Misao Okawa

Misao Okawa
Birth:	5 March 1898 Tenma-Ku, Osaka, Japan
Death:	1 April 2015 Higashisumiyoshi-ku, Osaka, Japan
Age:	117 years, 27 days
Country:	JPN
Validated

Misao Okawa (also romanized as Misawo Okawa) (née Aoki) (5 March 1898 – 1 April 2015) was a Japanese supercentenarian who is the second-oldest verified person ever from Japan and Asia and also was the oldest living person in the world from the death of the 116-year-old Jiroemon Kimura, who was also the oldest verified man ever, until her own death on 1 April 2015.

After her death, Gertrude Weaver (also born 1898) became the oldest living person, though only for five days. She was also the oldest living woman after the death of Koto Okubo on 12 January 2013 until her own death. She is the 8th-oldest verified person on record.

Life

She married her husband Yukio, who ran his own business in Kobe, in 1919 and had three children, two daughters and a son. As of February 2013, only one of her daughters, Shizuyo (age 94), and her son Hiroshi (age 96), were still alive. Her husband died on 20 June 1931 at age 36. In 2000, she broke her leg at the age of 102. But she said that she was doing leg squats. She was able to walk until she was 110, after which she needed a wheelchair to prevent her from falling over.

References

• Gerontology Research Group

Gallery

Misao Okawa with her son, Hiroshi and other relatives.

Misao with her son, Hiroshi, her granddaughter and her great-grandson Hibiki.

Misao Okawa at age 115

Misao Okawa at age 116

Misao Okawa at age 117

World's Oldest Living Person Titleholders (V • E)

Betsy Baker • Jennie Howell • Marie Carstenson • Nancy Ryan • Christina Karnebeek-Backs • Marie Olsen • Mary Kelly • Elizabeth Kensley • William Fullingim • Hannah Smith • John Mosley Turner • Johanna Booysen • Marie Bernatkova • Ada Roe • Josefa Salas Mateo • Alice Stevenson • Elizabeth Watkins • Mito Umeta • Niwa Kawamoto • Sophia DeMuth • Marie-Virginie Duhem • Fannie Thomas • Augustine Tessier • Nellie Spencer • Emma Wilson • Augusta Holtz • Mary McKinney • Anna Eliza Williams • Florence Knapp • Jeanne Calment • Marie-Louise Meilleur • Sarah Knauss • Eva Morris • Marie Bremont • Maud Farris-Luse • Grace Clawson • Adelina Domingues • Mae Harrington • Yukichi Chuganji • Mitoyo Kawate • Ramona Trinidad Iglesias-Jordan • Maria Capovilla • Elizabeth Bolden • Emiliano Mercado del Toro • Emma Tillman • Yone Minagawa • Edna Parker • Maria de Jesus • Gertrude Baines • Kama Chinen • Eugenie Blanchard • Maria Gomes Valentim • Besse Cooper • Dina Manfredini • Jiroemon Kimura • Misao Okawa • Gertrude Weaver • Jeralean Talley • Susannah Mushatt Jones • Emma Morano • Violet Brown • Nabi Tajima • Chiyo Miyako • Kane Tanaka • Lucile Randon • Maria Branyas Morera

Japan's Oldest Living Person Titleholders (V • T • E)

Waka Shirahama • Tane Ikai • Sue Utagawa • Suekiku Miyanaga • Asa Takii • Tase Matsunaga • Yasu Akino • Denzo Ishizaki • Kayo Fujii • Mie Ishiguro • Matsuno Oikawa • Yukichi Chuganji • Mitoyo Kawate • Ura Koyama • Yone Minagawa • Shitsu Nakano • Tsuneyo Toyonaga • Kaku Yamanaka • Kama Chinen • Chiyono Hasegawa • Jiroemon Kimura • Misao Okawa • Anonymous (Tokyo) • Nabi Tajima • Chiyo Miyako • Kane Tanaka • Fusa Tatsumi • Tomiko Itooka