Kyōtango, western Japan, at 2:08 a.m. on the night of 12 June 2013, and was succeeded as the world's oldest living man by Salustiano Sanchez (born 8 June 1901). He was survived by two daughters and three of his five sons (all except his oldest and youngest son who both died in 1998), 13 of his 14 grandchildren, 25 great-grandchildren and 15 great-great-grandchildren.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kimura, Jiroemon 1897 births 2013 deaths Japanese farmers Japanese supercentenarians World record holders Men supercentenarians People from Kyoto Prefecture Postal officials Imperial Japanese Army personnel Military personnel of World War I Japanese military personnel of World War I