Jiroemon Kimura

Kimura was born as Kinjiro Miyake (三宅 金治郎, Miyake Kinjirō). According to records, he was born on April 19, 1897[10] in the fishing village of Kamiukawa, Kyoto prefecture, to farmers Morizo (May 21, 1858–February 27, 1935) and Fusa (July 7, 1867–August 26, 1931) Miyake.[6][2] Kimura's age was further verified by researchers in an article that they published in 2017.[6] After thorough research, including conducting family interviews and searching official records, the authors verified Kimura's age and date of birth.[6] Kimura's nephew Tamotsu Miyake said his uncle's birthday was March 19, but that this had been mistakenly recorded as April 19 in 1955 when records from neighbouring towns were consolidated and redone.[2] The researchers concluded, however, that Kimura was listed as being born on March 19, 1897 (as opposed to April 19, 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.[6] During this time, in Japan, schoolchildren born before April were one school year ahead of schoolchildren who were born in April or afterwards.[6]

In his family, Kimura was the fifth child and second surviving son of eight children, six of whom lived to adulthood.[6] He had four elder siblings including two elder sisters, Sa.M. (November 1, 1887–September 20, 1892) and I.M. (December 11, 1889–c.1985/86) and two elder brothers, S.M. (March 21, 1892–October 27, 1894) and H. M. (February 20, 1895–July 2, 1986).[6] He had three younger siblings: his third sister G. M. (January 3, 1900–April 18,1993), a fourth brother A. M. (September 10, 1902–c. 1987/88) and his youngest brother Tetsuo (March 4, 1909–June 2, 2007).[6] Four of Kimura's siblings lived past the age of 90.[2] On April 1, 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 March 31, 1911, having had two additional years of schooling beyond what was then compulsory.[6]

On April 10, 1911, Kimura began work at the Nakahama post office as a telegraph boy while also working on his family's farm. He left the Nakahama post office on February 2, 1913.[6] From May to December 1914, he studied at a posts and telegraph training school in Kyoto, graduating at the head of his class of 70 students and resuming work at the Nakahama post office on December 4, 1914.[6] On April 1, 1918, Kimura was conscripted into the Imperial Japanese Army and was posted to Nakano, Tokyo, where he served with a communications unit. He was discharged from service on June 30, was again conscripted on September 1, 1919 and was posted to Tokyo, but only served for three weeks, until September 21.[6] On May 23, 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 for work and had fallen ill there, Kimura moved to Keijō (now Seoul, South Korea), taking a job on May 31 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.[2][6]

From September 1 to September 21, 1921, Kimura underwent a final three-week period of army service, again in a communications unit, during which he was posted to Hiroshima. Around this time, he attended a ceremony in Kyoto to welcome the return to Japan of Crown Prince Hirohito from a tour of Europe.[6] After his national service, Kimura resumed farming until April 21, 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 June 30, 1962, two months after his 65th birthday and having worked in post offices for 45 years.[2] [6]

After retiring, Kimura helped his eldest son run the family farm until he reached the age of 90.[1] 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 September 28, 1999, aged 102, he appeared on a local television program featuring local residents noted for their longevity. On June 17, 2002, he published an autobiographical pamphlet, “Looking back at my happy 105 years.”[6]

On December 27, 1920, Kimura (then still Kinjiro Miyake) married his neighbor Yae Kimura (January 19, 1904–May 30, 1979), the adopted daughter of Jiroemon Kimura VIII (d. April 4, 1927) and his wife K. Kimura (July 8, 1870–March 9, 1939). The marriage was officially registered two days later.[6] 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's death in 1927.[2] Kimura and his wife, who were married for nearly 59 years, had eight children (six sons and two daughters) of whom all but their second son survived to adulthood, and five of whom outlived him.[6]

Kimura was health-conscious and active.[12] He woke up early in the morning and read newspapers with a magnifying glass.[12] Also, he enjoyed talking to guests and followed live parliamentary debates on television. He credited eating small portions of food (hara hachi bun me) as the key to a long and healthy life.[12][13] Kimura resided in Kyōtango, Kyoto Prefecture, with his eldest son's widow, 83, and his grandson's widow, 59.[9] On his 114th birthday on 19 April 2011, he mentioned his survival of the 7.6 magnitude 1927 Kita Tango earthquake that hit Kyoto and killed over 3,000 people.[14] Just four days before turning 114, upon Walter Breuning's death, Kimura became the oldest living man in the world as well as the last living man born in the 1800s.

In October 2012, Kimura was presented with a certificate from Guinness World Records 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.[15] On his 116th and final birthday, Kimura received many well-wishes, including a video message from Japan's Prime Minister Shinzō Abe.[4] He was hospitalized for pneumonia on 11 May 2013. On 23 May 2013, when 113-year-old James Sisnett of Barbados (born February 22, 1900) died, Kimura became the last verified living man born in the 19th century.[13] He died of natural causes in the hospital in his hometown of Kyōtango, western Japan, at 2:08 a.m. on 12 June 2013.[16][17] His funeral was held on 14 June 2013.[18]

At the time of his death, Kimura was succeeded as the world's oldest living man by Salustiano Sanchez (born June 8, 1901). He was survived by five children (his two daughters and his third, fourth and fifth sons),[6] 14 grandchildren (13 surviving), 25 great-grandchildren and 15 great-great-grandchildren.[19][16]

• Jeanne Calment (1875–1997), the oldest woman (and the oldest person) whose age was verified
• Oldest people
• List of the oldest people by country
• List of the verified oldest people
• List of last World War I veterans by country
• List of last surviving World War I veterans
• List of Japanese supercentenarians
• Elderly people in Japan
• World's oldest person