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Chitetsu Watanabe (Japanese: 渡邉智哲) was a Japanese supercentenarian who, at the time of his death, was the oldest living man in Japan. He was officially recognized as the world’s oldest living man by Guinness World Records just eleven days before his death, but it was later proven he never held the title.
Watanabe was born in the Urakawahara suburb of Joetsu, Niigata Prefecture, Japan on 5 March 1907. He was the first of eight children born to Haruzo and Miya Watanabe, who were farmers. After graduating from an agricultural high school, Watanabe worked for Dai-Nippon Meiji Sugar and moved to Taiwan to help conclude sugar cane plantation contracts there.
During his 18 years in Taiwan, Watanabe married his wife, Mitsue, and four out of their five children were born there. He also served in the military towards the end of the Pacific War in 1944. He returned to Niigata after the war and worked for a departure agency.
In 1974, Watanabe and his son Tetsuo built a new family home, which had about a hectare worth of farm next to it. He also worked on his bonsai until he was set to live in a nursing home. He also presented his work at local exhibitions until 2007.
After retiring, Watanabe lived with one of his son’s family until the age of 108, when he moved to a care facility in Joetsu, Niigata, Japan. As of 2019, he had 12 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren. In January 2019, in an interview for a local newspapers, he said that the secret to his longevity was to “not to get angry and keep a smile on your face”.
Watanabe died in his hometown on 23 February 2020, at the age of 112 years, 355 days, eleven days before his 113th birthday.
On 11 December 2018, following the death of 111-year-old Tora Kosugi, he became the oldest living person in Niigata Prefecture. He was less than a month younger than her.
On 20 January 2019, following the death of 113-year-old Masazo Nonaka of Hokkaido, Japan, he became the oldest living man in Japan, and a candidate for the title of the world’s oldest living man, at the age of 111 years, 321 days. On 11 February 2020, Watanabe was recognized as the world’s oldest living man by Guinness World Records, eleven days before his passing.
However, several men claimed to be older than Watanabe (including Gustav Gerneth of Germany), none of the claims were officially validated at the time. Subsequently, after his death, it was determined that several men were probably older than him. In August 2020, Domingo Villa Avisencio (of Mexico) was validated by the Latin American Supercentenarians (LAS), he was more than six months older than Watanabe.
In 2022, the LAS discovered how Tomas Pinales Figuereo (of Dominican Republic), who outlived Watanabe, was almost a year older than him. His age was officially validated in 2025, proving Watanabe was never the World’s Oldest Living Man.
Upon his own passing, Issaku Tomoe succeeded him as the Oldest Living Man in Japan.
Early life. (Source: Guinness World Records)
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