Izumi Shigechiyo

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Izumi Shigechiyo ( Japanese 泉 重 千代 ; * in the 19th century in Isen ; † February 21, 1986 ibid) was the oldest man in the Guinness Book of Records until 2011 .

Life

Izumi is said to have been born in 1865 in what is now Isen on Tokunoshima Island , part of the Ryūkyū Islands . He earned his living driving draft animals in a sugar factory . He later became a sugar cane farmer and retired in 1970. He is said to have started smoking at the age of 70 and was very fond of shochu . He lived his long life according to the motto “get up early and have a grain schnapps before going to sleep”. His wife died at the age of 90, he himself died on February 21, 1986 - it was believed at the age of 120 years and 237 days - of mild pneumonia .

Izumi was recognized by the Guinness Book of Records in 1978 after previously believed generations such as the alleged 137 years of the American Charlie Smith had turned out to be false. Shortly after his death, Japanese scientists began to have doubts about his age, which kept him for 105 years. The alleged date of birth is before the introduction of the Japanese Koseki registry; Documents from his youth do not exist. It is believed that he was entered in the family register in place of an older brother who died as a child. This practice of replacing in the family register is said to have been common in his home region in what is now southern Japan (then the Kingdom of Ryūkyū ). Since 2011, the Guinness Book of Records has therefore no longer listed Izumi as the oldest man.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ allegedly June 29, 1865; probably around 1880
  2. ↑ a b The Oldest Man in the World
  3. ↑ JAPANESE EXPERT DEBUNKS IDEA OF 'VILLAGE OF 100-YEAR-OLDS' from April 6, 1987 / Asahi News Service
  4. ↑ Yasuhiko Saito: Supercentenarians in Japan (PDF; 1.0 MB). In Heiner Maier, Jutta Gampe, Bernard Jeune, Jean-Marie Robine, James W. Vaupel (eds.): Supercentenarians (pdf), Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg 2010 ISBN 978-3-642-11519-6 (p. 97 )


Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . So Izumi is the family name, Shigechiyo the first name.
personal data
SURNAME Izumi, Shigechiyo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 泉 重 千代
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese worker; allegedly oldest man (not proven)
DATE OF BIRTH 19th century
PLACE OF BIRTH Isen , on Tokunoshima Island , an island in the Ryūkyū Islands
DATE OF DEATH February 21, 1986
Place of death Isen , on Tokunoshima Island , an island in the Ryūkyū Islands