BIOGRAPHY

Kiichi Inoue was born in Ienaka Village, Shimotsuga District (now Tochigi City), Tochigi Prefecture, Japan, on 4 July 1906. When he was 17 years old, he moved to Furano City, Hokkaido. He married at the age of 23 and had nine children. Known for his gentle personality, he reportedly never had a fight with his wife.

Inoue reportedly lived a life of many hardships as one of the pioneers in the Furano area of Hokkaido. However, he never experienced any major illness and continued to work as a dairy farmer for many years. In 1995, he was presented with a certificate of appreciation and a commemorative gift at the 1st-century commemoration ceremony for the opening of the Ōgiyama area in Furano City.

At the age of 106, he was living in a nursing home in Furano City, where he enjoyed copying sutras and watching sumo matches. At 110, he was in the habit of taking two cloves of garlic pickled in miso and one clove of pickled plums in honey every day and was also a big fan of coffee. Regarding the secret to his longevity, he commented, “There’s nothing. I just live my life carefree.” The staff at the nursing home described him as “a friendly person who didn’t get angry, sometimes joked, and was easygoing.”

Inoue passed away of natural causes on 21 March 2017, at the age of 110 years, 260 days.

RECOGNITION

Inoue was reported as the 10th-oldest man in Hokkaido in 2012, the 3rd-oldest man in 2013, and the 2nd-oldest man since 2014. As of September 2016, he was the fourth-oldest male in Japan.

At the time of his death, he was the third-oldest man in Japan, after Masazō Nonaka and Tōichi Sasaki, and the second-oldest living man in Hokkaido, after Nonaka.

His age was verified by Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare (MHLW), as well as Ryohei Asano, and validated by LongeviQuest on 20 May 2024.

ATTRIBUTION

* “祝 皇寿 井上喜市様” – Long-Term Care Health Facility Furano, July 2016

* “井上喜市さん” – Hokkaido Shimbun, 24 March  2017

GALLERY