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, until her death at the age of , was the world's oldest verified living person following the death of Chiyo Miyako on 22 July 2018. She is the oldest verified

Japanese person The are an East Asian ethnic group native to the Japanese archipelago."人類学上は，旧石器時代あるいは縄文時代以来，現在の北海道〜沖縄諸島（南西諸島）に住んだ集団を祖先にもつ人々。" () Jap ...

and the second-oldest verified person ever, after

Jeanne Calment Jeanne Louise Calment (; 21 February 1875 – 4 August 1997) was a French supercentenarian and the oldest human whose age is documented, with a lifespan of 122 years and 164 days. Her longevity attracted media attention and medical studies ...

Personal life

Tanaka was born as on 2 January 1903 in the village of Wajiro (now part of Higashi-ku,

Fukuoka is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancie ...

), on the southern island of

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surroun ...

, the third daughter and seventh child of her parents, Kumayoshi and Kuma Ota. Kane and her family said she was actually born on 26 December 1902 and that her parents delayed the process of filing the report for a week because they were not sure if she would survive, as she was born prematurely. Kane's early childhood was during the last years of the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

, which ended when she was nine, in 1912. Kane married her cousin Hideo Tanaka in 1922, with whom she had two sons and two daughters. The couple also adopted their niece, the second daughter of Hideo's sister. Kane's eldest daughter died shortly after birth and her second daughter died at the age of one in 1947, while her adoptive daughter died in 1945 at the age of 23 of an unspecified illness. The couple worked in a store selling

shiruko , or with the honorific , is a traditional Japanese dessert. It is a sweet porridge of azuki beans boiled and crushed, served in a bowl with . There are different styles of , such as with candied chestnuts, or with glutinous rice flour dumpling ...

and

udon Udon ( or ) is a thick noodle made from wheat flour, used in Japanese cuisine. It is a comfort food for many Japanese people. There are a variety of ways it is prepared and served. Its simplest form is in a hot soup as with a mild broth called ...

noodles. Kane's husband was later drafted into the military, in which he served from 1937 to 1939; one of her sons was captured towards the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, as a military

POW A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war ...

, and was held captive in

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

before being released and returning home in 1947. After World War II, the couple continued working in the store, with Kane converting to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

under the ministry of pastors stationed by the

United States military The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...

. Retiring from working at their store at 63, Kane traveled to the United States in the 1970s to visit her relatives in California and Colorado. Her husband died in 1993 at the age of 90, after 71 years of marriage. Kane lived in a

nursing home A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of elderly or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as skilled nursing facility (SNF) or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms have slightly different meanings to in ...

in Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, from September 2018, and was reportedly still in good health on her 118th birthday. Tanaka was supposed to hold the Olympic torch at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

, but she withdrew from it due to concerns regarding an increase in

COVID-19 cases in Japan Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

. She occasionally played the board game

Othello ''Othello'' (full title: ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'') is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, probably in 1603, set in the contemporary Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573) fought for the control of the Island of Cypru ...

, and took short walks in the nursing home's hallways. Her hobbies included

calligraphy Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

and solving arithmetic problems. She had five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Tanaka died in a hospital in Fukuoka, on 19 April 2022, nine days after being verified as the second-oldest person to have lived. Her death was announced on 25 April 2022. No cause of death was given, but her grandson said she had been feeling ill since late 2021, according to the Japanese Health Ministry. KaneTanakaFamily1920s(Cropped)

Health and longevity

Tanaka had several major illnesses, and was infected with

paratyphoid fever Paratyphoid fever, also known simply as paratyphoid, is a bacterial infection caused by one of the three types of ''Salmonella enterica''. Symptoms usually begin 6–30 days after exposure and are the same as those of typhoid fever. Often, a grad ...

with her adopted daughter at the age of 35. She underwent

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...

surgery at the age of 45. In 2006, Tanaka was diagnosed with

colorectal cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel m ...

and underwent surgery when she was 103 years old. Her life and longevity were noted by her second son and his wife four years later when they published a book called ''In Good and Bad Times, 107 Years Old''. At the age of 114, she was interviewed by KBC in September 2017. On 9 March 2019, Tanaka was officially presented with the "World's Oldest Living Person" and "World's Oldest Living Woman" titles by ''

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 ...

'', verifying her longevity claim. On 19 September 2020, she broke the record of longest-lived Japanese person, as well as the third-oldest person in the world, after surpassing

Nabi Tajima Japanese supercentenarians are citizens, residents or emigrants from Japan who have attained or surpassed the age of 110 years. , the Gerontology Research Group (GRG) had validated the longevity claims of 263 Japanese supercentenarians, most o ...

's age of 117 years, 260 days. On 10 April 2022, she surpassed the lifespan of

Sarah Knauss Sarah DeRemer Knauss (; September 24, 1880 – December 30, 1999) was an American supercentenarian. She is the oldest person ever from the United States and, on April 16, 1998, became the world's oldest living person. She remains as the thir ...

to become the second-oldest verified person. Tanaka had said that she wanted to live to the age of 120, crediting her faith in God, family, sleep, hope, eating good food and practicing

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

for her longevity. Her longevity, along with that of

, has contributed to the debate that the maximum lifespan for humans could be 115–125 years. After Tanaka's death, Frenchwoman

Lucile Randon Lucile Randon (; born 11 February 1904), also known as Sister André (), is a French supercentenarian. At the age of , she has been the world's oldest verified living person since 19 April 2022, following the death of Kane Tanaka. She is the old ...

became the world's oldest validated living person.

References

External links

* (the account by her great-granddaughter)
''Telegraph Herald'' News in brief

''USA Today'' What countries have the longest life expectancies?

''San Francisco Chronicle'' News of the day from around the globe, July 27

''Las Vegas Review-Journal'' World's oldest person dies at 117, now 115-year-old is oldest
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanaka, Kane 1903 births 2022 deaths 20th-century Japanese women 21st-century Japanese women Converts to Christianity Japanese Christians Japanese supercentenarians People from Fukuoka People of Meiji-period Japan Women supercentenarians

Personal life

Health and longevity

See also

References

External links