Shigechiyo Izumi

Shigechiyo Izumi

Shigechiyo Izumi (Japanese: 泉 重千代 Izumi Shigechiyo, June 29, 1865 or 1880 – February 21, 1986) of Tokunoshima, Amami Islands, Japan was, according to Guinness World Records, the person with the greatest authenticated age in the world after the death of Niwa Kawamoto, also from Japan. Assuming his claimed birthdate is correct, he would have attained an age of 120 years, older than any other recognized male, and the second-longest lived human ever, second only to Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment. He also holds the record for the longest working career for a person, spanning 98 years. He was recorded as a six-year-old in Japan's first census of 1871. His wife died at the age of 90. He drank shōchū (a Japanese alcoholic beverage distilled from barley), and took up smoking at age 70. He began his career in 1872 goading draft animals at a sugar mill, and retired as a sugarcane farmer in 1970 at the age of 105. He attributed his long life to "God, Buddha and the Sun." He stood at 1.42 meters (four feet, eight inches) tall and weighed 42.6 kilograms (94 pounds), and lived through 71 Japanese Prime Ministers.

He died of pneumonia after a brief hospitalization at 12:15 GMT, coincidentally the same day as Jeanne Calment's 111th birthday. He was 120 years and 237 days old (if the 1865 birth year is correct), the last recognized surviving person of the 1860s, the only male to live at least 116 years and the longest holder of the "oldest living person" title.

Following his death, Mamie Eva Keith became the world's oldest person. Also, for more than 20 years after his death every person with the title of the world's oldest living person had been female until Emiliano Mercado del Toro became the world's oldest living person on December 11, 2006.

Subsequent research has cast doubt on his claim, as what was previously believed to be his birth certificate may actually have been that of his older brother, who died young and whose name might have been reused as a necronym. Some Japanese experts, speaking on condition of anonymity, suggested that he was actually born in 1880. If so, this would mean he was 105 instead of 120 when he died.

See also

• Ageing
• Lifespan
• List of the oldest people
• Longevity claims (for information on competing, but unsuccessfully verified claims of longevity)
• Longevity myths (for information on far-fetched claims of longevity)
• Oldest people
• Senescence
• Supercentenarian
• Tomoji Tanabe, currently the oldest man in Japan, and even in the world