Shigechiyo Izumi
{{short description|Japanese supercentenarian}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Shigechiyo Izumi
| image = Shigechiyo Izumi.jpg
| caption = Shigechiyo Izumi with a group of children
| native_name = 泉 重千代
| native_name_lang = ja
| birth_date = 29 June 1865 (disputed)
| birth_place = Isen, Tokunoshima, Japan
| death_date = 21 February 1986 (purportedly aged about 120)
| death_place = Isen, Ōshima District, Kagoshima, Japan
| known_for = Claimed longevity
}}
{{Nihongo|Shigechiyo Izumi|泉 重千代|Izumi Shigechiyo|? – 21 February 1986}} was a Japanese man who was titled the oldest living person after the death of Niwa Kawamoto on 16 November 1976, also from Japan. Izumi's claimed birth date of 29 June 1865 was accepted by Guinness World Records, which recognized him as the oldest verified man ever, but this was eventually withdrawn in 2010; in the 2012 edition of the Guinness World Records book, Christian Mortensen was named the "oldest verified man ever" and Izumi was not mentioned.{{cite book |title=Guinness World Records |date=27 March 2012 |publisher=Bantam Books |page=86 |isbn=978-0-345-53437-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=biWfNzQiR8EC |access-date=20 February 2020}}
Biography
Guinness World Records found a document attesting that he was 24 years old in 1889 when he was exempted from military service to deal with sugar cane fields.{{cn|date=February 2020}}
Izumi drank brown sugar shōchū (a Japanese alcoholic beverage often distilled from barley or rice), and took up smoking at age 70.{{failed verification|date=February 2020}} Izumi's personal physician strongly advised him against drinking shōchū as his kidneys were not strong enough to process shōchū in his advanced age, but Izumi went on to say: "Without shōchū there would be no pleasure in life. I would rather die than give up drinking."{{cite web|title=Secrets of the oldest man in the world|publisher=The Moscow News|url=http://english.mn.ru/english/issue.php?2002-18-26|accessdate=2007-01-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070310234426/http://english.mn.ru/english/issue.php?2002-18-26|archive-date=2007-03-10|url-status=dead}} He retired from sugar cane farming in 1970.{{cite book |title=The Guinness Book of Records |edition=1993 |date=October 1992 |publisher=Bantam Books |page=355 |isbn=0-553-56257-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3XGAeFx2EiIC&q=Izumi |access-date=20 February 2020}}
Death and uncertainty over age
After a brief hospitalization, Izumi died of pneumonia{{cite book |title=The Guinness Book of Records |edition=1999 |page=102 |date=September 1998 |publisher=Guinness Records |isbn=0-965-23839-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8WcLxwEACAAJ&q=Izumi |access-date=20 February 2020}} at 21:15 JST on 21 February 1986. At the time, he was considered the only person ever verified to have reached the age of 120, although subsequent research has cast doubt on his actual age. In April 1987, 14 months after Izumi's death, the Department of Epidemiology at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology reported that research into Izumi's family registration records indicated he might have been 105 when he died.Asahi News Service, APRIL 6, 1987, MONDAY, JAPANESE EXPERT DEBUNKS IDEA OF 'VILLAGE OF 100-YEAR-OLDS'{{cite web |url=http://supercentenarian.com/oldest/izumi.html |title=The Shigechiyo Izumi Case |publisher=Supercentenarian.com |date=6 April 1987 |access-date=20 August 2011}} The 2011 Guinness World Records book states that the birth certificate submitted as evidence might have actually belonged to a deceased brother, and the family may have re-used "Shigechiyo" as a necronym.{{cite web |url=http://www.grg.org/calmentmen1.html |title=Men Supercentenarian Photos File No. 1 of 3 for the years 2001-2008 |publisher=Genealogy Research Group |date=11 September 2012 |access-date=20 February 2020 |archive-date=28 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191228082048/http://www.grg.org/CalmentMen1.html |url-status=dead }}
With the closing of the Guinness World Record Museum in Niagara Falls, Ontario, in September 2020, the display and fibreglass statue of Izumi was sold for $850 on February 12th 2021 and now resides in a private collection in Canada.url=https://www.ripleyauctions.com/auction-lot/world-s-oldest-man-character-museum-display-world_1314B8392F
The oldest undisputed case of male longevity is Jiroemon Kimura, also from Japan, who died at age 116 years and 54 days.{{cite news |last=Matsuyama |first=Kanoko |title=Oldest man in history dies at age 116 |url=http://www.smh.com.au/world/oldest-man-in-history-dies-at-age-116-20130612-2o35e.html |accessdate=12 June 2013 |newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald |date=June 12, 2013}} Jeanne Calment holds the record for verified female longevity and longevity as a whole at 122 years and 164 days.
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Izumi, Shigechiyo}}
Category:Deaths from pneumonia in Japan
Category:Japanese men centenarians